Somewhat predictably, David Fincher's biopic about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg easily won this week's poll. The Social Network is being called a "modern day Rashomon" which is good, but they said the same thing about Vantage Point.
The blog for casual and hardcore movie goers
10/4/10
Winner: The Social Network
Somewhat predictably, David Fincher's biopic about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg easily won this week's poll. The Social Network is being called a "modern day Rashomon" which is good, but they said the same thing about Vantage Point.
10/1/10
Next viewing assignment...
I dug into my pile of surveys and picked out Meet the Fockers, which was selected by family friend Jaime. She writes that she loves this film "because it is sooo happy!"
Meet the Parents is one of my favorite recent comedies, and I watch it every year at least once. I have only seen it's sequel one time that I can remember, so it will be good to watch again in anticipation of the third movie in the series, Little Fockers, coming out this holiday season.
9/30/10
Top Five Funniest One Liners
Having not updated this segment in a month, I thought it would be refreshing to make another list with some great movies on it in between my viewings of all the new crap that keeps coming out, without end.
So, here we have my top five funniest one line gags from cinema history. A one liner, technically speaking, is exactly what you would think. A joke that is told in one line.
For obvious reasons, I eliminated films that rely solely on quick hitting one liners. All apologies to Mel Brooks, Airplane, and the Marx Brothers, but you would have just dominated this list.
5. "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
The Blues Brothers is awesome for many reasons. It has numerous cameo appearances from some of the legends of soul music, an epic car chase, and more attitude than you can shake a stick at. It is also uproariously funny, by far the best of the SNL skit spin off films. The line, while funny in its own right, also sums up the jist of the film and the characters so perfectly, it had to be included on this list.
4. "Duct tape. I need it for... taping something."
The darkest film on the list (barely), American Psycho is also incredibly funny. Patrick Bateman's constant excuses are all worthy of this spot, as is the ATM's classic "feed me a stray cat", but in my opinion Bateman's creme de la creme is the above line. After all the elaborate lies and excuses ("I need to go return some videotapes"), this is the best he can come up with for having duct tape. Pretty sketchy...
3. "These go to eleven."
If you haven't seen This is Spinal Tap, just know it is a mockumentary about a metal band made up of quite possibly the stupidest people on Earth.
Here we see the film's director Rob Reiner, portraying the documentarian Marty DiBergi, as he interviews Christopher Guest, aka Nigel Tufnel, guitarist extraordinaire.
2. "I'll have what she's having."
When Harry Met Sally is widely regarded as one of the best romantic comedies, and this line is from it's signature scene. Meg Ryan's Sally has just accepted Harry (Billy Crystal)'s challenge that she can't fake an orgasm. Funny right? Oh and, they are sitting in a diner. The above line is spoken by an elderly patron, played by director Rob Reiner's mother. Wow, two Reiner references in one blog post, can't say that will ever happen again.
1. "You can't fight in here, this is the war room!"
One of Stanley Kubrick's most under appreciated films, the oft parodied but seldom recognized Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is one of the funniest movies ever, right up there with Some Like it Hot (let me just say now; "No one's perfect" gets honorable mention). Most side splitting comedies don't come with the tense undercurrents of global nuclear war, so you know this film is special when you laugh at the seemingly ludicrous plot while realizing that it could in fact go down this way.
So, here we have my top five funniest one line gags from cinema history. A one liner, technically speaking, is exactly what you would think. A joke that is told in one line.
For obvious reasons, I eliminated films that rely solely on quick hitting one liners. All apologies to Mel Brooks, Airplane, and the Marx Brothers, but you would have just dominated this list.
5. "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
The Blues Brothers is awesome for many reasons. It has numerous cameo appearances from some of the legends of soul music, an epic car chase, and more attitude than you can shake a stick at. It is also uproariously funny, by far the best of the SNL skit spin off films. The line, while funny in its own right, also sums up the jist of the film and the characters so perfectly, it had to be included on this list.
4. "Duct tape. I need it for... taping something."
The darkest film on the list (barely), American Psycho is also incredibly funny. Patrick Bateman's constant excuses are all worthy of this spot, as is the ATM's classic "feed me a stray cat", but in my opinion Bateman's creme de la creme is the above line. After all the elaborate lies and excuses ("I need to go return some videotapes"), this is the best he can come up with for having duct tape. Pretty sketchy...
3. "These go to eleven."
If you haven't seen This is Spinal Tap, just know it is a mockumentary about a metal band made up of quite possibly the stupidest people on Earth.
Here we see the film's director Rob Reiner, portraying the documentarian Marty DiBergi, as he interviews Christopher Guest, aka Nigel Tufnel, guitarist extraordinaire.
2. "I'll have what she's having."
When Harry Met Sally is widely regarded as one of the best romantic comedies, and this line is from it's signature scene. Meg Ryan's Sally has just accepted Harry (Billy Crystal)'s challenge that she can't fake an orgasm. Funny right? Oh and, they are sitting in a diner. The above line is spoken by an elderly patron, played by director Rob Reiner's mother. Wow, two Reiner references in one blog post, can't say that will ever happen again.
1. "You can't fight in here, this is the war room!"
One of Stanley Kubrick's most under appreciated films, the oft parodied but seldom recognized Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is one of the funniest movies ever, right up there with Some Like it Hot (let me just say now; "No one's perfect" gets honorable mention). Most side splitting comedies don't come with the tense undercurrents of global nuclear war, so you know this film is special when you laugh at the seemingly ludicrous plot while realizing that it could in fact go down this way.
Featured New Release Poll- 10/1
I know I'm super late getting this poll up, but obviously I have been falling behind in keeping up the blog. Patience, my dear readers.
Coming out this weekend are The Social Network, the amazing true story of the creation of Facebook, Case 39, a super natural horror flick, and Let Me In, a remake of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In. Seemingly, the Halloween movie season has officially kicked off.
Coming out this weekend are The Social Network, the amazing true story of the creation of Facebook, Case 39, a super natural horror flick, and Let Me In, a remake of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In. Seemingly, the Halloween movie season has officially kicked off.
Winner: You Again
The comedy You Again Won last week's poll, I'll be heading out to see it tonight.
In other news, reviews for the last four or so weeks are still coming, albeit slowly.
9/22/10
Easy A
I saw Easy A on opening night, and was pretty impressed with the turnout. I'd say there were about 6 groups of at least ten young teen girls (what message did THEY get from this film, I wonder?), and a few girls in their twenties who dragged along their boyfriends, myself included.
I will be the first to admit that I didn't walk into the film with the highest expectations. I have little reason to expect anything from a female centered high school comedy because A. these films are not meant for my demographic and B. there hasn't been a good one made since Mean Girls. Well, imagine my surprise when Easy A turned out to be one of the more mature and intelligent films I have seen in a long while.
Granted, it isn't spectacularly funny or introspective, but it sure wasn't boring either. Emma Stone is charismatic as the main character Olive, a girl who sullies her squeaky clean reputation in order to increase her social standing. An interesting study in Shavian class structures and existentialism, or just a simple minded teenage comedy? It could be viewed either way, which can't be said about many other films of this ilk.
(Am I looking too deep into this?... Probably. Moving on.)
Olive accidentally starts a rumor concerning her own sexual prowess. Rather than squelch the rumor, she instead provokes its spreading amongst her peers. In no time she is a well known harlot, who secretly allows the nerds and losers to say they had sex with her in exchange for gift cards and coupons.
Things get complicated when Amanda Bynes' Marianne, an overtly religious promoter of abstinence, takes it upon herself to rid the school of Olive's influence.
Strong casting aids in pulling this film past the line of respectability. Thomas Hayden Church and Lisa Kudrow are the married teacher/counselor team who have problems of their own. Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci are perfect as Olive's trusting and over-sharing parents. And Penn Badgely, who supposedly is from some stupid TV show, turns up as the school mascot/Olive's long time crush, and the only boy in the school who seems to be impervious to the gossip web.
I have to say that I had a tough time understanding Olive's motivation. Social standing is nice, yes, but at what cost? Hopefully someone can explain to me what exactly it is about being popular that outranks being respected.
Even so, I still enjoyed Easy A overall. the most humor came in the scenes between Olive and her parents, but the rest of the film was not lacking in laughs. And the film's depiction of the teenaged gossip mill as it is today was spot on. This is the Ferris Bueller of this generation. Ok, maybe thats going a bit far, but you get the idea.
Attendance: 4/5
Crazy Fan Boy Factor: 0/5
Crowd Response: 4/5
-----------------------------------------------------
Production Value: 4/5
Humor: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Amanda Bynes: Should stay retired; ick
Overall: 7/10
9/21/10
Featured New Release Poll- 9/24
The next poll is up and ready to determine my fate:
First up is Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the overdue (some would say late but I am feeling nice) sequel to Oliver Stone's eighties tale of greed, materialism, and masculinity. Starring Shia LaBeouf as Gordon Gekko's (Michael Douglas) new protege, look for this one to win the weekend box office, albeit in underwhelming fashion.
Next is You Again, a silly comedy about coming face to face with your high school nemesis years later. A good ensemble with Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, and Kristin Bell makes this one look like it could be some fun.
Finally is Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (man I had some tough spelling this post, yeesh) From what I heard this is apparently based on a children's book or something. Never heard of it, but I already appreciate this film for supplying me with a cheesy knock-knock joke in the trailer, so it has that going for it.
First up is Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the overdue (some would say late but I am feeling nice) sequel to Oliver Stone's eighties tale of greed, materialism, and masculinity. Starring Shia LaBeouf as Gordon Gekko's (Michael Douglas) new protege, look for this one to win the weekend box office, albeit in underwhelming fashion.
Next is You Again, a silly comedy about coming face to face with your high school nemesis years later. A good ensemble with Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, and Kristin Bell makes this one look like it could be some fun.
Finally is Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (man I had some tough spelling this post, yeesh) From what I heard this is apparently based on a children's book or something. Never heard of it, but I already appreciate this film for supplying me with a cheesy knock-knock joke in the trailer, so it has that going for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)