Craig's MovieBlog

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? 

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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!

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.

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:

The Dark Knight: The Abridged Script

I don’t know how he does it.  He’s consistently funny.  Enjoy The Dark Knight in a whole new way:

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CHRISTIAN BALE IN A RUBBER SUIT flips HEATH’S TRUCK using his BAT-PHYSICS-VIOLATOR, then rides up a wall in order to turn around like a BADASS. FANBOYS in the AUDIENCE cheer wildly for this, even though it looks RETARDED.

HEATH LEDGER

So it’s finally here. Me at one end of a Chicago street, you at the other. The epic battle between good and evil, teased in every advertisement for the movie! This is going to be awesome.

CHRISTIAN BALE crashes his bike like a PUTZ. HEATH laughs, then gets arrested by GARY OLDMAN, who is alive after all. Then the scene ends.

David Poland, Batman, and Titanic at the Box Office

I know this is old in internet time, but it’s still goodness.

The Dark Knight is currently at $342 million after just 13 days.

Titanic is the all time biggest grossing film at $600.8 million.

David Poland isn’t sure whether The Dark Knight will pass Titanic in total domestic box office (probably not), but he once again changes the discussion and says that we’re all looking at the wrong race.  The worldwide box office is the real game, and there’s no way Titanic is beaten by Batman this year.  Why?  Well, just start with the fact that while “no Batman film has ever even matched the level internationally that it reached at home,” Titanic made twice as much around the world as it did here in the states. 

Wa-wa-wait, what? 

That’s right – not only did Titanic break all records domestically by making $600 million here, it made $1.2 billion more overseas for a $1.84 billion total.

Put another way, Titanic made more money just overseas alone than any other movie has ever grossed in total worldwide.

That’s a big iceberg.

Christian Bale FTW!

I have always wanted to use that acronym.  Thanks to My New Plaid Pants for this tidbit from the Today show, where Christian Bale verbally depants Matt Lauer:

Matt Lauer: So much was made of Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker. It was such a dark role. In some way, perhaps, do you think in real life, it caused him to slip across some line of reality and may have had some role in his accidental death?

Christian Bale: Personally, I find it to be a complete lack of understanding of acting. I also find it very rude to try to create some kind of sound bite for such a tragedy. The man was a complex man, a good man, but you know what? I saw him having the best time playing The Joker. He was someone who completely immersed himself in his role. As do I. But in the end of the day, he was having a wonderful time doing it, He couldn’t have been happier doing it."

11 for 11 – The Dark Knight Reviews

I absolutely cannot wait, but does anyone else feel like the marketing has peaked too soon?  I was under the impression that it came out this weekend, given how much noise it’s been making.

The Dark Knight Trailer

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain," Harvey Dent.

Hmmm....

Batman Trailers

I had seen this floating around over the last few days but avoided watching it for some reason until today.  Now, I'm sorry I waited because I'm blown away by the comparison.  Seriously...watch this.  It's worth it:

 

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

The Dark Knight Trailer and Joker Pictures

I just want to say two things about this new trailer for The Dark Knight.

First, let's just call it a genius casting move by giving Heath Ledger the role of The Joker.  I love that he and director Chris Nolan have decided not to play it for laughs, but going the "dangerously deranged" route.  I'm including my favorite pics below.

Secondly, why is no one talking about the fact that Katie Holmes literally got fired from this enormous franchise?  Is it because she stunk and we're so relieved to have Maggie Gyllenhaal there instead?  Because we're not allowed to speak ill of Mrs. Tom Cruise?  Because we're still in love with her from her Dawson's Creek days? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dark Knight Viral Campaign - Worth The Effort?

For months now, Warner Bros. has been working on getting the word about about The Dark Knight in a number of unbelievably super creative ways, and the fanboy-esque blogosphere has followed every step relentlessly.  Just this week, they've released some more work, from a mocked up Gotham Times, to a subway map for the Gotham City Rail, to the Gotham National Bank, to political sites for character Harvey Dent, among many other things... just today there's some new game that may reveal a picture of The Joker.

I want to be clear about my view on this:  I think this campaign is very clever, brilliantly executed, and just plain cool.

HOWEVER

Do you really think that anyone in the mainstream media is watching this?  Is there going to be a single person who buys a ticket to see The Dark Knight this summer, that wouldn't have done so if it weren't for this campaign?  Furthermore, this is freakin' Batman!  Is there a single person covering this stuff among online movie sites that wasn't going to see this movie anyway?  Shouldn't this effort go towards a franchise or property that doesn't have the name recognition that Batman already has?

Chris over at MMM says:

"This continues one of the best online campaigns - yes, I’m going to say it - ever. This campaign is obviously being thought out by someone or a group of someones who are creating a powerful cohesive experience. I don’t think for a minute that these sites are being created haphazardly or without thought as to how they’re going to lead into the story of the movie, adding a bit to the story for those who are playing along."

I agree with him completely.  BUT... is it worth it in the end?  Will this movie make any more money with this campaign than it would have without it?  This campaign had to be somewhat expensive to produce, but where is the ROI?  How is Warner Bros. going to measure whether this campaign was successful or not in the end? 

I'm a fan of things like this... to a point.  I'd even like to think that this is where the future of advertising is headed (so that we don't feel like it's advertising at all).  I just get nervous when I see massive amounts of work and energy wasted for no return.