The Movie Thread

[RGMike]

Anyone going to a midnight premier of the Jack Black/ Michael Cera comedy Year One tonight?  Ha.  JK.

It looks godawful in the tv ads, but then I found out it's written and directed by Egon himself, Harold Ramis.  So there's some hope that it won't be completely horrible.

I'm confused by the TV spots: one minute they seem to be cavemen; the next they're in what looks like ancient Rome. WTF?

OTOH, the Sandra Bullock flick The Proposal is actually getting some good notices, and Betty White is supposed to be hilarious as a potty-mouthed old lady (gee, what a stretch!)

[RGMike]

Anyone going to a midnight premier of the Jack Black/ Michael Cera comedy Year One tonight?  Ha.  JK.

It looks godawful in the tv ads, but then I found out it's written and directed by Egon himself, Harold Ramis.  So there's some hope that it won't be completely horrible.

I'm confused by the TV spots: one minute they seem to be cavemen; the next they're in what looks like ancient Rome. WTF?

update: the movie's got 28% on Rotten Tomatoes so far.  Sad, because Ramis directed  Groundhog Day, easily one of my 4 or 5 favorite films of the last 20 years.

Apparently the script's been knocking around since John Belushi was still alive (it was supposed to be him and Aykroyd, or him and Ramis, or something.)

[RGMike]

Betty White totally fucking RULES!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/19/MVOJ1897GI.DTL

[mshray]

Betty White totally fucking RULES!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/19/MVOJ1897GI.DTL

Especially if she really did sleep with all four of the Marx Bros.  (not counting Gummo I suppose)

[Gazoo]

Betty White totally fucking RULES!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/19/MVOJ1897GI.DTL

Especially if she really did sleep with all four of the Marx Bros.  (not counting Gummo I suppose)

Sorry to be missing the joke/reference, but why not Gummo?

And I wonder if they ran a train on her.

[mshray]

Betty White totally fucking RULES!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/19/MVOJ1897GI.DTL

Especially if she really did sleep with all four of the Marx Bros.  (not counting Gummo I suppose)

Sorry to be missing the joke/reference, but why not Gummo?

And I wonder if they ran a train on her.

Gummo was the 5th Marx Bro.  He was in their Vaudeville act but 'retired' before they hit the big screen.  Groucho, Harpo, Chico & Zeppo were the four in the fillms.

[RGMike]

especially for Tnka, Roger Ebert's hilarious pan of Transformers 2":

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/REVIEWS/906239997

Aware that this movie opened in England seven hours before Chicago time and the morning papers would be on the streets, after writing the above I looked up the first reviews as a reality check. I was reassured: "Like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan!" (Bradshaw, Guardian); "Sums up everything that is most tedious, crass and despicable about modern Hollywood!" (Tookey, Daily Mail); "A giant, lumbering idiot of a movie!" (Edwards, Daily Mirror). The first American review, however, reported that it "feels destined to be the biggest movie of all time" (Todd Gilchrist, Cinematical). It’s certainly the biggest something of all time.

[Tinka Cat]

especially for Tnka, Roger Ebert's hilarious pan of Transformers 2":

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/REVIEWS/906239997

Aware that this movie opened in England seven hours before Chicago time and the morning papers would be on the streets, after writing the above I looked up the first reviews as a reality check. I was reassured: "Like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan!" (Bradshaw, Guardian); "Sums up everything that is most tedious, crass and despicable about modern Hollywood!" (Tookey, Daily Mail); "A giant, lumbering idiot of a movie!" (Edwards, Daily Mirror). The first American review, however, reported that it "feels destined to be the biggest movie of all time" (Todd Gilchrist, Cinematical). It’s certainly the biggest something of all time.

oh well.   I trust Roger (and Tookey).  ok, forget that one.  Thanks.

PS: I think Peter Hartlaub -- not Mick LaSalle -- will review this one.

[RGMike]

especially for Tnka, Roger Ebert's hilarious pan of Transformers 2":

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/REVIEWS/906239997

Aware that this movie opened in England seven hours before Chicago time and the morning papers would be on the streets, after writing the above I looked up the first reviews as a reality check. I was reassured: "Like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan!" (Bradshaw, Guardian); "Sums up everything that is most tedious, crass and despicable about modern Hollywood!" (Tookey, Daily Mail); "A giant, lumbering idiot of a movie!" (Edwards, Daily Mirror). The first American review, however, reported that it "feels destined to be the biggest movie of all time" (Todd Gilchrist, Cinematical). It’s certainly the biggest something of all time.

oh well.   I trust Roger (and Tookey).  ok, forget that one.  Thanks.

PS: I think Peter Hartlaub -- not Mick LaSalle -- will review this one.

oh and Ebert's Chi-town rival Michael Phillips, hated it too:

Director Michael Bay's film -- which has two settings, "puree" and "liquify" -- is like that scene in Raging Bull when Joe Pesci slams a car door against the guy's head, over and over. Bay's sequel is the car door; the audience is the guy.

[Gazoo]

TIME's reviewer concurs on Transformers 2.

[RGMike]

TIME's reviewer concurs on Transformers 2.

whothefuck is Mary Pols? Did they get rid of Corliss?  In any case, it's got 42 on Metacritic at the moment, not that it matters (it'll still make $300M +).

Me, I'm looking forward to The Hurt Locker.

[Gazoo]

TIME's reviewer concurs on Transformers 2.

whothefuck is Mary Pols? Did they get rid of Corliss?

Oh, no, Richard Corliss is still around; sometimes he passes off reviews to either his wife or Pols.  Not hard to believe that TF2 was beneath him.  (RC, btw, is more fun to work with than most.  Very dramatically talkative guy who loves the sound of his own voice.  And he actually appreciates good copy editors.)

[Tinka Cat]

TIME's reviewer concurs on Transformers 2.

whothefuck is Mary Pols? Did they get rid of Corliss?

Oh, no, Richard Corliss is still around; sometimes he passes off reviews to either his wife or Pols.  Not hard to believe that TF2 was beneath him.  (RC, btw, is more fun to work with than most.  Very dramatically talkative guy who loves the sound of his own voice.  And he actually appreciates good copy editors.)

is his copy clean?  some writers love copy eds (or should) b/c they make the writer look actually competent.

[RGMike]

Hollywood has gone insane:

WTF #1: Variety reports that the Academy will henceforth nominate 10 films for Best Picture every year, instead of 5.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118005322.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

WTF #2: Transformers 2 made $16M last nite, a record for midnight sneaks the day before an opening.

WTF #3 David Fincher (Seven, Zodiac, Benjamin Button) may direct The Social Network, a film about the founding of... Facebook. Oh yeah, real dramatic tension there. Again: WTF?

[urth]

Hollywood has gone insane:

WTF #1: Variety reports that the Academy will henceforth nominate 10 films for Best Picture every year, instead of 5.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118005322.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

What justification do they have? There are just so many high-quality films coming out these days that some deserving films (like Transformers or Pineapple Express) are being left out? I'm sure the studios are for it--five more films that can be called Best Picture nominees (and also five more films that will LOSE.) Jeez, you might as well add another half an hour to the ceremonies, so they can give synopses of these the way they did last year.