Oh, snap! Jon Hamm is in this movie. These seven minutes read like an extended trailer with longer scenes, but most of the scenes occur at the beginning of the movie, so instead of showing too much and turning me away, I'm actually more intrigued. I still don't think that this movie needed to be made, but I will make all sorts of justifications for science-fiction. I'm always game for movies that show how relying on technology is bad... "In this case, the less advanced civilization is us." Score one for aliens! And I don't care what anyone says. I like Keanu Reeves.
I just have one question: does the earth standing still have nothing to do with the sun's revolution anymore?
Tina Fey is dead on, and her funniest moment comes during an impromptu gun cocking. This skit hits all of the major issues -- the fact that they are ideological opposites so Palin should stop riding the coattails of Hilary's feminist breakthrough (because Palin is so far from being a feminist it's frightening); the fact that Palin doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is (and most people don't, but she should); the oversimplified Palin comment that anyone can be president if they just want it enough; that crying "sexism" is irrelevant if the media is asking questions about her credentials and experience; that Palin was the mayor of Alaska's meth capitol; and the ridiculous notion that seeing Russia from her background makes Palin an expert in international diplomacy.
But let's not forget Amy Poehler's amazing portrayal of the "boner-shrinking" Hilary. "I invite the media to grow a pair, and if you can't, I will lend you mine." SNL has really gotten off track these past few years -- I didn't laugh at any of the other sketches during the night -- but this one is beyond brilliant.
But really, guys. Let's stop glorifying the Republican's celebrity (a completely hypocritical turn of events considering the Republicans were slandering Obama for being a celebrity). Let's start talking about the issues. Let's try and teach people not to be one-topic voters (abortion is the number one reason why people choose one party over the other, regardless of social security, international affairs, war, education, and a hundred other things more important). Let's make it less about what they wear or how they speak. Let's make this election about what they say and what they plan to do. Elections should not be entertainment. They should not be "easy to understand." I want the leader of my nation to be smarter than me. (The president should be in the top 2% in the nation, not in the top 70%.) I want the next president to bring change (and not fake keep-everything-the-same change). I want the leader of the free world to believe in true freedom, not selective freedom. So stop with the "lipstick on a pig" commentary. Stop with photoshopping Palin in a bikini and the VPILF website. Make it about the issues.
Update: "The dragon is hungry." I take it back. I am definitely seeing this. The acting looks phenomenal, and the setting is refreshing. Plus, I don't think I'll figure out the ending of this one...
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam
This is just a pre-production trailer, but it still looks really amazing. You may remember hearing about this movie as the one where Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell will play variations of one role, the one that was originally cast as Heath Ledger. This, not Dark Knight (as is the popular belief), is really Ledger's last role. Director Terry Gilliam talks about the movie in a way that actually says nothing about the movie. It's a bunch of adjectives tacked onto fantastical words, but in all honesty, this trailer doesn't need words. Just show me the images. My favorite image clocks in at 2:19; iridescent blue-green jellyfish abducting people. Awesome.
Changeling, Clint Eastwood
Plot: Angelina Jolie's child is kidnapped and then the police return a boy to her, but it's not her son. I like Clint Eastwood well enough, but I don't think his name is synonymous with Academy Award and I thought Million Dollar Baby was extremely overhyped. But I loved Mystic River and I think Changeling will be a return to the mystery-suspense that Eastwood is so good at. I believed Tim Robbins' character was guilty, and I could very well believe that Angelina Jolie's character is just crazy. I'm indifferent to this movie -- I'll either see it or I'll wait to see it, but it'll be one of those "nothing else is playing" scenarios.
The International, Tom Tykwer
(Ignore the mini-trailer before the actual trailer. I would've put a Youtube trailer up, but this one is HD!) Plot: Clive Owen, playing Clive Owen, has to "go outside the system of justice." Naomi Watts also stars. I don't know. Stuff blows up and there are guns involved. With movies like this, I need a really intelligent plot (Italian Job and Inside Man did this well), and I just won't be able to tell until reviews come out. I don't really care if reviewers like a movie -- I just look for buzz words. If the phrase "plot holes" appear, I tend to avoid the movie. Also, if "great twist" appear, I tend to avoid it because I go into the movie knowing there's a twist so I'm subconsciously looking for clues and I figure out the end before it happens (I figured out 4/5 of the twists in The Prestige). So I'll wait on this one.
The Soloist, Joe Wright
I love Joe Wright, I do. I adored Pride and Prejudice and fell in love with Atonement, a faithful adaptation to one of my favorite novels. But this is just screaming "GIVE ME AN OSCAR" and I can't get behind that. Does it look beautiful and heartwarming? Yes. Is Robert Downey Jr. retrieving his career from oblivion? Yes. But am I also getting sick of him? Yes. It just looks like too many things are set up for "Best Oscar" for something... acting, directing, script, cinematography... where are movies like The Lives of Others, good honest movies? Sigh. I don't think I'll be seeing this...
Nothing Like the Holidays, Alfredo De Villa
Wow, it's September and here's a trailer for a holiday movie. But guess what, it actually looks funny. Plot: A Puerto Rican family spend what may be their last Christmas together; the parents are getting a divorce. The difference between this movie and others like it are that these jokes do not seem forced, and the ones that are ("Does your plumbing work?") work because of the Hispanic culture. And it really bothers me in comedies, TV or film, where other characters don't laugh when someone says something funny. People would laugh in real life! At least in Nothing Like the Holidays, the characters not only laugh, but they make fun of each other. They're an actual family, and it's not about them hating each other. (So overly cliché.) I'm definitely going to see this because I'm a closeted sap, and I'm a sucker for "Lean on Me."
Which TV moment is most memorable? The Emmys will air next Sunday, and during the show, they will show the top five clips in the categories of comedy or drama. You can vote for comedy here and for drama here. And I know you're just dying to see what I voted for... and yes, I voted twice.
Comedy: First choice: I Love Lucy, the infamous chocolate assembly sketch. Second choice: Friends, the one where Ross finds out that Rachel likes him and they fight because he's with Julie now, but then he comes back to the window at Central Perk with his puppy dog eyes and she opens the door, knowing full well what's about to happen... sigh, I remember when this aired, and it was so terribly romantic. Obviously this was before I became jaded.
Drama: First choice: ER, the scene where Doug says goodbye to Nurse Carol. This scene breaks my heart. Juliana Margulies does so much with so little. There are only two sentences spoken between them, and yet, the scene says so much. I never got into ER, but I did know that this was a true television relationship. Second choice: Lost, when the hatch blows up and the sky turns purple! Oh man, Desmond loves Penny! Desmond, nooo!
Side note for Drama: They included the clip from Grey's Anatomy where Kyle Chandler's bomb-squad guy blows up, but I think the scene with Christina Ricci's character is so much more fascinating. Ricci freaks out because her hand is holding on to a bomb, and Meredith is trying to calm her down. Then Ricci freaks out, retracts her hand, and leaves the room... but nothing blows up. Why? Because Meredith instinctively put her in hand on the bomb, thus putting her life in danger. These two actresses shared an emotionally charged scene, and it surpasses the explosive clip on this list.
Hamlet 2 is about Dana Marschz (pronounced Mars-z-ch-s) who has to save the drama class from budget cuts by putting on an elaborate play to raise money. Right away, there's a flaw in this because, as everyone knows, the drama department is the first of the arts to get cut, but in the movie it's the last. So Dana, an actor-turned-drama teacher who normally adapts a successful Hollywood movie into a play (you see Erin Brokovich performed at the beginning), decides to write an original work for the end of the semester. He settles on Hamlet 2, despite everyone being dead at the end of the first one, and as the movie develops so does his motivation. He wrote Hamlet 2 as way of forgiving his father. Get it? Jesus and Hamlet are two guys who need to forgive, and Dana plays the rib-tank-and-jeans-wearing Jesus.
The beginning of the movie starts off parodying the drama class stereotype, which includes a repressive homosexual male and an obnoxious do-gooder, who are actually the only two students in the class. With the budget cuts, the Latino population from other arts programs filter into the drama class, but Dead Poet's Society this is not. This movie is not about Dana reforming these kids or having any type of profound influence on their lives. In fact, the movie parodies this too. On the second day of this integration, Dana comes in and says, "I saw a wonderful movie last night. Dangerous Minds. So now I know all about you." And he says in such an obliviously ignorant way the students can't help but laugh at him. He's a joke. Near the end, Dana even makes the revelation, "My life is a parody of a tragedy! My wife left me. The kid's not mine." Hysterical stuff.
So while the students take a backseat to Coogan, the supporting adult players also get their time to shine. Catherine Keener, who knew you were so funny? Early on, at dinner, she has a full two minutes where it's just her talking, and everything she says will rip your sides with laughter. She knows when to pause and when to go for the kill. Why hasn't she displayed this talent before? (And no, 40 Year Old VIrgin doesn't count.) Elizabeth Shue also makes a fantastic cameo,which is actually more than a cameo. She stars as herself who left the business to become a nurse, and while talking to Dana's class about acting, one student asks what she misses about acting. Her response? "Making out with people. You know, really the only bad thing about being a nurse is you don't get to make out with your patients..." And then she trails off to another place and time. She was quite hilarious, especially when she attends the play presumably high. Her childlike wonder was beautifully played.
Is the movie a work of art? Not even close. Do I recommend it? Not exactly. Were some of the jokes forced? Well, yes. But did I laugh out loud during the entire movie? Yes. I even clapped a few times. Scenes worth highlighting are Keener's dinner speech, Coogan's toy-piano impotence-song in the hospital waiting room, the entire play of Hamlet 2 (Jesus moonwalks on water!), and the moment when recovering-alcoholic Dana drinks an entire bottle of Peach Schnapps (although it might as well have been gin or whiskey). This is one of the few movies that I'm actually planning on seeing twice. Possibly more. Dana, who roller skates to work because he can't afford gas, gets stuck in a gravel parking lot and screams, "Gravel is the bane of my existence!" That alone is worth seeing again.
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