Craig's MovieBlog

Variety Fires All Film Critics

I haven't written forever, but this is such a disturbing sign... I'm just going to cut and paste from the source.

Variety eliminates chief film critic position

In a striking move that reflects changing state of film criticism, Variety has laid off its longtime chief film critic Todd McCarthy.

Neil Stiles, publisher of the Hollywood trade paper, said that chief theater critic David Rooney is being let go as well. "We are eliminating all full-time review staff for film and theater," he said.

The paper will now rely exclusively on freelancers and in-house staffers with other duties to review movies and shows. Stiles claimed that Variety will not cut back on the number of movie reviews it carries, which last year totaled about 1,200.

Variety and its competitor the Hollywood Reporter have always been known for reviewing a broader array of films around the world and at festivals than any other publications. Within the entertainment industry, Variety reviews have traditionally carried a significant amount of weight.

McCarthy is hardly the first high-profile film critic to lose his post, as scores of critics have been let go or have taken buyouts as the publishing industry struggles with declining circulation and ad revenues. However, the loss of a reviewer with the title of chief film critic could be a blow to Variety's credibility and prestige. McCarthy has worked at the paper since 1979.

"People still want to reviewed by Variety and we want to make sure we do at least as many as we have always done," said Stiles. "The challenge for us is being flexible in the face of economic realities."

Variety's chief television critic Brian Lowry, who also writes a column and a blog and occasionally reviews movies, will remain in his job, Stiles said.

Movie of the Decade?

Bill Simmons from ESPN (aka The Sports Guy) has opened up a poll to try and determine the Movie of the Decade.  Here’s his list:

• Almost Famous (2000)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005)
• Cast Away (2000)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• The Departed (2006)
• Gladiator (2000)
• The Lord of the Rings (2001)
• No Country for Old Men (2007)

Fine movies, all of them, and Almost Famous is a personal favorite, but are any of those really the best movie from the last 10 years? 

My friend over at Yes MSG emailed me about the Sports Guy’s poll, and that set me off.  I spent the next hour on IMDB, researching Oscar nominations, and rummaging through the archives of my old box office and movie review site (you know, from when I used to actually go and see movies).  I sent him my thoughts, and then Yes MSG responded inline, so I’ll try to represent that all below.  His responses are in red. 

Enjoy… and let us know – what movies did we miss? 

====================================================

Well, thanks.  The next hour is shot for me.  You’ve got me going…

Almost Famous (2000) is up there.  It’s pretty fantastic.  The Departed (2006) is in the conversation.  And you know what?  The first Pirates of the Caribbean (2002) movie was pretty freaking great as a mainstream, genre-breaking, fun movie.  The sequels ruined people’s memory of how good the first one was.

I guess it’s been a relatively weak decade.  It’s arguable that the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was the best movie achievement for the decade…  not kidding.  Or maybe it’s a Pixar movie like Finding Nemo (2002) or The Incredibles (2003).

On my list of movies that have to be in the conversation:

• Almost Famous (2000) – will have to see it again; don’t care for Kate Hudson, but will stick it out.  Plus, my first internet business was selling online the www.fugit-about-it shirt.  Didn’t go so well.
• Traffic (2000) – good, but a complete knock off of a German movie so really cannot give it high marks – maybe Best Adapted 2000s movie ;)
• Memento (2001) – My #1.  Forgot about this and loved it. Still don’t know if he ever killed anyone or not.
• Finding Nemo (2002) - yep
• Lost in Translation (2002) – too artsy for me I guess; I never understand these indies, but at least it meant that Sophia stopped acting
• Mystic River (2002) – too painful for me; Tim Robbins taking a knife in the gut – ooh.  No rewatchability for me; more avoidability.  But yes, well done.
• Pirates of the Caribbean (2002) – that was a fun film – made me a Depp fan. Have you seen Public Enemies?
• Sideways (2003) – Yep, entertaining too.
• Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) – Clooney at his best again
• Little Miss Sunshine (2006) – funny cause Rick James never so well represented.
• The Departed (2006) – Too, Marty deserves an Oscar for me, and Jack mailed it in as Jack.  Loved Leo though.  And you can never get enough Vera Farmiga!
• Michael Clayton (2007) – excellent film.  That, my friend, is why you have a blog.  The scene at the end where he gets her to offer $10M was fantastic.  And any movie that gives Danny Noonan another shot is OK with me.
• Juno (2007) – Entertaining, but as the Sports Guy would say, so underrated it became overrated
• The Dark Knight (2008) – What am I missing?  Why don’t I like these?  The first two X-Men were better – sure, not as ‘deep’ – but more entertaining, and I have a huge mancrush on Hugh Jackman

Movies I love that I would not call the “Movie of the Decade”:

• Billy Elliot (2000) – yes, any movie where an Irish kid can dance and is not kneecapped by the IRA is a keeper
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) – All I can say is Hell Yeoh!
• Gosford Park (2001) – saw it, the Murder of the guy with the knife? That was good.
• Moulin Rouge! (2001) – did not see it and usually cannot stand Nicole Kidman; so overrated she is overrated.
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) – did not see it; Gong Show goes CIA?
• Igby Goes Down (2002) – The other Culkin?  Did not see it.
• Narc (2002) – Also did not see this, even though I DRV’d it and had it on my ‘to watch’ list for like two years.
• The Incredibles (2003) - Excellent
• Garden State (2004) – again, a bit indie for me, but Braff and Portman is the best Jew hookup since, well, David and Bathsheba (at least as I imagine Bathsheba)
• The Constant Gardener (2005) – LeCarre always depresses, but very good.
• Syriana (2005) – could have been a bit less convoluted but good too.

It is certainly not Crash (2005) or Million Dollar Baby (2003).  Hated those movies with a passion…  pandering, obvious garbage.  – agree.  Swank taking a header into the stool was silly.  Clint should know better.

If you put a gun to my head, it’s Memento or Michael Clayton for me.  CraigBe and Yes MSG right there on this!

Michael Bay is Loved by Everyone

This is both true and painfully ironic.

His film, Transformers 2, had the second largest opening single day of all time on Wednesday, raking in $60.6 million dollars.  So, he is clearly loved by lots of you.

At the same time, the reviews of the film were blisteringly awful, but many were staggeringly creative:

“It sounds as though the script…was written in serial novel form during an all-night mescaline bender,” Christopher Orr, The New Republic

“I’d rather listen to Mr. Roboto on a loop for 150 minutes than watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen again,” Mike Ward, Richmond.com

“Will insult your intelligence, hurt your eyes, and offend your sense of decency until you worry that your skull might explode while your brain trickles right out of your ears,” Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper

Please note that the following is from a POSITIVE review of the film:

“It’s like watching a blender for two hours while someone shouts at you. And then the last half an hour is the same, except it’s more like having your head strapped to a washing machine while you watch a blender and someone shouts at you,”  Paul French, FHM

But perhaps the best comment was called out by former Deadspin editor Will Leitch after he read what Roger Ebert wrote:

“I didn’t have a stop watch, but it seemed to me the elephantine action scenes were pretty much spaced out evenly through the movie. There was no starting out slow and building up to a big climax. The movie is pretty much all climax. The Autobots and Deceptibots must not have read the warning label on their Viagra. At last we see what a four-hour erection looks like.”

Mr. Leitch also gleefully called out Rian Johnson’s recent tweets.  Rian Johnson is the writer and director of Brick and The Brothers Bloom.  I’m sure Michael Bay will gladly call out that Mr. Johnson’s films combined were outgrossed by Transformers 2 in the first 60 seconds of its release.  Having said that, Mr. Johnson writes:

“I think Bay's creative process is clarified by describing any scene from the film then putting the words "and shit" at the end of it:”

"And they're in Egypt, so they're driving past camels and shit."

"And they need to get to this machine they have to bust up the pyramids and shit."

"And this sliver thing activates something in Shia's brain so he's seeing symbols and shit."

And finally, the “Fake Michael Bay” twitter page is fantastic.  It’s kind of like the Chuck Norris jokes, but still brilliant.

10 Best Picture Nominees?

What the flagnod?!?

I haven’t written anything in almost 3 months (oh, and how great was The Hangover?), but this news is enough to temporarily get me out of retirement.

This year’s Academy Awards will have 10 Best Picture nominees.

Craig’s theory:  Typically, when you only have 5 nominees, you are choosing high-end art films that might be the best films of the year, but are generally films that didn’t do as well at the box office.  So, if fewer people have seen the films, fewer people care who wins.

With 10 nominees, there’s more of an opportunity for films like Wall-E or The Dark Knight to make the cut (or this year, Up, Star Trek, or even, yes, The Hangover) to get in the race.  That means more people watching, which means higher ad rates and more money for the Academy.

Read about it at The Hot Blog, or In Contention.  I’m sure there will be more to come.

Star Trek Review in Variety – Yes, Please

Done and done.  Sign me up:

“Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved Star Trek will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana. Faithful enough to the spirit and key particulars of Gene Roddenberry’s original conception to keep its torchbearers happy but, more crucially, exciting on its own terms in a way that makes familiarity with the franchise irrelevant, J.J. Abrams’ smart and breathless space adventure feels like a summer blockbuster that just couldn’t stay in the box another month. Paramount won’t need any economic stimulus package with all the money it’ll rake in with this one globally, and a follow-up won’t arrive soon enough.”

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter agrees. 

“Bottom Line: J.J. Abrams gives the Starship Enterprise all it's got, and it's more than enough.”

I Wanna See Angelina Jolie Disembowel a Heffalump

Apparently, there will be a sequel to Wanted, one of the most violent films of the past year.  Appropriately, they’ve hired the writer of Pooh’s Heffalump Movie to take the reins.

I don’t have a joke here.  I’m just sayin’…

Brilliant Marketing – Bruno Gets an NC-17

Every movie blog on the planet today is talking about the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming film, Bruno, received an NC-17 from the MPAA on its first pass through.

Would all the idiots screaming in horror, please move to the back of the bus?

They’ll adjust it, they’ll get their R-rating, but in the meantime, Bruno just got a TON of publicity on March 30th, almost 4 months before the film is released.

Nicely done, Universal marketing department.  Nicely done.

The End of the World As We Know It

So there’s this movie you’ve never heard of… it’s called One Week and it stars Joshua Jackson.  Fine.  I’m not here to rip (or praise) the movie.  However, in their marketing of the film, they took out a print ad and filled with quotes about how great the movie is.  Great – marketing departments do this all the time, filling out posters and ads with quotes from critics.

Oh, wait.  What?  Did I say critics?  Sorry.  What I meant to say was, “random anonymous people who comment on YouTube and haven’t seen the film.”

Let’s take a quick zoom in on the bottom left, shall we?

Saturday Morning Watchmen

This is brilliant (if you’ve read the graphic novel).  Thanks to The House Next Door.

Public Enemies Trailer

It’s like Heat, with Michael Mann and everything… only about 100 years ago, and Depp and Bale could certainly be the new generation’s DeNiro and Pacino, right?  ;)

Poking My Head Up Before Watchmen Comes Out

I know.  Nothing on the Globes, nothing on the Oscars.  That’s right – the inspiration just isn’t there.  I’ll just say this:  I loved the Oscars this year and what they did with the show.  They could have killed the second musical act (with Beyonce and Zac Efron) to save time, but the show finished ahead of schedule anyway.  They also could have done some more thinking about who was giving the speeches to the various nominees.  DeNiro to Penn was awesome, but Cotillard to Kate Winslet?  How was that not Emma Thompson?  Adrien Brody to Richard Jenkins?  Cuba Gooding Jr.?!?!?

And with that, let’s move on.

Watchmen is coming out this week and David Poland has pointed out some interesting commentary from one of the cast members. 

Matthew Goode plays Andrew Veidt/Ozymandias in the movie, expected to be one of the biggest hits of 2009.

But the 30-year-old actor – who has previously appeared in Match Point and Brideshead Revisited – went on the offensive after learning hardcore fans are saying he doesn’t suit the character before even watching the film.

He said: “The negative feedback is relayed by my friends. I think the fanboys aren’t particularly happy – there are a load of people they’d have rather had in before me.

“It’s already being slated before they’ve seeing anything.

“But if fanboys still hate the film after going and seeing it, they can all line up and s*** my d***.

“I don’t give a f***.”

Matthew added: “I’m having a child and that’s more important to me – so I don’t give a f***. Grow a d***.”

Is it bad that I think that he actually has the proper perspective here?

Now, there are people that have seen the film, like David Edelstein of New York Magazine, who says, it is an “awe-inspiring corpse: huge, noisy, gaseously distended by its own dystopia.”

Good times.

Nobody Panic. The Deal is Done

Matthew Weiner and Lionsgate have signed an agreement for Seasons 3 and 4 of Mad Men.

Thank goodness.  No one wants another “West Wing-without-Sorkin” situation.

Golden Globe Nominations 2008

Golden Globe Nominations 2008

Best Picture (Drama)	Best Picture (Comedy/Musical)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon The Reader Revolutionary Road Slumdog Millionaire	Burn After Reading Happy-Go-Lucky In Bruges Mamma Mia! Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Actor (Drama)	Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon Sean Penn, Milk Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler	Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Colin Farrell, In Bruges James Franco, Pineapple Express Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey
Best Actress (Drama)	Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married Angelina Jolie, Changeling Meryl Streep, Doubt Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road	Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia! Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight	Amy Adams, Doubt Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Viola Davis, Doubt Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Director	Best Screenplay
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire Stephen Daldry, The Reader David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road	Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire David Hare, The Reader Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button John Patrick Shanley, Doubt

My Head Just Exploded From All the Goodness

In this one single blog posting, there is:

• a picture of Jon Hamm
• a picture of David Cross (note – they are together!)
• a Tina Fey quote reference
• an Arrested Development quote

I want to go to there too!!!

The Academy Award Race Has Begun

As I do every year, I’ll try to keep track of all the industry awards as they’re doled out, leading up to the Academy Awards.  Again, because I have two young children, and the last two films I’ve seen were Bolt and Wall-E, I’ll try to refrain from commenting or editorializing.  :)

So far, after just 4 award announcements, the key races look like this:

Best Picture	Best Director
Slumdog Millionaire – 2 Milk - 1 Wall-E - 1	Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire – 2 David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 1 Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky - 1
Best Actor	Best Actress
Sean Penn, Milk – 2 Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino – 1 Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler - 1	Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky – 2 Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married – 1 Meryl Streep,Doubt - 1
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Josh Brolin, Milk - 2 Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight – 2	Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona – 3 Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married - 1

New Star Trek Trailer

What was I saying about not being inspired by anything at the movies these days?

Yes please.

Enjoy the new Star Trek trailer.

And from now on, please let JJ Abrams reboot all film franchises.  Except maybe Batman – Chris Nolan can keep that.  But take Superman away from Bryan Singer, and pry Indiana Jones away from Spielberg and Lucas. 

Thanks.

UPDATE:

I know this is ridiculously nerdy, but after watching this for the 40th time, I noticed something very subtle that gives just a slight hint to what the trailer was about.  Check out the license plate:

Yes, I am a nerd loser.

Batman's Voice is Silly, But Spreading

I think we all agree that while The Dark Knight was excellent, the voice that Christian Bale chose to use as Batman was just silly.

So, why… why I ask you… why is Rorschach using that exact same voice in the new trailer for Watchmen, and why in the world is Clint Eastwood using it in Gran Torino?!?

But wow.  Great Watchmen trailer:

Getting Old

There are times when I think about films that shaped my cinematic perspective, and then I realize when they were released, and it makes me feel freaking old.  For example:

• The Untouchables was released in 1987 – 21 freaking years ago.
• Reservoir Dogs, a film that changed movies forever, was released in 1992 – 16 years ago.
• The Usual Suspects came out in 1995, 13 years ago.  Someone who was born when this movie was released just had their Bar Mitzvah.
• Ghostbusters - 1984 – 24 years ago… way over half my life.  Don’t even ask about Caddyshack.

But my slow feeble mind always stopped there.  Jason Kottke, however, made the brilliant move of comparing these past films to what would have been similar comparisons back when we watched the film originally.  I know… hard to explain, but here’s an example:

Watching Star Wars today is like watching It's a Wonderful Life (1946) in 1977.

Watching Back to the Future today is like watching To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) in 1985.

My favorite one, however, is when he brings music into the equation:

Radiohead, OK Computer (1997) --> Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet (1986)

And slightly related:

Blogging Drought and Mad Men

I’m not sure why I haven’t been posting here.  Sure... busy at work, but whatever.  I think it just comes down to the fact that I have been inspired by absolutely nothing in the movie business lately.  Nothing.  Okay, yeah... I want to see the new Bond flick, but I'm hearing mixed things (especially from David Poland) but I just can't seem to get excited by anything that's coming our way.  Can't tell if the problem is me or them - I guess that's the tricky part.

The other issue is that when I'm writing about movies, I feel like I'm cheating on my new love: Mad Men.  So, in honor of my deep deep love affair with that show, here are a bunch of Mad Men links that I've been saving up:

• The Simpsons spoof the Mad Men title sequence
• Truthful TV title cards - check out the one for Mad Men.  Heroes is funny too.
• Mad Men Fan Fiction - weird, but... No, just plain weird.
• Great interview with creator Matthew Weiner
• How to discuss Mad Men properly
• How to get Don Draper hair

Thanks to Fimoculous.com and kottke.org for these links, and for just plain being absolutely awesome.

The Parents Television Council Makes a Funny

“The number of fleeting penises we expect to see on broadcast television is zero.”