Funny People vs. Funny People

With the release date only two days away I wanted to do a little review of how Funny People is being marketed, seeing as how it is not an easy movie to market. Looking a bit more mature than Knocked Up and 40 Yr Old Virgin, Funny People stars, well, funny people but in the original trailer, the humor took a back seat to the cancer story. It is a long trailer and appears to give away a ton of the story, but here it is:




Then, the studio got worried that people would not respond to an Adam Sandler movie about cancer, but was called Funny People. So in come official trailer number 2. It is the perfect compliment to trailer number 1. In this trailer the comedy is the focus and we do get the doctor's office, but if you have not seen the first trailer, you will not know why. Here it is:




There is a huge difference between the two, right? The second trailer was obviously created to help people understand why it is called Funny People and to get people to know that the Judd Apatow humor is not lost. It is a very smart play by the studio and by Apatow to get two pretty different trailers out. I think it appeals to more people. There will be people who go to it because it does look more mature and more serious, and Sandler can do the more serious stuff. Yet, it is also gives the young people enough of the comedy to get them there, I think. The second trailer opens with such a classic Apatow joke that it lets us know he has not gone soft. Also, with the "green band" trailer for the first one, the movie almost plays at a PG-13 level, so this second "red band" trailer lets all of us know, Apatow has not changed his tune totally.

I was on board for this movie when I first heard about it because I love stand up comedy and movies do not have enough of it. I am not sure if it is really going to be too much a back stage look at that world, but it shows a little of that. I like the cast and am excited to see Eric Bana loosen up. The stand up looks funny, but not so funny that it makes no sense that the Seth Rogen character is still working in a deli. I do not anticipate this will be the monster hit his first two movies were and I am not sure this will have the quotables, but the cast is strong and the two trailers give a very well rounded view of the movie and have only made me more excited for it.

The Ugly Truth

In a book that does not exist, there is a chapter called "Bad screenwriting 101" and in this chapter exists a section that discusses abandoning character traits because it is convenient to the script. When this book and chapter exist, The Ugly Truth will be used as an example in that section.

Abby(Katherine Heigl) is a frazzled, neurotic, obsessive compulsive who knows how to ruin dates better than I do. She is the producer of a Sacramento morning show and the ratings for the show are tanking. In order to save the show, her boss wants to bring in Mike(Gerard Butler) who has a cable access show called The Ugly Truth. His show is based around the idea that men only care about sex and only want hot girls. He says words that I am pretty sure cable access people are not allowed to say, but this is a movie, after all. Of course, Abby's reaction is not positive as Mike appears to represent everything wrong with men. Abby has met the perfect man, Colin(Eric Winter, who is a doctor with a chiseled figure and loves cats. Mike can see that Abby has no idea what she is doing and he agrees to help. If Abby gets the guy, she leaves Mike alone, if she doesn't get Colin, Mike will quit. Abby agrees and soon she is shopping for bras and dresses that show off that wonderful cleavage of hers. She starts eating hot dogs in a suggestive manner and Mike tries to loosen the girl up with vibrating underwear. As the ratings of her show skyrocket, Mike becomes a valued commodity and gets a shot at national late night with an appearance on Craig Ferguson. As much as Abby hates Mike at the opening, Mike loves Abby by this time in the movie. Lies are told, Mike quits, then the truth comes out and a wonderfully cheesy ending happens, in a hot air balloon no less!

Mike believes in telling the truth, no matter what. He is crude, raw and obnoxious. He calls everything exactly like he sees it and is not afraid to step on toes or ruffle feathers. Again, he always tells the truth no matter how hard it is to hear. Well, almost always. In the ONE moment of the movie where the truth matters most, the writers write for him to lie. They ask him to completely abandon everything he stands for to lie because the movie needs him to lie in this one moment. He goes right back to telling the truth, but in this one moment, he lies. he lies because the movie would be robbed of its horribly perfect ending if he told the truth in this moment. Without him lying, the couple would not end up in a hot air balloon with a gorgeous back drop for them to mend the fences. It is one of those super annoying ROM-COM contrivances that the genre needs to survive. Characters need to lie or withhold truth in key moments because talking it out would just be too easy.

That being said, The Ugly Truth is, well, no it sucks. It is a bad movie that asks Katherine Heigl to reduce herself to a fumbling, bumbling series of twitches and idiosyncrasies and asks us to believe Katherine Heigl's beauty is nothing compared to her own psychotic neurosis. It turns Gerard Butler into some run of the mill Dane Cook. yes, the entire movie I thought, "Shouldn't Dane Cook be the star?" It is an R rated ROM-COM with no input from Judd Apatow and that is pure Dane Cook territory. Butler, doing a admirable job masking his accent, does nothing terribly charming, but he does swear a lot. He is not afraid of any slang word for the male and female anatomy. Oh, but the lovely screen writers realize we have to at least kind of like him, so what do they do? They give him a nephew! He is very good with his nephew, so see, he is really sensitive. He was probably just burned by a girl or two, right? Right. His entire 20s were full of bad bad women.

It is hard to believe this movie was written by women. It is hard to believe that the same women who wrote a movie about a blonde girl who was perceived as dumb going to Harvard Law and becoming Valedictorian, wrote this movie that calls all women annoying, vapid and not worthy of love. Or that the same women who wrote a movie about a former playboy bunny turning a bunch of misfit girls into a bunch of cool and confident girls, could write a movie where Katherine Heigl has to have an orgasm in the middle of a restaurant because of vibrating panties, girl power, indeed! Meg Ryan faking an orgasm in the middle of a diner is funny, Katherine Heigl pretending to have an actual orgasm at a table full of guys, just kind of embarrassing.

My last and possibly biggest issue is just how quickly The Abby character warms up to Mike. I do not have a problem with them falling in love because opposites do attract, but as soon as Abby agrees to Mike's game she becomes incredibly comfortable around him. She is a totally tightly wound woman, yet on her first time out with Mike helping her, she is perfectly fine with him smacking her ass and talking about her breasts. She seems to enjoy it far too quickly considering the character we met at the beginning of the film. Maybe something was edited out or maybe (most likely) the people writing this abomination just do not care about character and they are certainly not concerned that they are insulting the intelligence of their audience.

Final Grade: D- (Only Katherine Heigl's body in her black dress saves it from an F)

P.S. Why set a movie in Sacramento and have it look nothing like Sacramento? They could have at least taken some B-roll of the capitol or something.

My 10 favorite Kevin Spacey performances

Kevin Spacey has long been my favorite actor, but as I was making this list, I realized how little he has really done. I did forgo the HBO movie Recount, because I wanted to keep it to the big screen. This is the first in a series of top ten lists of some of my favorite actors/actresses. If there is a particular actor or actress you want a list from, just let me know and I will do it.

10. Glengarry Glen Ross- Spacey has a supporting in this amazing ensemble piece, but he holds his end with some seriously heavy hitters. He is the office manager and is pretty much bullied during the film, but he does play a pivotal role in the climax of the film and again, as an unknown actor he holds up with Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin. The film is full of David Mamet jewels, but Spacey's delivery on one line is perfect. It is the final line in this clip. The way he hits it, you expect it to be yelled, but he is so perfect.




9. A Time to Kill- This comes from my favorite John Grisham novel and my favorite movie from his novels. It is another stellar cast, and Spacey's job is kind of thankless, as the district attorney. He milks the drawl and he is the flashy star lawyer. I really think the movie is solid, but what makes Spacey great is his willingness to let Matthew and Sam Jackson take over the movie. Spacey is there only to ask questions and let Jackson tear his lines apart.

8. The Ref- This is my favorite Christmas movie, hands down. Do not judge me, it rules. Kevin Spacey is a frazzled and very annoyed husband at Christmas as his family is taken hostage. Wackiness ensues and Spacey is totally game for it. Almost every line out of his mouth is full of hilarious contempt for someone in his family and Spacey gets the most out of each dig, but the thing that takes the cake is a nice monologue-y rant that is sadly not on the Youtube. So I will just post the monologue, instead.

You know, you and my wife have a lot in common. You both think you have some right to life working out the way you want it to, and when it doesn't, you get to act the way you want. The only trouble with that is someone has to be responsible. I'd love to run around and take classes and play with my inner-self! I'd love the freedom to be some pissed-off criminal with no responsibilities, except I don't have the time! But you don't see me with a gun. And you don't see me sleeping with someone else. You think my life turned out the way I wanted because I live in this house? You think every morning I wake up, look in the mirror and say "Gee I'm glad I'm me and not some 19-year-old billionaire rockstar with the body of an athelete and a 24-hour erection!" No I don't! So just excuse the shit out of me!

7. Superman Returns- It pains me to hate this movie, but I LOATHE it! However, Spacey's Lex Luthor is everything I hoped it would be. From the moment I heard he was playing the bald baddie, I was totally hooked. In a movie that disappointed me at every turn, it was nice to have Spacey in near orgasmic glee with the thought of beating the crap out of Superman. It is the one true great moment in an otherwise worthless piece of garbage.



6. Swimming with Sharks- If ever there was a movie to just watch because of a performance, this is it. I do not care much for the movie, but Spacey's over the top, egotistical hot shot producer is a doozy! He rips his way through every moment of screen time he gets and because of it we never question why we are supposed to have a kidnapper as our protaganist. We would want to kidnap our boss too, if he were Kevin Spacey's character. Any scene would do, but the equal vs. Sweet-n-low rant is tops.



5. Se7en- I cannot say anything or show anything from this movie without giving it all away, so I won't and instead just tell you to rent the movie, watch the movie and revel in Spacey's magnificence in the end.

4. American Beauty- This performance is probably 1 or 2 on most lists, but it falls to 4 for me, not because it isn't amazing, but because I really enjoy the other ones more. However, I do love one scene in particular. The whole movie plays like Spacey has been asleep and finally woken up and it is wonderful. His performance all the way through is energetic, nuanced, subtle, and not at all subtle and he nails every smug look and every fawning look with just the right hint of desperation. The scene I mentioned is him quitting his job. (Extremely bad lanugage)



3. The Negotiator- If I were to make a list of "personal classics" this movie would be high on the list. It is not considered a classic by any means, but to me, it is. I love everything about it and I love how Sam Jackson and Kevin Spacey play off each other even though they do most of their communicating via phone. Spacey is always under control in this movie, but matches Jackson's crazy intensity every step of the way. Jackson is more noticed in this movie because of his great line delivery in the trailer, but the chess match is only good if both players are awesome. I cannot find just the moment I am looking for, so I will just put my favorite quote as it is a nice introduction to the character. "I once talked a guy out of blowing up the Sears Tower but I can't talk my wife out of the bedroom or my kid off the phone"

2. L.A Confidential- Spacey is the coolest cat in a whole film of cool cats. Even the character name, Jack Vincennes, is cool. As a cop who is more worried about publicity than catching bad guys, Spacey exudes the kind of charisma he has been living off of these days. The suits and hats are sharp, the dialog crisp and Spacey is eating it all up in this truly wonderful film. I cannot find myself the clip/s I want, which is a bummer, but do yourself a favor and rent this one. It is often overlooked as the movie that lost to Titanic, plus, Spacey really knocks it out of the park through the whole thing and he makes everyone else look really good.

1. The Usual Suspects- So is it a little bit obvious, or a lot obvious for this to be my favorite performance? Well, probably but it is large in part to his performance that makes this my favorite movie of all time. The way he manuevers through actors, through sets, through an intricate and amazing script, how the performance forces him to be a story teller and a character and how the script calls for him to do a myriad of things and he does them all flawlessly. It is a truly mesmerizing performance and every actor in an interrogation scene is trying to live up to him, in my eyes. That is how good it is. There are many different clips and I cannot find exactly what I am looking for, but this almost has it. I wanted Spacey's entire reaction to be asked about Keyser Soze and then the story, but this will have to do.



And then just for fun:

The Hurt Locker

War movies are a dime a dozen these days and very few of them are making any impact. Last year and early this year a stream of Iraq war movies came and went without much notice or fanfare. When I started to see things for The Hurt Locker, I became curious because it was actually getting noticed through all the other war movies. It is one of the best reviewed movies of the year and the lead actor, Jeremy Renner (Who you know from..ummm well, nothing)has been getting raves. While I do not always buy into the hype of a movie, I did think it looked good and reviews can push me in one direction and all of a sudden I found myself really desiring to see it.

An elite bomb squad team has 40 days left on the tour of Iraq when something tragic happens. It is war and tragedy strikes. The two remaining members have to get a new third member and that new man is William James(Renner). James is a chain smoking, heavy metal music listening, reckless bomb tech with no time for rules and regulations. This does not work so well with his team consisting of JT Sanborn(Anthony Mackie) and Owen Eldridge(Brian Geraghty), as James pretty consistently puts the team in danger with his reckless way of dealing with bombs. He cuts off communication, refuses to use the robot disarmer, and kicks the trunks of cars that may or may not have bombs in them. He is also the team leader and appears to have great concern for the lives of his two team members. If that seems like a pretty simplistic summary, it kind of is. The movie is not about plot as the story consists of essentially just following this bomb squad around as they disarm or try to disarm bombs. However, the story is not what drives the movie.

Imagine having two hours to get from point A to point B and having to walk across a field to do it and having that field covered in mines, so every step may or may not be your last. It would be quite an intense experience. Thus is The Hurt Locker. Every scene in this movie pops with a stark intensity, a build up that is so tension filled, you are are almost begging for the pay off just so you can relax. Oh the pay off always comes, but you never know when it is coming and you never know just how big it will be. At times, the pay off is small and in other moments the pay off is the explosion you are expecting, but the tension, the set up is so good, that is what matters. In every scene, life and death are in a race and it is always neck and neck. Following these three men deal with the life and death aspects of war is a harrowing experience and one that director Kathryn Bigelow does not let go lightly. Do not go in expecting your usual independent drama. Make no mistake, The Hurt Locker is an action movie.

Jeremy Renner's performance is worthy of all of the accolades and attention he is receiving. His performance is gripping. It is impossible to take your eyes off of him. He fills the screen with a weird balance of leadership and pure deranged junkie like qualities. The movie opens with a quote about how war is a drug and William James is an addict. He is more than an adrenaline junkie. He is addicted to almost dying. We are not given a reason for this, which makes it scarier. I never took James as a superhuman, just a guy who had been lucky up to the point of this movie. His team is filled out nicely. Anthony Mackie has become quite a great young character actor and he gets the best monologue, which kind of sums up the movie and makes you question James' motives even more. Brian Geraghty adds a sympathetic character for us to give us insight into how scary the experience is. he is the most effected by the tragedies of the war and he comes across as the most normal guy.

Guy Pierce, Ralph Fiennes and David Morse all show up in cameo roles, in very important scenes. The scene with Ralph Fiennes is my favorite as it offers brilliant intensity, by mixing pure silence with loud bullets and crazed action. In any moment in the movie, but specifically this scene, people can die and bullets will fly. Then, without warning, the movie slows down, while maintaining an intensity that will make you want to scream and break things. Then, we see William James at his best, taking control of the situation, calming down his team and leading them in such a way that he does his best to keep them alive. It is that scene, in the middle of nowhere, where I feel the movie is most effective.

Towards the end a few things happen that I felt were a little out of place in this movie, but they were done with such crackling intensity, I forgave the way they veered away from the mission. Kathryn Bigelow is a director who understands pay off and understands how to get the most out of 44 days in the desert, that I have to wonder why she does not get more work. I am sure there is not a ton of work for a woman working in action movies, but this movie should make people see how good she can be. The Hurt Locker had to be more expensive than a lot of independent pictures, with the explosions and everything, and if there is any justice, it will have no trouble getting back every cent.

I know nothing of war, or weapons or procedures, so I will not even pretend to comment on how realistic the movie is in terms of war, but the movie presents itself in a real way. The fear, insanity, intensity and sadness these characters feel, is palpable. I was always just waiting for bombs to go off, or for people to die. There is not a real moment to breathe, as even the scene with the team drinking and having fun is just one wrong word away from erupting into something not pleasant. There are laughs to be had, to be sure, but they are not laughs of pure joy, they are laughs to momentarily ease the tension before Bigelow and company put about 50lbs on your shoulders for about 15 minutes, just because they can.

I cannot in my life imagine ever being in a war and this movie is a very clear reminder of why. it takes a certain person to live in a world where every day could be your last. The Hurt Locker, for a little over two hours, reassures me that I am lucky to have the life I have. I could be addicted to almost dying, like William James, even though he has an adorably chunky baby and a gorgeous wife(Evangeline Lilly) waiting for him at home, but they just do not do it for him. He needs to be on the verge of death to feel alive and it makes me just that much more content to be living the life I lead.

Final Grade: A+

My 10 favorite Movie Musicals

Let me begin by saying that it turns out I have not seen many of what are considered to be "classic" movie musicals, nor do I like very many of the ones I have seen. I might be a bit bias in that I just prefer to see the stage versions of many of the movies. So, this list may not look like what people might think a musical theater performer's list should look like. Also, I have never seen what is widely considered to be the best movie musical of all time: Singin' in the Rain. I have plans to see it, really I do, but I just never get around to keeping it high on my Netflix list.

10. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers- This is kind of weird one to be on the list because I really do not like the show at all. However, the movie holds a special place for me because it happens to be one of my very best friend's favorite movies and I first watched it with her. I have to admit the choreography is super exciting and it is a very fun movie. I do not put the movie on very often, but if someone wanted to watch it, I would be down for it, although I'd rather just watch it with Liz. The big social scene is my favorite. I could not find a full clip of it, so this is the start.



9. Nightmare Before Christmas- I am not as high on this movie as many people I know, but the music does stick with you, the animation is wonderful and the characters do pop off the screen. The story is perfectly weird and twisted and the music does present a sort of dark joy, which is an interesting contrast in terms and sounds. I do not have a Christmas movie that I have to watch every year, but if I did, this would surely be high on that list. It is tough to pick out a singular scene, but "This is Halloween" is the song I always end up singing and am now currently singing.



8. Grease- I really do love the movie, even if I do not enjoy watching the live show. I love performing in the live show, but watching it is tedious. The movie is helped out by some classic Travolta moments, great choreography and the perfect cheesiness from the supporting cast. I want to complain about the ending, like so many I know, but I just don't care enough and Olivia Newton-John looks too hot for me to be bothered by the theme. "Grease Lightning" is my favorite scene because of the real world to fantasy world switch and I just love the song. I do think the movie would be better if "Alone at the Drive in" had made it from stage to screen.



7. Across the Universe- I have to admit a certain amount of surprise at myself for this one. The fact is, I saw it and kind of liked it and figured that was it, but the movie has stayed with me. The key moments in the movie are so excellent that they make up for the lack of a cohesive story and since I am not the world's biggest The Beatles fan, the music is not destroyed for me. In fact, some of the music is enhanced for me by the images of the movie. The cast is young and energetic and I have the soundtrack, so the voices stay with me. There are about 4 or 5 truly awesome sequences but I think my favorite is "Strawberry Fields Forever." That is the one that most sticks with me. You have to go in about 2 minutes of the clip.



6. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut- So sue me, I love this as a musical. I love how they make the kids dance and how Satan is portrayed as a kind of sympathetic homosexual. The music is funny and catchy and the movie does have a point. The songs are satires/parodies of songs form other musicals and when you hear Oklahoma as a very foul song, it makes it that much better. I have been waiting for another South Park musical ever since this came out and I love that the two creators seem to really like musicals. Picking just one moment is really tough, but I think "It's easy, mmkay" is my favorite because of the dancing. Just watching these cut outs dance is too much fun to pass up. There is no clip that be can embedded, damn.

5. Guys and Dolls- The clothes are slick, the gangsters are smooth and Frank Sinatra, well he is grossly miscast, but who cares when he looks and sounds the way he does. Guys and Dolls is one of my favorite on stage musicals and the movie lives up to my ideas of it. The dancing is so wonderful, the singing great and Marlon Brando does a pretty good job considering it is the part Ol' Blue Eyes should have had. There is a serious energy coming off of this movie and from the first time I watched it my junior year, I have enjoyed going back to it every so often. My favorite scene is the sewer scene, but to pin it down even further it is the gamblers dance. Great stuff.



4. Hairspray- This is the most perfectly fun musical I have ever seen. Everything about it is pure energy and style. The colors pop, the dancing is wonderful and I love every one's voice, even Travolta's weird voice thingy. When my theater played this movie, I watched the final half hour a few dozen times. I have seen the whole thing probably 8 or 9 times already and I keep coming back for more. I think it is perfectly cast and while Adam Shankman kind of annoys me, he did a great job as the director/choreographer. I really love everything about this movie, but if I had to narrow down my favorite thing, it would be "You Can't stop the Beat" because the dancing is awesome, but they also get a lot of great character moments in it. I kind of want to watch it now.



3. Aladdin- So, I had to find one Disney movie to kind of fill in for all of their great movie musicals and Aladdin is my all time favorite one. So, you can kind of call this one a representative of a whole gaggle of movies, but this is my favorite of them. Disney did such a wonderful thing by keeping the musical alive when everyone was kind of afraid to make them and the story, characters, colors and energy propel this one. The music soars and there are so many really great sequences. It has a great funny song, great love duet, wonderful first song, and that great Disney song that gives the animators a chance to really shine. My favorite song is "One Jump" but my favorite sequence has to be "Never had a friend like me." Robin Williams has not much work better than the Genie.



2. Moulin Rouge- If you really know me, this should be no surprise. This is my ultimate tragic movie. It is my favorite heart breaking movie and if I am watching it, it usually means something is wrong with me. The movie pops off the screen and it takes the idea of a jukebox musical to new heights by using Nirvana in a musical. It also re imagines "Like a Virgin" as a very creepy song and crams about 50 years worth of love songs into one medley. Ewan MacGregor is just absolutely wonderful and heart breaking throughout the whole thing and Nicole Kidman has never looked better. For my favorite sequence, I do have to go away from the romance and pick the Roxanne Tango for sheer artistic perfection. It is dark, creepy, sexy and weird, everything one could hope for the movie. Of course, I love this movie not just for the musicals aspect but because it really truly breaks my heart every time.



1. The Wizard of Oz- I knew I was hooked on this movie in one very particular moment: trees throwing apples. It has nothing to do with the music, no, but that was the moment I knew I would love this movie forever. I do love the music and the dancing and the munchkins, but it is the apple throwing trees that hooked me. It is the perfect fantasy film that leads into the perfect realization and fantasy is nice, but reality is where our collective hearts are. I love the journey and how the heart, brain and courage are internal things in all of us and I love the evil witch and the red shoes, but mostly, I love the trees that throw apples. We would not have the awesome trees in Lord of the Rings without the apple throwing trees of The Wizard of Oz. If you want my favorite musical moment, it has to be Judy Garland simply soaring over "Somewhere over the Rainbow." The girl could perform the hell out of a song.



A few last thoughts:

West Side Story was number 11

Mary Poppins was number 12

Chicago was nowhere near this list as I think it is the most overrated movie musical we have with the most awful casting job.

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

Since I just assume everyone who reads this is someone I know, it is no surprise to anyone that I am not a Harry Potter junkie. I stopped reading the books 65 pages into the first book. I have enjoyed the movies, except for HP5, which was a disaster. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince(Henceforth HP6) had all the set up to be equally disastrous. It has the same director from HP5 and it is rated only PG, which seems weird for a movie that is supposed to be darker. With all of this, I was not terribly excited about the movie. The culture of Harry Potter is interesting and the fan culture, while kind of annoying, intrigues me, so I thought the best way to experience HP6 was with those fans at a midnight show. I will not go into the details of the night, but I will say it did get me in the mood for wizardry.

As the three heroes of HP enter the 6th year at Hogwarts, things have changed for the darker. The halls of the school appear a little emptier and the students all a little more goth-y. Harry, while still all awkward, has a sort of confidence about him and a maturity that comes with seeing death. He travels with Dumbledore to try and recruit a teacher to teach potions. Professor Horace Slughorn(Jim Broadbent) used to teach at the school, and Dumbledore wants him back, for mysterious reasons. Harry has learned to just roll with Dumbledore's crazy requests and is soon Slughorn's favorite student and Harry is awesome at making potions because he found a special copy of the text book, that used to belong to the Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore has recruited Harry to get a memory out of Slughorn that involves a former student, Tom Riddle because Riddle grew up to be Voldemort. On the more teenage level of the story, Hermione is battling feeling for Ron, who in turn has become involved with a total 1980s valley girl. Harry is also battling feelings for Ron's little sister, Ginny. The main villain arch in this film involves Drako Malfoy being called on by the Dark Lord to carry out a nefarious plot and Snape has joined in an unbreakable oath to watched over Malfoy as he carries out his plan.

The theme of HP6 appears to be "relationships." The friendships, romantic relationships and the relationship between good and evil are examined closely here. One of my favorite moments in the movie is one of the quietest moments with Hermione and Harry sitting on steps consoling each other, like real teenagers. I think moments like those are what make people real fans of these stories. The wizard stuff is cool and the entire world of HP magic is interesting, but it is the remembering that these are teenagers intrigues me most, for some reason. Perhaps the pacing slows down by capturing these intimate moments, but without them, you just have a bunch of wizards shooting electricity at each other, without caring about them. The Dumbledore/Harry relationship is incredibly interesting because it so nicely blends and goes beyond teacher/student, father/son and even friend/friend. The two exist on a totally different plane than anyone else. There scenes together are both funny and serious and there is a warmness there. I liked it. Of course, all good fantasy stories are predicated on the pull between good and evil and HP6 is not without this pull. From Drako Malfoy to Bellatrix Lestrange, the dark forces are very present, even if we never seen Voldemort, except for the young, creepy Tom Riddle.

Whereas HP5 dragged, HP6 moves along at a nice clip, even if it is 153 minutes long. I could do without Quiddich, but I understand it is an important part of the Harry Potter world. It does allow for some nice flying effects, and is the catalyst for Ron's love triangle. HP6 also has a nice look to it from a cinematography stand point. I mentioned the darker Hogwarts halls, but the use of light and shadows is top notch. I loved the shot of Harry's shadow mixed with the back of Hermione when she is hunched over crying. Then there is the absolutely thrilling sequence with Dumbledore and Harry in a giant lake (Gondola and everything!). The way it is shot is gorgeous and haunting with the light cast from the wands providing just enough light, but leaving just a enough darkness to give one purely awesome jump scene. I like how frenetic the scene is for a few seconds and then how fluid it is and how it ends with a really wonderful special effects sequence. In fact, all of the effects are really good here. I love smoke of the death eaters and how the teleportation scene looks with Harry making weird faces. Also, the bridge falling apart looked so good, I wish it had lasted longer.

The complaints I have about this movie are, to a lesser degree, the same problems I had with the last movie. A major character death is not treated with the kind of grandiose respect a major character deserves. In the Harry Potter world imagined by David Yates(Director), major deaths barely seem to register in the moment. Also, I am waiting for a total bad ass wizard fight and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to have that. I am not sure if he is handcuffed by the novels, but wizards should have bad ass wizard fights, yes? The one between Drako and Harry barely registers as a fight and I was left wanting something, anything resembling a wizard fight. These are complaints I have carried over from HP5, but Yates has solved a few of the other problems he had, which maybe means I just did not like HP5 because it wasn't an interesting story. The PG rating did seem to hinder just how dark and awesome the movie could have been, but I was not as distracted by it as I thought I would be.

The 3 main kids have grown into decent actors, with Emma Watson's Hermione getting the most emoting and she handles it the way you would expect a teenager to handle it. Daniel Radcliffe's Harry is getting less and less annoying as the story goes on and I enjoyed his kind of cocky streak in the film. As Ron, Rupert Grint is treated as mostly comic relief and he seems willing to play the part. However, I was not as taken with the comedy as most people were. I think being a fan of the world helps with the comedy because those people know the characters more than I do. I thought some of the comedy worked, but some of it was a bit forced for me, but since everyone else was cracking up, I cannot complain about it too much.

HP6 offers a dark look at the school and the world of magic, but it could have been darker. Yet, I found myself really enjoying the movie as a whole. It held my attention for the entire time and I really liked the focus on relationships and that the movie was not afraid to let relationships blossom and that it gave us quiet teenage moments without running over them for more action. yes, I feel there could have been more action, but the one sequence involving the lake makes up for it. Whoever found some of these locations deserves kudos for finding gorgeously dark spots, especially the use of the Weasley house and the area surrounding it. The acting from the teenagers is almost up to par with the outstanding adults and it is always nice to have Alan Rickman on screen for longer than a few minutes.

I come to Harry Potter with no preconceived notions of how it should look, play or sound. I am prone to getting a little bit lost because the movies are not made for people who are not hardcore fans and I can respect that. There is a language that goes with the world of Harry Potter and I am not fluent in it. I get most of the stuff and I understand most of what is going on, but I am not always 100% sure as to what is going on and who is who. I am okay with that because it makes me pay closer attention. I also want to mention that a girl named Luna is my all time favorite character, not just because she is weird and wears weird things, but because she just accepts everything. She wins for having the best line in which she explains she wears shoes to bed because she sleep walks. She does not say it to be weird, but because it is practical to wear shoes if you sleep walk. LOVE IT!

Final Grade: B

Bruno (Spoilers!!)

In 2006, a movie (Borat) came out that was so funny, and wrought with brilliant social commentary (like Frat boys are misogynistic!!! Who knew??) that instead of waiting 20, 15 or even 10 years, people decided to remake it only 3 years later. Wait, it isn't a remake? Okay, well three years later we get a sequel! Wait, it isn't a sequel either? Hmmm. Okay so 3 years later we a totally new and original work that looks, sounds and feels exactly like Borat but with totally different people. Oh wait, I mean the exact same people, just a different character. If I was to write a tagline for Bruno I would make it be "Just like Borat, but with more dildos."

Bruno(Sacha Baron Cohen)is the host of an Austrian fashion show until a stunt goes horribly wrong and so he has decided to go to Hollywood to become a celebrity. He tries acting(The most obviously set up stunt, where there is no punch line), he tries to host a television show(I believe the punch line here is on us for even watching), tries to make a sex tape (With Ron Paul, no less), then wants to start a charity(Getting peace between warring nations,The single funniest bit in the movie), and adopts a little African baby (like Angelina and Madonna). Eventually he realizes he has to be straight (like Tom Cruise and Kevin Spacey, a nice dig), so he enlists some Christians to make him straight. To be straight he goes hunting, attempts karate, tries to join The National Guard and goes to a swingers party. None of it seems to make him famous, so we cut to 8 months later where Bruno has turned himself into a very straight acting host of a VERY hetero fight night, until something goes horribly wrong, the footage ends up all over the world and Bruno becomes uber famous and gets to record a charity song with some pretty famous faces.

The highest order of praise I can give to Bruno is that it is funnier than Borat. Of course, I have attended funerals funnier than Borat. The real question becomes what is real and what is staged? If things are staged, then the joke is on the audience and that doesn't seem like the point. Sacha apologists and studio people always talk about the social commentary. Sacha is creating an overly gay character to point out the homosexuality in the world, and by world he means THE BIBLE BELT! Oh shocking, people in the south are homophobic, but is it really only homophobia? In the scene where Bruno goes hunting and camping, he shows up at one of the guy's tent at 3:30 in the morning, naked. Now, the guy reacts with some harsh words, but if I took a guy out camping I did not know and he was at my tent at 3:30 in the morning naked, I might not react so nicely, either. It isn't funny and I think the guy realized he was about to be the butt of a joke and did not like that. Would you? Ron Paul thought he was being interviewed for something real and ends up alone in a room with a guy essentially trying to trick him into sex and Paul reacts by calling Bruno "queer" and "crazy." Is "queer" a slur? I do not see how it can be because television shows use it in their title. Did Paul mean it as a slur? Possibly, but one cannot know and if some guy you didn't know all of a sudden stripped down instead of interviewing you, you might scream some things out and leave the situation.

I do not see any social commentary in scenes featuring Bruno and his boyfriend running things in each other's asses. I also do not think it is funny. I do not see the social commentary of Bruno touching guys having sex and showing the guys getting a bit uncomfortable with it. Do the guys react in homophobic ways, maybe, but not really. These people belong to a club of like minded people and they have just been, umm penetrated(for lack of a better word) by some guy who is obviously coming on to the naked guys. The slurs are out of hand, yes, and maybe Cohen is trying to capture that, but it isn't funny, nor is it terribly interesting. In the final scene, there is rampant disgusting homophobia, but is there any single person surprised that a bunch of drunk rednecks expecting to watching two guys beat the shit out of each other are homophobic? If you are, I would venture that you are an absolute idiot, the kind of idiot who could easily be duped by Sacha Baron Cohen's immature, unfunny, slightly offensive antics.

Bruno operates in a world where gay sex is always weird, where gay sex is represented by shoving remote controls, gerbils and champagne bottles in asses. By showing gay sex as only that, does Sacha do any good? Is he really pointing out any injustices, or is he helping to feed said injustices? By playing an overly effeminate homosexual who dresses in very disgustingly package enhancing costumes, can he do any good? When he visits the minister who wants to help him become straight, nothing funny really happens. Watch Religulous and see Bill Maher do the same thing, but much much funnier.

By feeling offended by aspects of this movie, am I part of the problem? Are only homophobes offended by it? Do I not have a funny bone if I do not think it is funny to watch a guy unload a fire extinguisher in another man's ass? If so, I am okay with that. I actually think comedy should be funny to be considered comedy. I do not have a Pavlovian response to penises and things being shoved into asses. I do not laugh just because I see those things. I am not saying that if you do, there is something wrong with you. if you find this movie to be funny, fine, that is fine. I laughed when the parents were willing to have their toddlers do anything to get a modeling job. I laughed when Bruno sang a song to warring countries and I smiled when Sting, Elton John, Bono, Slash, Snoop Dogg and Chris Martin showed up. But do not try and convince me there is some deeper cause going on here. Sacha Baron Cohen is not helping any cause, or righting any injustices. He is not helping a gay cause by showing himself chained to another man, engaged in some ridiculous sex act. If you want to laugh fine, cool even, but do not convince yourself there is a deeper thing going on here and stay out of my face with that social commentary bullshit.

Sacha Baron Cohen is a very talented man. I give him props for being so dedicated to his craft and not breaking character no matter what happens. I imagine he has been beaten, arrested, roughed up and called many many names and he always stays with the game plan. I respect the man for that, but I will be glad when I can go back to not paying attention to him. I do not need obnoxious characters to tell me homophobia exists in the deep south, or anywhere for that matter. If he really wanted to challenge the beliefs of people, he should show up as the most straight looking, straight acting guy ever and then start making out with a guy. That would, at the very least, be interesting. He should really make people question who is gay and who is not by not being stereotypically homosexual. I am not sure I would really care any more that way, but at least it would not be such an easy joke.

Final Grade: D-


P.S. Do not tell me to lighten up because it is just a movie. I am well aware it is just a movie, but people want to treat it as some social experiment and that is where my problem is.

I love you, Beth Cooper

I am not sure what prompted me to read the book on which this film is based. It is written by Larry Doyle who writes for The Simpsons, but I have never enjoyed that program, so I am not sure why I picked the book up. However, when I finished the book, I was glad I did. Very rarely do I enjoy funny fiction. I mean there are funny novels out there, but I would not classify Animal Farm as funny fiction. The first thing I did when I finished the book was see if it was being made into a movie. It read like a teen ROM-COM, so I was sure it was being made and, lo and behold, it was. I thought casting Hayden Panettiere as the girl was perfect, if a little too perfect, but when I saw the PG-13 rating, I was a bit nervous. I am not against PG-13 movies, but teen movies feature teen characters and save for those singing wildcats, teenagers tend to live life at an R rating.

Denis Cooverman(Paul Rust), with a nose that takes up half the screen, is a nerd. He can quote useless(useful) facts and stats as a moment's notice. He has a lightsaber and he has never spoken to Beth Cooper(Panettiere), but has been in love with her (from behind) forever. he has sat behind her in every class it seems. Never mind that it makers no sense because he was probably in all honor classes, as she was most certainly not. Cooverman, under the influence of his quasi-homosexual best friend, Rich(Jack Carpenter), decides his Valedictorian speech at graduation, is the best place to confess his love. He does it, then he goes on to insult some anorexic girls, a bully, the stuck up snob, and Beth's already graduated boyfriend. After the speech, Denis finally speaks to Beth and invites her to his graduation party. She surprisingly shows up with her two friends, Treece and Cammy(Lauren Storm and Lauren London), and hijinks ensue. Unfortunately for Denis, Beth's Terminatoresque boyfriend shows up to kill him. This sets off a night no one will ever forget. Denis, Rich, Beth, Treece and Cammie spend the movie running from the boyfriend, talking about everything, breaking laws and maybe, possibly hooking up. All the while, Denis seeing the real Beth Cooper and realizing he really never knew her.

As Beth Cooper, Panattiere is sexy beyond belief. Her wardrobe does exactly what you hope it will and Panattiere sluts up properly. She is a wild girl who cannot drive properly, she makes out with gas station clerks for beer and she breaks laws left and right. However, there is a sadness to Beth Cooper, a girl who believes she has peaked in high school and Panattiere really is effective in it all. She gets us to like her without being overly likable and she is pretty funny. Did I mention how sexy she is? As the two friends, the two Laurens are up to the task of being hot and playing the background. Lauren Storm gets more laughs because she is the dumb, super slutty. Paul Rust looks more like a high nerd than anyone I know and he is really good at the physical humor. He has an older look, but he does not need dorky glasses to be the nerd. He is like Jason Biggs in that way. He is funny and gains our sympathies for everything that he goes through in the night. the best friend, Rich, is probably the most fun to play. He quotes movies and then gives movie title and director through the whole movie and he is trying so hard to convince everyone he is not gay, all while saying some very gay things. They do not overdo the "gayisms" but it turns out pretty damn funny.

Chris Columbus, director of 2 Harry Potter movies and 2 Home Alone movies seems to be beyond this genre, so maybe he is slumming it here, but he does do a pretty good job of pacing the film. These kinds of teenage fantasy movies are often derailed by clunky pacing, but no scene really drags. The set pieces are quickly dispatched for new scenes where new craziness happens. There is the school, two house parties, the road, the car, the cabin in the woods, and the random campground. Columbus gets all his money shots and he has spaced out the appropriate amount of physical battles with the right amount of scenes with just dialogue, where Denis and Beth start to get to know each other. My favorite sequences are actually the really random flashbacks, especially the towel whipping one, which leads to the best fight sequence in the movie.

I Love you, Beth Cooper is not going to change the genre of the teen ROM-COM but it is a bit different in as much as it is clean. There is not a lot of foul language, there are not really any fart jokes or dick jokes or anything like that. Maybe it is a bit tame by those standards, but there is a threesome, well the we see the very beginning and very end of one, and there is a side nude shot of Hayden, so it is not all apple juice and jello. I doubt any of the stars are going to break out because of this movie and it will be forgotten in a few months unless screen caps come out of Hayden's side boob debut, then it will linger for a bit longer. I laughed more than I thought I would and was entertained for the 95 minutes or so of the movie and sometimes that is enough.

Final Grade: C+

My Sister's Keeper

I have never watched a movie that worked so hard for the tears. First, a girl has cancer and we watch her bleed, vomit, cry and look pale. Then, cancer girl's little brother is dyslexic, the judge of the case (more on that) just had her daughter killed by a drunk driver and to top it off, the lawyer has an iron lung, needs a dog to keep him away from magnets, oh and he has epilepsy. I have to admit I was surprised the father did not have one leg and the mother an eye patch, light hearing loss and a speech impediment. All of this adds up to a kind of over the top cheesiness, but the movie is so earnest, there are tears.

Anna(Abigial Breslin) is a young girl who was made in a test tube specifically to be spare parts for her sister, Kate(Sofia Vassilieva) who has been sick with cancer for years. Anna is tired of being poked, prodded and abused and she wants to sue her parents for medical emancipation. She goes to see Campbell Alexander(Not Alexander Campbell like a normal named person) who has a 91% success rate and he takes her case. Her parents, Sara and Brian(Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) react in different ways, with Sara screaming, crying and overall being unreasonable and Brian quietly trying to figure out what is going on. The brother, Jesse(Evan Ellingson) does some stuff, but it is never explained where he goes or what he does. I guess he is trying to get his parents to notice, maybe? Who knows because he is kind of tossed aside here. Then through a series of elaborate flashbacks we see the past filled in. We get Kate's heartbreaking and tragic love story(This flashback earns the legitimate tears) and we see how the family has dealt with Kate's cancer through the years.

The opening 15 minutes of the movie really set it up to be super confusing because each character gets time to narrate a portion of the story and I was worried that if the movie kept up that it would be a bit confusing what is going on. Narrating from different perspectives is fairly easy in book form because you can do it chapter by chapter, but in a movie, it can be a bit mixed up and can pull you out of a story. Luckily, it is handled pretty well and it goes away for the most part after that. When the movie gets going, the voice overs become minimal and the focus shifts between the past and present. The film, at times, plays like a series of shorter vignettes that make up a larger story, meaning there is, at times, a severe lack of cohesion in the story. A flashback will happen that does not really make sense in the present tense, but there because it is supposed to be there. This makes for some muddled story telling, which can really put the movie in a bad position because instead of crying, like the movie obviously wants me to do, I was left wondering why this scene was put in that place.

That is not to say there aren't tears, because there are. When Anna meets the judge and they have their conversation, there are legitimate tears, and the aforementioned love story really brings them in. Also, the beach sequence is designed to make the eyes water up, if not make full on tears pour out. I really enjoyed the beach scene because it is perfectly placed in the movie and it is the exact kind of scene one expects to find in such a movie. The non sick kids feeding birds in slow motion, cancer girl is between dad and mom laughing and getting bald head kisses, while the ocean crashes in the background and a sappy song plays. Those scenes were made specifically for movies about girls with cancer and girls suing their parents. Oh and in case you have not cried by the final 15 minutes, you get to endure a whole scene of deathly ill cancer girl and her mother. THEY WILL GET THEIR TEARS OUT OF YOU!!

Abigail Breslin has the toughest duty, in my opinion. She has to play a girl who was never meant to be and exists solely so her parents can keep their real daughter alive. Then she has to live with the parents she is suing and she has to live with the consequences that if she wins her case, her sister will die. It is not an easy task for a young girl, but Breslin is growing into quite a little actress. She is utterly charming, but she has something deeper there. Abigail is taking great roles and this is another solid job by the young girl. Sofia has the worst job, playing a girl who does nothing but cry, scream and bleed, but she will rip your heart out during certain moments. The love story between her and Thomas Dekker is the highlight of the movie for me (although fans of the book are up in arms). Sofia has a bright smile and winning personality that make it even harder to watch when she starts puking. The big mess has been Cameron Diaz. The poor actress has been taken to task for being too much, too over the top. In my opinion, there is no way to over react to having a teenage child dying of cancer. That is just how I feel. When it comes to the death of near death of a loved one, there is no way to really over react. Is Cameron a bit shrill? Yes, she is, but I think the part is kind of written that way. She is not the best actress in the world, but she has totally thrown herself into the role, even if she is a bit too pretty to really look like a mother of 3, not to say mother's of 3 have to be ugly, but she is too glamorous looking.

My Sister's Keeper asks moral questions about life and death. Is it okay to manufacture a child to save another child? Does that manufactured child not have rights? At what age are we able to make tough decisions for ourselves? isn't all life valuable? Then, the movie robs the audience of a tough answer by taking the easy way out. For 100 minutes we are asked to question life and question parental choices and then the movie weasels its way out of forcing a hard answer on us. Perhaps people will be satisfied to walk away without the tough answers, but I was not. Now, the book ends in a completely different way, in a way that changes everything and I am not saying the book ending is the way it should end, but I feel a different ending is needed to make this movie more whole. As it is, it is an okay movie, with a few tear jerker moments, but just as many moments that kind of make your eyes roll. At times it feels like the screen writer and director are trying to get as much from the book in as possible, but doing that leaves far too many dangling questions in the air when the movie is over.

Final Grade: C

Top 10 stand up comics

I have always felt stand up comedy is the most subjective thing out there. I do not know a single comedian that is loved by everyone. Every time I think I find someone that everyone loves, I find people who do not like that person. So, I thought it would be fun to list my favorite 10. For this list, I will be using guys who came to some sort of "fame" as comedians, meaning people like Jim Carrey, while funny, will not be featured. Also, to do an "all time" type list would take way too much time, research and effort, I am going with a current top 10, not that the people have to be alive, but that I currently like.

10. George Carlin- If I was doing an all time list, this guy would be higher, but I have to admit, I have not really listened much to him recently. The man had topics for days, loved to push buttons, and could go on the best rants without ever pausing for laughs. He would drive right through until he was finished and then he would relish the kind of cheers. He is most famous for "The 7 dirty words you cannot say on television" but I love "baseball vs. football" and it is clean. So here it is.



9. Ellen Degeneres- As far as female comedians go, I find myself rarely liking them for long periods of time. I am not sure why that is, but it is. I will find one funny in spurts, but not for a whole set, but Ellen is different. This woman is flat out funny and she was a favorite of my parents, so I have seen a lot of her. She is the only comedian I have seen my dad quote, other than Steve Martin and I like her long stories and her short jokes. She is totally likable, which can be a curse in stand up, but she makes it work. To me her most memorable bit is a very short bit about airplanes, and here it is.



8. Steven Lynch- If I am ever in a bad mood, I watch his special, sing along and just feel better. He is a good looking guy, which is rare for a comic, but he is also really funny. The songs are catchy which is a nice plus, but they are also very funny. I would like to see him live because I bet the songs play even better is person, but, I have a few of his specials and they are really strong. He manages enough good songs without really needing to fill up time with jokes because the songs are the best jokes he has. It is really tough to pick a favorite one, but I think I am going to go with "Special Ed" only because the only version of "Superheroes" on-line is the super long one where he takes audience suggestions and they get out of control.



7. Gary Gulman- Like someone who is higher on this list (Brian Regan), Gulman takes the every day little things and turns them into great jokes. He does it with an easy charm and a laid back delivery that works surprisingly well in person. He loves to talk about food, which is always a plus and he is another one of those likable comedians. There is not a lot of him up on Youtube, but he is well worth renting on Netflix, or going to see if he is around. I liked him on Last Comic Standing, but really grew to like him after seeing him live. He is just super funny and really relatable. As there is not much of him on-line, I am going with his "Pepsi" bit. It is a funny bit, but not the funniest, but it gives you a good idea of who he is as a comic.



6. Brian Regan- The first time I saw this guy I could only think about how weird he was. No one uses his facial expressions and body language better than this guy. His jokes are relatable, but his delivery really makes the bits work. He spends most of the time on every day things that we all understand and make jokes about, but his jokes are just so much better than ours. I decided to go with his wonderful Pop Tarts bit because it perfectly shows how he uses his whole body in a joke.



5.Jim Gaffigan- No one looks more like a stand up comedian than this guy. The idea behind being a comic is that the funniest people became funny as a defense mechanism and Gaffigan fits that. He is pale and nerdy, and he is hilarious. I am dying to see his act live. His voice is perfect and he changes it up mid joke for effect and his act is based on food, animals and laziness. Every joke he makes works in some way and I have decided to put, what I think is his best bit here for all of you. I present Jim Gaffigan on Hot Pockets.



4. Mitch Hedberg- Mitch is the kind of comedian not everyone gets. He is a one-liners style comedian who just says rapid fire jokes that will go over your head if you are not paying attention. He was always drugged out on stage, which added to his whole vibe. Not every joke hits, but he can get you on a string of jokes so funny, you need time to catch your breath. If you like Dimitri Martin, and not heard of Hedberg, do yourself a favor and check him out. Because he does not tell stories, or long jokes, you can check out any clip of his to see what he is like, so here is one that has a great opening.



3. Dane Cook- The most controversial comic among fans of comedy that I have ever seen. I do not begrudge those that hate this guy. I understand, I do. However, I love him. I love his long stories with no punch lines. I love his nonsensical quotes and manic energy. No one has been able to show me undisputable proof that he has stolen any material and I have never, in my life, seen a comic live who has held the attention of a crowd like this guy did. And he did it in a giant arena in the round. Maybe he lives, looks and feels more like a rock star than a comedian, but I still find him to be very funny. His newest stuff is a bit darker and a bit different and I like that he has soldiered on despite so many people just hating him, especially other comedians. No comedian has ever made it bigger as a comic than he has. I decided to go with a short bit just because he does rub people the wrong way, but here is his car alarm bit.



2. Dana Carvey- It is true, he became famous through SNL, but he is a stand up comic and he has the funniest stand up special I have ever seen. The jokes in it are over a decade old and it is still super hilarious. He utilizes impressions, instruments, and good old fashioned story telling to bring out the laughs and they all work. He has a great energy and he is constantly referring back to other bits from the special. His newest special was pretty damn funny, but he gets by on Critic's Choice, which is forever cemented in stand up hall of fame. It is really that funny. Everyone knows he can do impressions, but impressions are tricky because the bit has to be funny as well, something Frank Caliendo needs to learn. Carvey did not get as famous as Mike Myers, but he is worlds funnier. What follows his some guitar humor.



1. Chris Rock- This guy is number one on any list I make about stand up comedy. he remains one of the most fierce biting voices in the realm of stand up comedy in the vein of Richard Pryor. His specials are quotable, hilarious, nasty and feature some great "Oh no he didn't" moments. He tackles every possible issue from race, politics, music, celebrity and marriage. I know some people who just hate his voice, but his delivery is outstanding and really help make the jokes. he is known for telling really long stories and he can work about 6 or 7 different punch lines into a single story, which is impressive. Warning, the video, about strippers, has extremely coarse and foul language.



There are so many other great comics who did not quite make the list along some that I have not seen enough from to say whether I really like them. Kevin James has one spectacular stand up show, but it is the only stuff I have seen from him.

As far as some comics I cannot stand: Jeff Dunham, any of the blue collar guys, Lisa Lampinelli and Katt Williams.

Who are some guys that you like or hate?

Eminem and Kanye West video reviews

This is the highest quality of this video on Youtube, but it is missing the very beginning of the video which is a stat about how in 1950 Michigan was one of 7 states that contributed to 38% of the country's wealth. It is an important stat because the video takes place in modern day Detroit and is a sad love letter to a city that is crumbling. The song is not at all about that, but the video becomes a metaphor for Eminem's dwindling mindset during his drug addiction. The images of the video are hauntingly sad, with Tiger Stadium half destroyed and all of the sad empty buildings. Eminem has done a good job in his career of representing his home town and this is another opportunity for it. He has always played this tortured clown routine and this is the tortured side and the video has a fitting look and feel for this kind of song and his performance sections really mirror that. The third verse has been cut out of the video and radio version, which totally sucks, but the video still works. It may not be the most appealing Eminem video, but it really works together with the song to paint a very specific picture of loving yourself and your city, even when everyone else says you are ugly.



Kanye West consistently has the best videos. His videos are visually interesting, they tell stories and he is not afraid to go outside of the standard hip-hop video. This video, starring the stunningly gorgeous Rihanna is not different. Part Kill Bill, part Thriller and part just awesome visuals, Paranoid is one of his best videos. I love the striking black and white and how quick the images overlap and then the almost slow motion Rihanna shots as she scratches at the screen. The P.O.V shots from the car are cool and the video fits the song in a different way than I imagined. Plus, the video has an 80s feel, which fits Kanye's whole album, especially the 80s sound of this particular song. The first time I saw this video, I just fell in love with and my love has not faltered. Kanye uses the video format in the way Michael Jackson did. He understands how important videos can be. Plus, any video that starts and ends with Rihanna in bed cannot be bad.

Moon

Sam Rockwell in a movie basically by himself for 90 minutes? Yes, please. I love me some Sam Rockwell. My love for the man goes back to Galaxy Quest. He is a funny, quirky actor, who can always be very serious without losing a hint of what makes him so interesting. So, when you put him in a movie where he is on screen for the entire film, just sounded too awesome to pass up. Then the trailer came out and it made me that much more excited, because it was possible Rockwell was going to be playing more than one person. Awesome, totally awesome.

I am going to be pretty brief on my summary because the trailer is purposefully misleading and I do not want to blow the experience for anyone. Sam Bell has two weeks left on the three year stint on the moon. It is somewhere in the future and the Earth relies on Helium-3 power from the moon to survive and Sam is in charge of loading full canisters of H3 and sending them to Earth. He is alone, except for a robot, GERTY(Voiced perfectly by Kevin Spacey) who is there to help him, but may or may not be trustworthy. Sam is beginning to see things and not feel so well as he closes in on going home to his wife and child. He gets in a crash on the moon and when he wakes up, he begins to see himself as another person too. The other Sam might be just a hallucination, but might he not be?

Moon might be better known as David Bowie's son's first movie as a director. Under the name Duncan Jones he directs in such a style that everything that happens, just happens. There is not much of a sense of suspense, or thrills, but he has an interesting visual flare and it helps that the set is just incredible. The ship looks really detailed and really becomes a character in the film and the moon itself is full of interesting looking craters and machines. GERTY also has a really nice design and the ability to emote using a basic creepy smiley face, adding to the fakeness of the trust I have in GERTY's intentions. Jones created the story, with someone else writing a screenplay that spends a wonderful amount of time in the set up. We really get to witness Sam do what he has been doing for three years, with keeping plants, building models and other hobbies one does when one is alone. I like the small details of talking to the plants and how routine the first 20 minutes or so of movie are. It helps to have that basic level when the movie takes a turn.

However, nothing would matter if Sam Rockwell wasn't totally kick ass. Carrying a whole movie alone is not something many people can do. Granted, this movie is short compared to Cast Away and I Am Legend, but Rockwell is doing double duty in the movie. As Sam Bell he is manic, meticulous, almost warm and then when Sam starts to get sick he really turns it up a notch. Then as Sam's hallucination, he is mean, and more of an Alpha male. It is never difficult to know which is which because Rockwell even stands differently as both. He really puts on an acting master class and I really hope more people go watch the movie just watch him really shine. On the way to the movie, I was telling Robbie it is far too early for Oscar talk, but I would not be surprised to find Rockwell in the conversation as awards season comes around.

Moon might not be super ambitious and perhaps the story takes kind of a convenient approach to the twist, but I really enjoyed the movie. Rockwell is very kick ass and Jones creates an interesting world, if not an interesting atmosphere. The score is wonderful as it switches between weird and beautiful, all while being piano driven. Some of the score is even Coldplay style epic. It really helps create this futuristic moon universe. Watching this little Sci-Fi film it is hard to pin down if it is meant to be a thriller or a drama, but it does work more as a drama, a drama about a man coming to the end of his rope and the questions that come with furthering science and a movie that seems to question the sanity of being so dedicated to a job that is a bit crazy. But mostly, it is about Sam Rockwell being one of the best youngish actors we have.

Final Grade: B+

Public Enemies

There are times when a movie features such "can't lose" talent that you worry about expectations, or worry that it is too good to be true. On the surface, I was wondering if Public Enemies would be such a film, especially considering Michael Mann's last movie, Miami Vice. Jaime Foxx and Colin Ferrell are both very talented and the movie should have worked, but it was an epic failure. Here, Mann brings together Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and it is about bank robberies, so maybe it is more comparable to Heat. Heat is a movie everyone loves, that I think is overrated with such an amazing third act, you forget the first 2 hours are super boring, which is kind of typical for a Mann film. He does love really long movies and this would be no different, clocking in at a little over 2 and a half hours. So, I went in expecting mixed results, lowering my expectations, but was it enough?

John Dillinger(Depp) is not just an ordinary bank robber. He does it with flash and he then he hides in plain sight. He does not mess with the general public, because he needs to hide among them. He can escape jail whenever he wants it seems, and he does so twice in this story. He is a man who loves clothes, fast cars, baseball and one beautiful woman, Billie(Marion Cotillard). He does not plan for tomorrow and he is one arrogant criminal, but when you always have a way out, why not be arrogant? Tasked with catching him is Melvin Purvis(Bale). Purvis, fresh off of killing Pretty Boy Floyd(Channing Tatum) is the newly formed F.B.I's new hero. Purvis is a tight jawed law man with great suits and a moral conscience that keeps him on the right side of the law. Using new forensic science, Purvis believes he will catch Dillinger, but Dillinger has other things in mind. However, Dillinger has a weakness, Billie. He does not appear to really love the woman, but need someone to love and Billie happens to be her. He is constantly putting her in danger, and eventually gets her caught. Dillinger and Purvis do not exactly engage in chess match, because intelligence is often over looked for pure brute force and in those terms, Dillinger is more equipped because he is not afraid to kill. He looks charming and sharp, but he is a ruthless man, who loves a Tommy Gun.

For the first 90 minutes, Public Enemies is a pretty good movie. The two prison escapes are exciting in two different ways, the bank robberies, while kind of secondary are cool looking and the cast of criminals is filled out nicely. Then, well then, for the final hour, Public Enemies is totally kick ass. There is a very specific moment when this happens, and in typical Michael Mann fashion, it turns at a shoot out. The common opinion amongst movie fans is that Heat has the best shoot out in movie history. I want to make a semi bold statement and say that the shoot out in Public Enemies is vastly better than in Heat, even if they sort of follow the same timeline. Set in a log cabin style hotel/bar out in the middle of nowhere, the F.B.I opens fire from the woods and Dillinger's crew, from the hotel, return fire and for, what seems like 10 minutes, bullets fly back and forth with such sound and fury, that you flinch every time a Tommy Gun is unloaded. Then, after that, the scene transitions into this awesome cat and mouse chase through the woods, with more Tommy Guns and before it ends, a short car chase with more bullets before the whole thing ends in gun smoke and death. AWESOME!!

In terms of performances, it is nice to see Johnny Depp not be so freaking weird. Everyone knows he can do weird, but his charisma here is magnetic and scary, and very reserved. he keeps his Dillinger a mystery and an intelligent, nasty mystery at that. Bale, playing second fiddle yet again, is excellent. He has toned down his usual American growl, for a more buttoned down, slow burning thing. He is a man who is always thinking, but you get the feeling that he is always thinking he is over matched. He never seems sure in what he is saying or doing and Bale really delivers a wonderful supporting performance. It was so good, in fact, I kind wish he had more screen time because the character as seen through him, was pretty damn interesting. Fresh off an Oscar win, Marion Cotillard has a refreshing look and energy to her, but she is still learning how to master English and at times, her voice and enunciation are annoying, especially when she is upset or angry. She is a wonderful actress and she endures a scene that was almost impossible to watch, I cannot imagine how it was to shoot the scene.

Speaking of shooting the movie, Michael Mann is at the center of a debate that is beyond my knowledge of film(I am trying to learn though) about the differences in shooting in digital or shooting on film. Mann shoots everything digitally, which gives Public Enemies a kind of documentary feel, complete with some hand held camera work. However, it has been said that using shooting in digital has drawbacks, and one of those drawbacks appears to be sound quality because there were long stretches of dialog that were hard to hear and I thought it was just the auditorium in which I watched, but IMDB tells me otherwise. Also, at times, the background was distracting, because digital puts more shots in deep focus, which means on film, the background is at times out of focus and therefore you can better pay attention to the forefront, but in digital, the background does not always go out of focus. That being said, there are some truly stunning shots and there is some serious visual flare in moments. The whole sequence of events at the tail end are gorgeous and interesting visually and when Dillinger is brought out of the plane earlier, the shooting is phenomenal, like digital shoots better with less light than film.

Having Michael Mann direct a movie like Heat but adding Tommy Guns, is pretty freaking brilliant, but there are things left to be desired. I would have liked to have seen more focus on the formation of The F.B.I and probably less time on the Billie and Dillinger romance because it felt shoved in there for girls to fawn over the bad boy being in love. However, the violence is real enough, with fits and bursts of blood and bullet holes. The cars are sexy, the clothes are cool, the guns are loud and Johnny Depp makes one very pretty gangster. The sense of history is not exactly sound, as Pretty Boy Floyd was killed after Dillinger, but I understand the movie wanted to show Purvis as a worthy opponent for Dillinger, even though it is pretty clear that he is not. Yet, movies are not meant as history lessons, so that can be forgiven. Public Enemies works more than it doesn't work and with a final hour that good, it is hard to really find fault with it, plus, it gives yet another crazy portrayal of the greatest criminal ever, Babyface Nelson. If movies are to believed, this guy was so freaking manic, it is awesome to see him on screen.

Final Grade: B+

My 10 favorite MJ videos

Before I begin, "Thriller" will not be a part of this list. It is beyond this list. It is beyond any list. "Thriller" is the embodiment of why music videos exist and for that, putting it on a "best of" list does not do it justice. It deserves better. That being said, Michael Jackson was the greatest artist of the video era. His videos were events and often premiered in primetime on the big three networks. Many of his videos were mini movies directed by big name directors. He was a truly cinematic musician and his videos do deserve to be celebrated, so here we go.

10. Michael always had videos like this and this is my favorite. It probably has more to do with the song, but the video is striking, sad and kind of hard to watch, which is intended, I think.



9.MJ vs. MJ. Brilliant! There are other cameos, but the video is pretty simple. Plus, you get some awesome MJ dance moves and awesome MJ dunks. MJ was trying to stay current and this video helped.



8. A whole video spent chasing a beautiful girl, what is not to like? We even get an awesome Michael dance break. And did I meantion the beautiful girl?



7. This is my favorite Michael song that is not very popular. The video is mostly a performance video, but the editing and the wind effects make it so super cool and the guitars, oh those dirty, sexy guitars.



6.This video has to be seen in the full 10 minute version to be appreciated. It goes all over the place, with costumes and sets and dances and then, he turns into a panther, yeah.



5. This video should be seen in its full 15 minute mini movie form with Wesley Snipes acting and Scorcese's directing, but the version here will do. It is awesome with the dancing, the clothes, the attitude and the direction.



4. The classic red jacket is almost all you need here. The concept is cool, if a little West Side Story, but man those dance moves always make his videos, don't they?



3. I believe this is still the most expensive video ever made. Futuristic, nasty and awesome, MJ and JJ truly rip it up here.



2. A dark video, with cool effects for the time. Awesome editing and directing with a super cool concept. The vibe is creepy and the pay off is awesome.



1. This is my favorite MJ song and the video totally fits in my eyes. Again, the clothes, the dances and the look are all perfectly rendered by MJ and his team. The video is just awesome.