It is official, titles are out of control. The last few years, hollywood has gotten more and more ridiculous with the names of movies. The ones that I think started it were a combination of Lord of the Rings and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Neither of these were really bad at all, LOTR obviously took their titles directly from the books, and Pirates were going for that old-school serialized movie thing, like Indiana Jones did.
But since then, the sky has been the limit on how long a movie title seems to be allowed to be, and they all have to have a sub-title. The Seeker: The Dark is Rising. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer? (it should be pointed out that the movie did not feature the Surfer "rising" as much as "arriving.") The newly announced Terminator sequel being planned is: Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, which is basically two sub-titles together. How about "Terminator 4: Salvation" Not nearly as pretentious as the new one, and it maintains the continuity of the other 2 sequels, which while includng a subtitle, still maintains the classic number system. Even my beloved Indy. Coming out this summer is "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Really? Why not just 'Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull'? Doesn't seem any less impressive to me and is less of a mouthful.
One thing I admire about the James Bond series in its titles is that by virtue of having been around since the 60's, they never got into the bad habit of putting "James Bond:" before every title. And yet Bond fans seem to have no trouble finding them. Props to Christopher Nolan for his new Batman, simply titled "The Dark Knight" and not "Batman Begins: The Dark Knight" or some other such silly name. People aren't so stupid that they won't recognize that a movie is a sequel without having the name of the original in the title. Would National Treasure: Book of Secrets have made any less money had it simply been titled "Book of Secrets"? I doubt it.
Bond is on my shitlist right now though because of their newest title. "Quantum of Solace," really? Maybe the worst Bond title ever. It doesn't even sound like an action movie. And before anyone calls me on it, yes, I know that it is an original Fleming story title. It still sucks. "View to a Kill," "Live and Let Die," "Goldfinger," "Diamonds Are Forever," those are good names for Bond movies. "Quantum of Solace" is even worse than "The World is Not Enough." It is a good thing "Casino Royale" did away with the opening song being a titular song, because I would pity the poor band that had to write the "Quantum of Solace" song.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Try on Dresses with me
(The Following Review was originally written for the website The Inept Owl Some formatting errors may have occured during the copying and pasting.)
I'll admit it. Despite being a somewhat cynical, heterosexual male, I do have a soft spot for romantic comedies. I am certainly willing to shoot down the ones that are absolute crap, such as Kate and Leopold, or Maid in Manhattan, but I also have a very hard time turning You've Got Mail off when it comes on my HBO. So armed with a light, since-Roswell crush on Katharine Heigl and a close lesbian friend who serves as a great fake girlfriend, I found myself at a screening of 27 Dresses, the new romantic comedy from writer Aline Brosh McKenna.
The movie has not been very well reviewed, and I went in with very low expectations. With that in mind I did enjoy it. I have not been very impressed with the slate of RomComs that have been dumped on us in the past few years, with such absolute driven as Must Love Dogs and A Lot Like Love, but I was able to enjoy 27 Dresses despite a couple of script errors, and the blatant even to me anti-feminist notion that the importance of its protagonist as a person seems entirely wrapped up in whether or not she can find herself a husband. An odd contrast from McKenna's previous film, the adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, which commented on the struggle of women to hold power without isolating themselves from human connection.
A few things are out of whack in the script; I am willing to overlook the flawed logistics of the opening sequence where Heigl hires a cab to commute her between two simultaneous weddings, as it is an effective way of showing us the lengths she will go to in an effort to give every bride she knows what they need for their weddings. However one major plot point of the movie is that James Marsden, as a writer for the "Commitments" section of a popular newspaper, attends weddings and interviews the bridal parties for his column, yet Heigl, the maid of honor at a wedding he is writing about in the beginning, does not know who he is when they meet. Also, Heigl's character is painted as having basically no social life, being at the beck and call of her boss whom she secretly loves, yet she apparently knows enough people to have been the maid of honor or at least a very involved bridesmaid in 27 weddings so far. Where exactly did she meet all these other women, when it seems her only friend in the world is the perennial best-friend Judy Greer? (Greer is brilliant, as always, I should add.)
The reason why it does work is the chemistry between Heigl and the male romantic lead Marsden, who I am rarely a fan of, which is an actual believable romantic connection, unlike the attempted chemistry between original object of Heigl's affection, Edward Burns, and her sister played by the human bobblehead doll Malin Akerman (seriously, what school of acting did she go to that taught her your head must always move whilst talking?) As much as I am a fan of Burns, I really only think he works as a tough Irish cop or taxi driver, and always seems to fall short as someone who is supposed to actually be loveable.
The movie makes use of two way over-done romcom staples, that being the clothing-montage and the group singing scene, yet somehow they both work and do more than just fill time between banter. I will confess to being something of a sucker for an earned sing-along scene; I will defy any one to try and shake my love of a bus full of 70's musicians singing Tiny Dancer, and indeed I quite enjoyed this movie's rendition of Benny and the Jets. The sing along scene, which takes place in an upstate New York dive-bar, also contains perhaps my favorite extras in any movie ever, so noticeable in how much they are enjoying the singing of Marsden and Heigl that I began to watch them more than the leads.
One thing the movie does that I found myself very impressed by is that in the climax, our protagonist does something that is absolutely wrong of her to do, regardless of how awful her sister is. Typically in a movie such as this, a move in the same part of the script is something done with the best intentions or even more often, as is the case of most Ben Stiller movies, the result of things happening that make their own efforts fall apart, Heigl's character does something that is nothing short of personal sabotage, and I have to give a bit of applause to McKenna for taking that direction, of making us see our heroine as someone who can actually do something cruel or manipulative and selfish without making us hate her for it.
Because of that, and stellar performances by Heigl, Marsden, Greer, and those extras, I wll give 27 Dresses a B-.
New blog
While I will continue to post on this blog, I have just joined my friend comedian Dan Swartwout in a new multi-writer blog that he has started called "Something Something Burt Ward," which will be a collective pop culture based blog, and can be read here: http://somethingsomethingburtward.blogspot.com/ Check it out today to see Dan's choices for the best Simpsons seasons ever and my raving about the glory that is Judy Greer.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
3 Show Monte
Last night was a rarity in doing comedy in Columbus, a multi-show night. Sure when I work at the FunnyBone we do 2 shows on friday and 3 on saturday, but this was actually a night when I did three shows in one night at three separate venues. I had to hurry between gigs and even though I was driving, it reminded me of New York, when my friend Maria and I would hurriedly jump into the back of a cab to get to another show. Also what was fun about it was the total difference between all the shows.
The first was the FunnyBone, where I was MCing, there I pretty much have to do a tight ten minutes, of stuff I know is solid and will work, because it's a very established club and you have to make sure the people get the show they expect when they buy a ticket. The next was a feature spot at a show my friend booked in Clintonville, about 15 minutes away, and I did about a half hour there, which still had to be somewhat polished, except it was a bar and the crowd was much smaller and so I was able to have a little more freedom to mess around with them a bit.
Finishing off the night was the weekly show at the Surly Girl Saloon on high street. It was a rare night for that show too in that there weren't a lot of comics but there was a big crowd, so myself and a few others, we were told to just do whatever time we wanted within reason. The Surly Girl has very much become my workout room, it's the place I go to just try out stuff and sort of goof off onstage. As a result it is the stage I feel the most comfortable on, and often have the most fun with.
It was funny too, when I was onstage I told a story from when I worked at my old job and a woman telling a technician that her son hadn't sodomized his ipod (true story.) and this girl in the crowd just mutters "what's sodomize mean?" Later I found out this same girl had appeared on the TV series "Beauty and the Geek." One of the other comics got her autograph, which to me, seems like the absolute most wasted use of paper and ink ever, but whatever.
The first was the FunnyBone, where I was MCing, there I pretty much have to do a tight ten minutes, of stuff I know is solid and will work, because it's a very established club and you have to make sure the people get the show they expect when they buy a ticket. The next was a feature spot at a show my friend booked in Clintonville, about 15 minutes away, and I did about a half hour there, which still had to be somewhat polished, except it was a bar and the crowd was much smaller and so I was able to have a little more freedom to mess around with them a bit.
Finishing off the night was the weekly show at the Surly Girl Saloon on high street. It was a rare night for that show too in that there weren't a lot of comics but there was a big crowd, so myself and a few others, we were told to just do whatever time we wanted within reason. The Surly Girl has very much become my workout room, it's the place I go to just try out stuff and sort of goof off onstage. As a result it is the stage I feel the most comfortable on, and often have the most fun with.
It was funny too, when I was onstage I told a story from when I worked at my old job and a woman telling a technician that her son hadn't sodomized his ipod (true story.) and this girl in the crowd just mutters "what's sodomize mean?" Later I found out this same girl had appeared on the TV series "Beauty and the Geek." One of the other comics got her autograph, which to me, seems like the absolute most wasted use of paper and ink ever, but whatever.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Mark Harris and the Sci Fi problem
I begin this blog entry with a little bit of personal conflict, because while looking at Entertainment Weekly online for the column that I am responding to, I discovered a newer work by the same author makes me want to reconsider taking issue with him in the first place. The person in question is Mark Harris, and despite what I’m about to say, I highly recommend reading his recent piece on the WGA strike, here.
So I concede that Mark Harris is not an idiot, and is a guy who in general knows what he is talking about. However, I have to take him to task on what I frankly consider to be an irresponsible column published recently in the magazine, regarding the state of Sci-Fi today. The original piece can be read here.
Here’s the thing, it’s not so much the subject of Harris’ column that I take issue with. I totally agree with him that science fiction is in a bad way and has been for a few years. What bothers me is that the group he chooses to target with the blame for where it is: namely the people who create it. Really, Mark? You think J.J. Abrams and his Star Trek reboot is the problem with science fiction? Remember, as powerful as Abrams is, he still had to have his project greenlit.
See there’s the rub. Your argument is flawed the second you say in your column that sci fi’s problems cannot be measured at the box office. It absolutely can. I am Legend not withstanding, it has not been a great few years for science fiction. You want innovation and new ideas? Look no further than the groundbreaking TV series Firefly, and its movie adaptation, Serenity.
Despite a fiercely loyal cult following, the show was axed by Fox not even halfway through its first season, and even though the movie had a by comparison low budget of $40 million, it didn’t turn a profit in theaters, earning an estimated $38 million worldwide. Or how about Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, made on a more expensive budget of $76 million, and being hailed specifically as a new artistic vision of the future (ok, admittedly loosely based on a novel) it only earned a worldwide gross of $68 Million. It would seem there are new ideas, just a little bit of trouble selling them.
And that’s why when you look at the most successful science fiction at the box office in recent years you run into things like I am Legend. Let’s face it, it didn’t do well because people said “ooh, Sci Fi.” People said “ooh, Will Smith fighting monsters.” So say you’re the head of a studio. Someone comes to you and says, hey I have this new idea that will challenge and reinvent the genre, or I have the Casino Royale of Star Trek. Which one will you go with? Ok, but which one do you think MOST studio heads would go with?
What is killing science fiction most right now is a cowardice of movie studios to gamble on what isn’t a safe bet. When I bring up Serenity in conversation most people have never heard of it, and the same goes with Children of Men, but everyone has heard of say, Fantastic Four 2. I have no doubt in my mind that had the public been more aware of these movies, had they been blitzed with promotion the way a certain Will Smith movie was, they would have been bigger hits. Or at least someone writing a column about Science Fiction may have been aware of them.
So I concede that Mark Harris is not an idiot, and is a guy who in general knows what he is talking about. However, I have to take him to task on what I frankly consider to be an irresponsible column published recently in the magazine, regarding the state of Sci-Fi today. The original piece can be read here.
Here’s the thing, it’s not so much the subject of Harris’ column that I take issue with. I totally agree with him that science fiction is in a bad way and has been for a few years. What bothers me is that the group he chooses to target with the blame for where it is: namely the people who create it. Really, Mark? You think J.J. Abrams and his Star Trek reboot is the problem with science fiction? Remember, as powerful as Abrams is, he still had to have his project greenlit.
See there’s the rub. Your argument is flawed the second you say in your column that sci fi’s problems cannot be measured at the box office. It absolutely can. I am Legend not withstanding, it has not been a great few years for science fiction. You want innovation and new ideas? Look no further than the groundbreaking TV series Firefly, and its movie adaptation, Serenity.
Despite a fiercely loyal cult following, the show was axed by Fox not even halfway through its first season, and even though the movie had a by comparison low budget of $40 million, it didn’t turn a profit in theaters, earning an estimated $38 million worldwide. Or how about Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, made on a more expensive budget of $76 million, and being hailed specifically as a new artistic vision of the future (ok, admittedly loosely based on a novel) it only earned a worldwide gross of $68 Million. It would seem there are new ideas, just a little bit of trouble selling them.
And that’s why when you look at the most successful science fiction at the box office in recent years you run into things like I am Legend. Let’s face it, it didn’t do well because people said “ooh, Sci Fi.” People said “ooh, Will Smith fighting monsters.” So say you’re the head of a studio. Someone comes to you and says, hey I have this new idea that will challenge and reinvent the genre, or I have the Casino Royale of Star Trek. Which one will you go with? Ok, but which one do you think MOST studio heads would go with?
What is killing science fiction most right now is a cowardice of movie studios to gamble on what isn’t a safe bet. When I bring up Serenity in conversation most people have never heard of it, and the same goes with Children of Men, but everyone has heard of say, Fantastic Four 2. I have no doubt in my mind that had the public been more aware of these movies, had they been blitzed with promotion the way a certain Will Smith movie was, they would have been bigger hits. Or at least someone writing a column about Science Fiction may have been aware of them.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
New Page
I have a blog I maintain on my website, www.ryesilverman.com, but I have decided to post them here on blogger because it seems a little easier to read and maintain, and also because i can update it without being on my own computer.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
is a Cheeseburger Paradise?
As the year ends I am attempting once again to get back into a regular blogging habit. I was considering writing one about the unfortunately bad experience I had with my friend Lauren at the low-dough Spoon concert on Monday, but Lauren has written I think a better version of it than what I could do, and that can be read on her blog here.
Instead I am going to focus on my attempts to lose weight and my feeling that the world itself is conspiring against me. I recently joined a gym, and even though I am committed to going as much as possible, about two weeks after I joined it seemed like my schedule began to reshape itself in ways that prevented me from going. On more than one occasion my work schedule has had me going in literally 15 minutes before or after the gym opens, and leaving 15 minutes before or after it closes. Or as was the case last week, other things like shopping for a new car (thanks again Seymour, Indiana!) had to take place during the same hours I would have been free to work out.
But what also seems to keep getting me is that fast food companies are constantly dreaming up newer and more convoluted behemoths to clog my arteries, cause me to lose my breath more often and make me less and less desirable to the opposite sex. Right now McDonalds has been tossing out the very tasty Angus Burger to those of us in the midwest test market, and if that weren’t enough, other chains have decided to create burgers that just combine other meals into one. Wendy’s has brought back its Jalapeno Double Melt, which is essentially a combination of nachos and a hamburger. Not to be outdone, yesterday on my way to Cleveland, I stopped at a Hardees and was forced by a compelling sign to get the Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger.
Most of the time a place has some sort of philly burger, it is just a burger with green peppers and onions. But not at Hardees my friends. At Hardees, the PCSTB is a full 1/3 pound burger patty, topped off with ACTUAL cheesesteak. That is TWO kinds of beef on one sandwich. My willpower is not strong enough to handle a gauntlet like that being thrown down in front of me. I almost had to order it just for the story. As I ate that devil’s food all I could picture was the extra few miles I would have to do on the elliptical, but probably would not, to burn it away, and also the face of my hindu friend Sumukh as I scarfed down all that beef. This was quickly followed however by the sheer euphoria of eating such a terrible terrible meal. The rice cakes and Lean Gourmet meals I bought at the grocery store in Cleveland today will never make me feel so good inside. I joked onstage last week that I can’t eat healthy to save my life, and I honestly think someday I will be forced to face the reality of how true that statement can be.
I have been told by many people that I should read the book Fast Food Nation, and see the movie Super Size Me, that these too acts would cure me of my fast food cravings for good. It has been suggested that I have refused to check them out because I don’t want to give up my bad food addiction. But the reason I have not read or watched either is because of another harsh reality I worry about facing. A friend of mine once told me he is terrified to watch certain types of porn, really kinky twisted stuff, because he doesn’t want to discover that any of that stuff is his “thing.” He doesn’t want to face that truth about himself. In the same way, I fear that I would probably see the film, read the book, and then go down and buy a cheeseburger. I’m not sure I want to know that’s how weak a person I am.
God this blog has made me hungry.
Instead I am going to focus on my attempts to lose weight and my feeling that the world itself is conspiring against me. I recently joined a gym, and even though I am committed to going as much as possible, about two weeks after I joined it seemed like my schedule began to reshape itself in ways that prevented me from going. On more than one occasion my work schedule has had me going in literally 15 minutes before or after the gym opens, and leaving 15 minutes before or after it closes. Or as was the case last week, other things like shopping for a new car (thanks again Seymour, Indiana!) had to take place during the same hours I would have been free to work out.
But what also seems to keep getting me is that fast food companies are constantly dreaming up newer and more convoluted behemoths to clog my arteries, cause me to lose my breath more often and make me less and less desirable to the opposite sex. Right now McDonalds has been tossing out the very tasty Angus Burger to those of us in the midwest test market, and if that weren’t enough, other chains have decided to create burgers that just combine other meals into one. Wendy’s has brought back its Jalapeno Double Melt, which is essentially a combination of nachos and a hamburger. Not to be outdone, yesterday on my way to Cleveland, I stopped at a Hardees and was forced by a compelling sign to get the Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger.
Most of the time a place has some sort of philly burger, it is just a burger with green peppers and onions. But not at Hardees my friends. At Hardees, the PCSTB is a full 1/3 pound burger patty, topped off with ACTUAL cheesesteak. That is TWO kinds of beef on one sandwich. My willpower is not strong enough to handle a gauntlet like that being thrown down in front of me. I almost had to order it just for the story. As I ate that devil’s food all I could picture was the extra few miles I would have to do on the elliptical, but probably would not, to burn it away, and also the face of my hindu friend Sumukh as I scarfed down all that beef. This was quickly followed however by the sheer euphoria of eating such a terrible terrible meal. The rice cakes and Lean Gourmet meals I bought at the grocery store in Cleveland today will never make me feel so good inside. I joked onstage last week that I can’t eat healthy to save my life, and I honestly think someday I will be forced to face the reality of how true that statement can be.
I have been told by many people that I should read the book Fast Food Nation, and see the movie Super Size Me, that these too acts would cure me of my fast food cravings for good. It has been suggested that I have refused to check them out because I don’t want to give up my bad food addiction. But the reason I have not read or watched either is because of another harsh reality I worry about facing. A friend of mine once told me he is terrified to watch certain types of porn, really kinky twisted stuff, because he doesn’t want to discover that any of that stuff is his “thing.” He doesn’t want to face that truth about himself. In the same way, I fear that I would probably see the film, read the book, and then go down and buy a cheeseburger. I’m not sure I want to know that’s how weak a person I am.
God this blog has made me hungry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)