Have You Heard About Ocean's 14?

It's called Weekend at Bernie Mac's.


(This joke was co-written by Kevin Devlin.)

My Plan: The Dark Knight

I plan to see The Dark Knight next week just in time for the backlash. My hope is that I get there before people are officially reacting against the movie so I can. If the backlash starts sooner than I guess I will make sure to be part of the counter backlash.

I just want to make sure my opinion makes me look cool.

Summer At The Movies

This summer offered a wide range of fantastic movies. I know this because making a top 5 actually become a bit of a chore. Imagine that? We're talking the summer here. The same summer that brought us I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry and Transformers. Even the once excellent fun Spiderman movies dipped into terrible territory this summer. And yet somehow a few documentaries, a couple of amazing cartoons, and an incredible showing from Judd Apatow and his ilk have made this the best summer movie season in recent memory.

Top 5 of the Summer:

5. King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters: Sicko and No End in Site are amazingly powerful films that show the way that documentaries can get to the heart of an important issue and display a perspective that is usually only available after time has turned around an issue. King of Kong is not that kind of documentary. It is however a great analysis of the nature of power and accomplishment, as well as obsession with perfection. The movie and it's characters would be totally unrealistic if it weren't so clearly a documentary. This is one of the smaller charms this summer and it's a movie that deserves big tent consideration.

4. The Simpsons Movie: This could have gone horribly wrong. I had curbed my expectations for months but the mania surrounding the release of this movie hit my brain like a ton of bricks around May. I was tense with anticipation. Lucky for me the movie did not disappoint. The movie uses the length and scope of film in all the ways that it should, playing the crude card (offered by a PG-13 rating) only a handful of times and always in wonderfully shocking ways. Here's hoping this film infuses the writers of the show with new focus and a new emphasis on keeping the show inventive.

3. Ratatouille: Perhaps Pixar's most fully realized film. That's no small praise, the staff at the media giant have taken great care to make each of their movies a special blend of heart, brains, and genuine block buster movie thrills. Ratatouille is also notable for it's decision to go for smaller names in casting (Patton Oswalt's lead performance in particular) allowing the movie to stand on the merits of the performances not their immediate recognition. On top of that it is the best looking movie of the summer by far.

2. Knocked Up: Judd Apatow's greatest achievement as a filmmaker is in the balance between real world emotion and real world humor. The jokes in Knocked Up are not caddy sitcom patter or out of no where gross out gags. They are the things that make you laugh everyday and that make you laugh way harder than anything you tend to see on a screen. This movie digs deep in to my mid-twenties heart by addressing my concerns in an honest and direct way. This movie is smart enough to not step too far outside of the realm of possibility. Sure, the happily ever after ending might seem a touch too hopeful, but the road there is paved with the same gaffs and good intentions that might lead me or about 75% of the people I know down the same path.

1. Superbad: This was obviously a tight race for my top spot. Perhaps time will make Knocked Up the preferred document of the summer of '07. But maybe the thrill and pace of Superbad will allow it to sustain more repeat viewings. Once again though the movie's true thrill is realism and relatability. That they were able to squeeze those things in spades into a sex comedy about perpetual virgins' sense of self and social acceptance seems like a miracle, but is actually probably about 4 decades over due. The movie should (if there is a god) end (at least commercially for a while) the American Pie school of teen comedy. If for nothing else we owe Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow for that one.

Trailers Right and Wrong

I've seen two trailers this weekend that play up the less is more vibe. As of now I will likely see both of them but they do show that there is a right way and a wrong way to do these kinds of trailers.

Wrong way...


Right way...


More is more...

Simpsons Movie To Make Life Worth Living

I hope. (Fingers crossed.)

The above message was paraphrased from the episode The Itchy and Scratchy and Pootchie Show, the episode is probably the most self effacing episode of The Simpsons ever and I was glad to watch it immediatly prior to my viewing of the movie for the first time tonight.

The Darjeeling Limited: And more Movies to look forward to.

Besides this week's The Simpsons Movie and next month's Superbad I was afraid that I didn't care about any upcoming movies. Then I saw the trailer for the new Wes Anderson movie and the world alligned itself again.

Then I started looking through release dates and found a monsterous list of movies I'm curious about:

Really Excited: The Ten, Be Kind Rewind, No Country For Old Men, Bee Movie,

Curious but not sold: I Am Legend, There Will Be No Blood, Sweeney Todd, Into the Wild(a drama directed by Sean Penn featuring a performance by Zach Galifianakis?!), My Blueberry Nights and Balls of Fury.

I guess it's not so monsterous, but sizeable.

Plus this Fall prepare yourself for the directorial debut of BEN AFFLECK!!!! Oh, god...

My Favourite Movies of the Decade So Far

Apropos of nothing I decided to re-assess my favourite movies of the decade. Because this is all pretty extemporaneous I may revise several times. Making lists is fun.

1) Lost in Translation
2) Borat:Cultural Learnings For To Make Benifit Glorious Nation of Kazakstan
3) 40 Year Old Virgin
4) Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
5) Children of Men
6) Talk To Her
7) Bowling For Colombine
8) The Host
9) Mean Girls
10) Amelie

To give some reasoning to this post Children of Men came out on DVD recently, I plan to buy it soon. I've also found myself hankering to go see the brilliant and still in limited release The Host again.

Other related business:
-If I had to tag a director of the decade it would end up either being Alfonso Cuaron or Pedro Almodvar, which I think in the cinematic community is uninteresting as far as opinions go.
-Where's Michael Moore been? Haven't seen him since election 2004 it seems.