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Monthly Archives: December 2007
The Great Debators
What? An inspirational sports movie that Jerry Bruckheimer DIDN’T produce? What is the world coming to? What’s next, a really crappy video game adaptation that doesn’t have Uwe Boll’s fingerprints all over it?
This is a really great film and the directorial debut of Denzel Washington which makes it all the more memorable. Starring Denzel and Forrest Whittaker, the movie combines inspirational sports movies like Glory Road and Remember the Titans with inspirational teacher movies like Dead Poets Society and tells the fascinating story of the Wiley College debate team – the first African American debate team to compete with Harvard – the best in the league in 1935.
Not the same Marshall as We Are Marshall (that was Marshall University in West Virginia).
Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Misc Internet Mischief
Sweeney Todd
This was a phenomenal movie musical. Haven’t seen the show in 2 years, but it’s Sondheim and Tim Burton and it’s just incredible. The bloody visions of Tim Burton fit perfectly with Sondheim’s bloodiest musical and it’s just beautiful. The film is visually very stylistic…I wouldn’t say cel-shaded per se, but it’s the closest description I have for the visual draining of color that occurs in the film that just makes the blood that much more stark and dramatic.
Johnny Depp delivers an amazing performance as the titular Demon Barber. Helena Bonham Carter-Burton is great as Mrs. Lovett – so very funny and very manipulative. Alan Rickman can sing? Holy crap! Is there anything he can’t do? Timothy Spall seems to have gotten a career spike from Harry Potter (Petter Pettigrew) as this is the second big holiday movie I’ve seen him in (Enchanted) but I can’t complain because he’s so very talented. Antony and Joanna were unknown to me and were very talented as singers and actors (I assume this will make their careers, but I’m too lazy to look them up on IMDB and see if they’ve done other work…).
I love “A Little Priest”. I was absolutely giddy and had to restrain myself from singing along in the crowded theatre. The other moment that had me totally enthralled was the dramatic finale because it was just so dramatic (duh) and powerful.
Moments I wish were included
- They don’t do the powerful chorus song (Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd…his face was pale and his eye was odd…)
- Although it’s on the soundtrack, they cut the beggar woman coming onto Antony (which is just fun and a shame of a cut)
- Tim Burton is apparently an atheist because God That’s Good is just the title of the song
The soundtrack is SO awesome. Buy it now. It’s a great highlight of the movie. No Danny Elfman? Oh well. 
Update: 7/27/2010
Just watched the special feature interview with Sondheim on the Blu-ray and this quote solves any problems I thought I had with the production (except perhaps for Burton’s “derivative” casting of Bonham-Carter whom people disagree with the most).
Sondheim: What the fans of the stage musical are gonna find is a lot of cuts, both within the songs and songs that have been cut. And I’m gonna try to urge them as much as possible to leave their memory of the stage show outside the door because, as I say, unlike all other movies of musicals that I know…this really…movies of stage musicals…this really is an attempt to take the material of the stage musical and completely transform it into a movie. This is not a movie of the stage show. This is a movie based on the stage show.
Internet Mischief
XKCD has a Christmas treat up…hilarious
whysoserious – has the HD version of the new Dark Knight trailer. You can’t see the preview film unless you go see I Am Legend in Imax since it was shot in IMAX format….it’s TOTALLY worth it.
IBM Social Network, Facebook Disses UK and Magazinal Archiving!
IBM Tackles Social Networking With ‘Atlas’ – News and Analysis by PC Magazine
Cool…
Facebook Ban Makes British MP Doubt Existence – News and Analysis by PC Magazine
HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH! Take THAT England! 
Hands On: Playboy, Rolling Stone Cover to Cover – Gearlog
Suh-weeet!
Awake and Danny Gans
Awake
Starring Hayden Christiansen and Jessica Alba, this movie focuses on a condition called anesthesia awareness, wherein the body is completely paralyzed but the mind is fully awake – meaning you can feel pain – not something you want during a heart transplant. The movie is really well acted and has a really great story. Part love story, part medical drama, part conspiracy and part John Q, I enjoyed it very much. Hayden is a fine actor as long as he has a real director/script (i.e. not George Lucas).
Danny Gans
I got the Christmas Show so I guess I didn’t get to see the really, REALLY impressive bits like Satchmo, Elvis or Michael Jackson. I also didn’t really start enjoying myself until 15-20 minutes into the show because it was all singers that I wasn’t really familiar with so I couldn’t draw comparisons. He was doing bits of singers who didn’t enunciate at all and after the 2nd one he did a Bill Cosby that was very funny (sounds like he had a mouthful of Jello!).
His Dean Martin was decent (I’m not familiar enough with Jerry Lewis to comment) and his Sinatra was fair, but mostly I’m super harsh on those because I just saw the Rat Pack in Hollywood.
His Bing Crosby was way off but Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis were fine.
His Johnny Carson was enjoyable, as was the Karnak the Magnificent bit (May you be forced to dine with Robert Blake in an Italian Restaurant), but I’ve heard very little Carson.
Jimmy Stewart came out (sounded very close to Wylie Burp) and sang Rainbow Connection with Kermit which was very enjoyable.
His Billy Joel was actually quite incredible and accurate.
His Jeff Foxworthy jokes were good (he had some I hadn’t heard which blew my mind), but his accent was fair to middling.
12 Months Of Christmas
First Month – Larry The Cable Guy
What the hell am I gonna do with a partridge in a pear tree?
Second Month – John Travolta
What?
Third Month – Clint Eastwood
Now I know what you’re thinking…did he say three hens or four? These are the most powerful poultry in the world. So you gotta ask yourself…do I feel plucky? well do ya…punk?
Fourth Month – Rodney Dangerfield
Fifth Month – Wayne Newton
*whistles the ‘s’ of rings* darn these new caps
Sixth Month – ?
Nothing like a bunch of horny birds!
Seventh Month – Woody Allen
Drowning in a pool of their own despair and misery
Eight Month – Pee Wee Herman
Ninth Month – Columbo
Nine ladies dancing with each other. Cheek to cheek. And I turn to the guy I’m dancing with and…
Tenth Month – ?
I don’t know what was more upsetting, the fact that there were ten grown men leapin’ around…or the fact that I kinda liked it.
Eleventh Month – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
The pipers looked kind of weak, like girly-men, and need to pump it up.
Twelfth Month – Andy Rooney
However, I will give him a second chance and see him again outside of the Christmas Season because he is a very talented, solid and most importantly clean (family-friendly) performer with lots of energy/enthusiasm. Oh. And because he closed the show with Lee Greenwood’s, “God Bless the U.S.A.” Any man who’s that much of a patriot will always get a second chance in my book. 
I Am Legend, Phantom (The Vegas SPECTACULAR) and Blue Man Group Live! At The Venitian
I Am Legend
Having just watched a TV Guide special on it last night, it was quite fascinating to see the final product. The third re-telling of Richard Matheson’s The Last Man On Earth (1960′s The Last Man Standing with Vincent Price and 1970′s Omega Man with Charlton Heston) puts Will Smith in the titular role of one man’s struggle to cope with overwhelming loneliness in the face of some worldwide catastrophe that turns everyone else into dead or zombie/vampire thing*.
A little scarier than I like my thrillers, but still very enjoyable. Will Smith is absolutely phenomenal as he copes with loss, loneliness and mutated humans who love eating other living things. It was also an intriguing look at breaking down the psychology of the human mind. The mutants are led by an alpha male who (despite Will Smith’s theories) displays very-human like abilities of mimicry and plotting. It’s all VERY interesting and a lot of fun.
There’s a brilliant bit of photoshopping – at one point we’re panning through a deserted and overgrown New York City and we see a movie poster with the Superman logo embedded on the Batman logo (indicating a Batman/Superman story with the new characters portrayed in the restarted series (Christian Bale and Brandon Routh)) and I just sat and drooled at the very concept.
OH! And the movie starts with a prologue for The Dark Knight Returns in which we get to see Heath Ledger’s Joker pull off a bank heist. It’s absolutely incredible and gets me really excited.
* I can see elements of this concept being woven into Joss Whedon’s Reavers (Firefly/Serenity universe).
Phantom (The Vegas SPECTACULAR)
This show really highlights the best of Vegas show-stopping-ness. It’s a shortened version of Phantom (unless you’ve memorized every note, lyric and line of dialogue, you won’t notice the missing bits) that just blows the mind. For a very small sample, just look at the chandelier before the show and the ornateness of the theatre set (before the curtain even goes up!). It’s just as good as the national tour that stopped through Southern California some time ago (a couple of years? not sure) and remind me very much of the movie with it’s energy and vivacity. But it’s just an incredible show that you have to see if you’re in Vegas. Oh – and the conductor was right-handed…all is right with the world again 
Blue Man Group Live! At The Venetian
It’s always fun to see the Blue Man Group (I’m a fanatic). Pictures! I can’t even really describe how much fun I have seeing the show and participating in the art/live show experience that is Blue Man Group. I guess all I can say is that if you see two shows in Vegas, spend the night at the Venetian and see Blue Man Group and Phantom. Friggin’ incredible.
OH! And at one point they have a rock song tribute section. They played “It’s not unusual (to be loved by anyone”, “Whip It”, “Like A Virgin”, some other song they always play (duh nuh…..duh nuh…duh nuh…duh nuh…), and then someone in the audience shouted Free Bird and the Blue Men looked around and then the band broke into it which was hysterical. The Blue Men look around and then one of them lights the lighter and does the wave and the other pulls out the fire extinguisher and douses the lighter. Hilarious.
Spamalot (The Vegas Edition)
To sum it all up, I was a little disappointed. Yes I laughed out loud at a lot of points, but the show, on the whole, is…unsatisfying. And it’s not just because I’m a Python geek and knew all the skits. It’s just not that well written…which I guess places Eric Idle in the lower echelon of writers which to me is unsatisfying. Maybe Python was so funny because of the collaboration…I don’t know.
The conductor was left handed (something you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t have a musical director sitting next to you) which meant that the strings are always placed on the side opposite the conductor’s baton (normally they’re located on the house left side of the pit, but here they were located on the house right side).
How quickly does seat D101 sell out for people seeing the show for the second time? You get some pretty swank memories/souvenirs if you sit there (apparently – it doesn’t seem like the show changes THAT much between performances).
They use a butt-load of confetti for the grand finale.
Patsy is a tap-dancer…amusing and impressive.
The John Cleese look-a-like (played Lancelot, one of the Frenchman, Tim the Enchanter)’s accent kept slipping from English to French which was a little annoying.
A lot of the characters had striking similarities to their Python (Eric Idle look-a-like for the Historian, John Cleese look-a-like for Lancelot, Michael Palin look-a-like for Herbert’s father) which was very cool (obviously why they were cast I guess).
Brave, brave Sir Robin didn’t have a mustache. Boo!
The Black Knight/death with pointy teeth moments (limb losing and beheading) were very well done.
Arms for the poor! Arms for the poor! Tee hee hee.
And the ultimate line from the show.
Spoiler Alert! (place and hold your mouse over the bar to see)
Patsy: I'm Jewish. On my mother's side. Arthur: Patsy...I never knew! Patsy: Well, it's not something you tell a heavily armored Christian.
The Golden Compass (Movie) and American Gangster
The Golden Compass (Movie)
DAMN IT! They pulled a Two Towers on me…they moved Shelob to the next movie…I guess I can accept that, but it’s still frustrating to be expecting one kind of ending and getting another ending (ala Sky Captain).
As far as book adaptations go, this one does fairly well. Switches the 2nd and 3rd acts so that Hollywood can have it’s big battle as the movie finale…accelerates time acceptably (unlike Eragorn where Saphira grows exponentially in one instant) by adding characters and adjusting where information is divulged. Is more vague on the politics of the Magisterium and it’s interaction with the Church. VERY vague on what Dust is (a long time ago…our ancestors went against authority…yeesh*). The entire character of Fra Burber is merely there to accelerate the story and I can accept that. Little bits and pieces missing, but for my money, nothing I’m really truly upset about. A bit too much mention of the alethiometer as the Golden Compass, but it’s the title, so they have to say it as often as possible unlike the book.
And I STILL can’t see the atheistic tendencies! Maybe I’m too much of a pagan heathen
Really great CGI on Iorek (main talking polar bear voiced by Ian McKellan) running through the snow…looked very convincing.
Interesting prologue explaining that this story takes place in a parallel universe where a person’s “soul” is external to the body. Delineates the whole daemon thing much more clearly than the book did (although it gets really obvious after a while). And! Something I did not think about. The switch between having a guardian angel and having a daemon. Very interesting.
All in all a good movie that must have a sequel. Unfortunately, it probably won’t happen with it’s abysmal box office performance, so I’ll just have to be happy with the first book adaptation and enjoy the rest of the trilogy. Le sigh. But hey! At least I won’t have to sit through an Eldest adaptation. *can’t even begin to comprehend how much it would suck*
Spoiler Alert! (place and hold your mouse over the bar to see)
American Gangster
This was a very enjoyable film based on a true story (do other true story films ever start with the title sequence and then inform the audience that the following is a true story?) from Brian Grazer and Ridley Scott with a PHENOMENAL CAST led by Denzel Washington as drug kingpin Frank Lucas who goes straight to the source to get the purest product and cut out the middleman and Russell Crowe as Det. Richie Roberts, one of the first narcotics officers who’s personal life falls apart as he obsesses more and more over doing the “right thing” as a cop.
One of the most interesting things about this film was the morality parallel. Frank is an American drug lord higher than the Italian mafia and commits murder without a second thought but goes to church every Sunday and takes care of his mother and family. Richie is a boy scout cop (turns in $1 million dollars in unmarked cash discovered as part of an investigation) but is an adulterer (doesn’t just cheat on his wife, but cheats on those he cheats with). Frank ends up falling because he gets too greedy at the end of the Vietnam War, but Richie is able to put his life back together (in theory at least – we don’t see if he gives up being an adulterer, but he gives up his divorce court battle because his house isn’t a good place to raise a kid). Frank kind of turns his life around by turning snitch, but from the tag after the credits, I’m not so sure…
Oh! And the guy from the trailer who has the line “No black man has accomplished what the American Mafia hasn’t in a hundred years!” (and delivers even better and more incredibly racist lines)….is Carmen Ghia from The Producers movie/musical (Roger Bart). Blows my mind to see such a fop but on such a self-righteous attorney face and act so well!
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
The first in Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, The Golden Compass is a fascinating fantasy novel. Yes I can see hints of atheistic beliefs (science over religion, etc.), but I can’t see any clear demand/request in the writing. I suppose children shouldn’t absorb it with open minds and be allowed to believe whatever they want afterwards, but I can’t see anything overly bad in it. And it’s a really fun story! A fantastical world (rooted in London*) where humans are forever joined by a small animal daemon that is there constant companion. Where bears are intelligent (and have opposable thumbs) and can manipulate metal and rule their ice kingdoms with honor and tradition. Where witches fly and shoot bows and arrows (cuz you know, they’re not magical or anything…). I recommend checking out the book and I’ll let you know how much the movie adaptation sucks as soon as I see it.
* Why do all the really great fantasy stories take place in London? because they’re more connected to the old world and the faerie people and what not? Just once I’d like to see an American fantasy novel that takes place in American locations….*sigh*
The Rockette’s Christmas Spectacular
Enjoyable. Thought provoking.
If you’re a midgit and you are unwilling (or view it as degrading) to portray an elf, you must really hate Christmas.
Carrie-Anne Seesock (sp?)(an old friend/associate from Orange County Song and Dance) was one of the show choir chorus that accompanies the Rockettes.
The Rockette’s were very impressive with their coordination and teamwork…as a member of a swing dancing team that is performance based, it was very impressive and thought-provoking to watch the precision of the Rockettes.