The Movie Advocate

Ben's Best of 2011

2012-01-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

So what I'm posting my Best of 2011 list two weeks into 2012. Stop breaking my balls. My list of the best movies of 2011 includes more imperfect movies than any respectable top ten list should, simply because they were the movies I had fun with. The ones that excited my imagination or hit me personally. My top 3 will not be particularly surprising nor exciting. What can you do?

I’m struck, looking back at my top movies of 2010 list, at how many great movies with radical ideas are on that list. 2010 shoved the future in our faces. I find no movie this year as exciting or dangerous as last year’s Summer Wars, Splice, Four Lions, Dogtooth, 127 Hours, and Black Swan. In 2010 we looked forward to a diverse world, where the old rules of how to exist were changing. Odd, then, that 2011 is almost uniformly a year in which movies looked backward into the past. Over half the movies on my top ten list are explicit homages to other eras of moviemaking, looking back at the good ol’ days. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but after 2010’s cold shower of progress, 2011 feels an awful lot like a warm bath of nostalgia.

Nevertheless, the movies of 2011 featured some great work by talented artists. Perhaps in 2012 we can all get back to the business of the future, but for now…

10. A DANGEROUS METHOD

A surprising last minute addition, A Dangerous Method is profoundly underrated. Far too often, sexual movies hide a conservative message behind their racy subject matter. While Dangerous Method is not the raciest movie I’ve ever seen, its sexual politics are truly radical, which, considering that David Cronenberg does little more than accurately and calmly present the 100 year old theories of Jung and Freud, is actually sort of depressing. I wish we as a society could say that we’ve moved past a psychoanalytic understanding of our relationship with the world rather than merely ignoring it. Cronenberg’s quietest movie perfectly parses out the incongruences between our words and actions and the disconnects between our conflicting desires. A Dangerous Method is the quietest existential crisis imaginable, and manages to push past its Merchant-Ivory set dressings to be the most progressive and mature movie of the year.

9. THE DESCENDANTS

Speaking of existential crises... I’m not the world’s biggest Alexander Payne fan, but The Descendants is his most likable movie yet, while still offering up some nuggets of hard earned truth and also simply being a very well put together production. I am lucky enough in my life not to have had to deal with the death of someone close to me. I’m frankly terrified of the idea. I honestly don’t know if I am strong enough to deal with it. The Descendants is populated with characters that are likewise not prepared for death in their lives, trying to cope day to day with life going on. Payne doesn’t go for the big tears. Rather, the movie feels more like the moment after a big cry when you take a deep breath and try to figure out how to get your shit together. The pain is still there, but you’re alive and you have to keep moving. The Descendants features what is probably a career best from George Clooney, along with a justly-lauded performance from newcomer Shailene Woodley.

8. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN / MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL / RANGO / FAST FIVE

That’s right. A four-way tie. None of these four movies is perfect, but damn it all, we got some spectacular action in 2011! Whereas the last decade was defined by poorly imagined, confusingly executed, and totally inconsequential action sequences, this last year has blessed us with no less than four movie that figured out how to do it right. Rango’s escape from the bat-riding hillbilly mole people, Fast Five’s train heist, Tintin’s airplane hijacking and Bagghar chase sequences, and best of all, Brad Bird and Tom Cruise’s tour de force action-suspense magnum opus, Mission Impossible’s forty-five minute long Dubai sequence. They say that action movies aren’t what they used to be. These four movies prove ’em wrong.

7. KUMARE

This documentary charted a wide festival circuit this year and will deservedly receive theatrical distribution in the first part of 2012. New Jersey-raised NYU grad of Hindi decent Vikram Gandhi sets out to expose new age gurus by becoming a false guru himself. As he delves deeper into the character, however, Gandhi finds himself making real connections with his followers and genuinely desiring to help them better their lives. Gandhi learns as much about himself as the people he fools, and the looming reveal of his true identity gives Kumare an unavoidable ticking time-bomb. Emotional, cathartic, and suggestive, Kumare blew me away.

6. BRIDESMAIDS

Kristen Wiig really is the funniest female comedian in as long as I can remember, and definitely in the running for funniest person around right now regardless of gender. It’s a miracle that this movie works as well as it does. There’s nothing deep or profound to mine for here, just some flat-out hilariousness that will have you rolling on floor with laughter.

5. HAUNTERS

I imagine I’m the only person to feature Haunters on my top ten list. The Koreans Scanners-esque superpower story is just a big heap of pure fun from front to back. The suspense and danger ante up scene after scene relentlessly. No subtext, just an impeccably told yarn about a guy who can control people with his mind and the one guy he can’t control. See this movie.

4. ATTACK THE BLOCK

Back during South by Southwest, Attack the Block went from obscurity to genre favorite in a matter of days. I even saw it at the festival itself, just later on, and even after one week’s worth of buzz it couldn’t help but let me down. At that point, Citizen Fucking Kane couldn’t have satiated me. Thankfully, I liked the movie enough to see it again upon general release, and boy what a difference a few months to cool the hype makes! Attack the Block is not the loudest, biggest blockbuster. It’s a small movie, but every single second is well used. Every payoff is perfect, the character arcs complete without being overwrought. There’s a reason that everyone compares this to high-period John Carpenter, but I would go so far as to say that besides The Thing, Carpenter never made a movie this air tight.

3. MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Since its June release, Midnight in Paris has received hyperbolic praise followed by vicious backlash followed by more heaps of praise in a never-ending cycle. As much of a headache as Woody Allen’s latest masterpiece has become in film-discussion circles, when you actually watch the damn thing it’s just a great, charming movie. Late period Woody isn’t aiming for the bleachers any more, but his calm confidence has landed him more twilight successes than any other octogenarian director I can think of. Midnight in Paris is part ode to the great Modernists of the early twentieth century, part farce, part rumination on happiness, expectation, and perspective. That the whole proceeding plays out light as a feather is to Woody Allen’s credit. The movie has a general vibe of life well lived that is dangerously appealing.

2. DRIVE

Drive floored me, for the exact same reasons it floored everyone else. Albert Brooks is terrifying. The car chases are the even better than those in Fast Five. The soundtrack is immaculate; the movie gets extra kudos for being the first studio picture to use artists from the Italians Do It Better roster. I always hated Ryan Gosling, but even I have to admit he was perfect in this movie. Also, as if I needed more confirmation that Carey Mulligan is my favorite young actress working right now. Yeah, that’s about it. Drive delivered everything I look for in a movie, executed perfectly.

1. HUGO

Yup, Hugo. As I said earlier, nothing particularly surprising or iconoclastic about the top movies on my list this year. Even though every parent I’ve spoken to about this movie says that their kids wouldn’t be interested in it, I think Hugo is the most radical, essential kid’s movie to come out in years. I was inspired by the way Scorsese rewards and encourages learning and passion in his young heroes. Hugo is not about restoring the status quo; it’s about striving and struggling to realize the fullest extent of your potential. [SPOILER] At the end of the movie, when Ben Kingsley’s Georges Melies addresses the audience at his first retrospective with, “Tonight I address you as you really are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, magicians,” it is a challenge to each and every member of the audience, those of us who may have settled in life, given up on our dreams, to pick the baton back up. We have one life to live, and we were meant to do something spectacular with it. Scorsese, through Hugo, demands that we all rise to the challenge, no matter how great the obstacles may be. This is perhaps the greatest lesson fiction can teach us, and more than worthy of a place at the top of the list of the best movies of the year.

A bunch of runners up, in no particular order:

Hanna, Shame, The FP, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tree of Life, Patang, The Trip, 13 Assassins, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Le Fee, Vacation!, The Innkeepers

Movies I didn’t see that are on everyone else’s lists:

Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, A Separation, War Horse

-Ben

Our Favorite Movie we Saw for the First Time in 2011, New or Old - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

Yay! Merry Christmas! Today we wrap up our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate Series with the favorite movie we saw in 2011, new or old.

Justin says:

Jaws

It's shameful to admit, but until this year, I had never seen Jaws. I don't know how I avoided it for so long. I didn't really go out of my way to not watch Jaws, it just sidn't happen. After a while, I was concerned that it would be too hyped for me to enjoy, kind of like the first time I saw Casablanca. Beyond that, I've only been to the ocean once and the idea of sharks doesn't really scare me at all. So one day last spring, my wife sat me down and finally made me watch Jaws.

I seriously can't believe how good this movie is. In a way, I'm glad that it took me this long to see Jaws because I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as I did if I saw it at a younger age and before watching thousands of movies. Aside from being 100% enjoyable, Jaws has technical perfection in terms of how the story is told. Every thing about the movie works towards advancing the theme and the plot. This is probably the first movie I've seen that made me notice the sound editing in a good way... and got me excited about it. Jaws is Spielberg's best movie by far, and I say that as a huge life-long Indiana Jones fanboy. Discovering Jaws was a little like when you make a new friend and it feels like you've known each other forever.

Stats:

I watch the majority of movies on Netflix Instant because the nearest theater is 30 miles from my house. Luckily, it's easy to look back on what you've watched using their system.

In 2011 on Netflix Instant, I watched 107 feature length movies, some multiple times. The average rating of all those movies is 3.54 stars out of 5.

73 of those movies I was watching for the first time. The average of those movies is 3.35 out of 5 stars.

My favorite new new movie I saw was We Need to Talk about Kevin.

Best movie watching experience: Goon at watching hour during the Starz Denver Film Fest.

Movie I thought I would love but didn't: X-Men: First Class

See you in January!

Ryan says:

Melancholia

I can’t think of a movie in the last five years that I had a more immediate and personal response to. I love Lars, so I knew I was going to at least like Melancholia, but I wasn’t prepared to fall for it the way I did.

I don’t want to get too personal here – but here I go anyway. My friend Kyle killed himself back in March after a mostly hidden battle with depression. It left me reeling. It felt like a personal attack – like, WTF? What a dick move! Why didn’t he just NOT do that, you know? Melancholia made me understand. Perhaps Justine exhibited a few more obvious symptoms of crippling clinical depression than Kyle did, but her unbridled euphoria in finding out that the world would indeed be ending after all; that it wasn’t just the way she felt, struck an unexpected chord. At one point, Justine says: “We're alone. Life is only on Earth. And not for long. All I know is, life on Earth is evil. Nobody will miss it." She is the Earth; the Earth is her. I guess that’s how Kyle felt – if the world just wouldn’t end, goddamnit, it was time to take matters into his own hands. It’s the logic of a sick mind, but it’s logic nonetheless.

Did I mention it’s funny! Like, for reals funny! The opening wedding-gone-awry scenes are so preposterously and hilariously uncomfortable, the countdown to Armageddon can’t start soon enough. It’s also the most visually beautiful movie I saw this year – Von Trier’s super-hi-def-slo-mo Wagnerian prologue is a stunning achievement that could stand on its own as one of the best movies of the year. He’s known for being a Dogma-95 minimalist, and I’m glad he’s lowered (or raised) his standards for cinematography. The deeply personal nature of the story to both director and star clearly had something to do with the success – I don’t know that Penelope Cruz (the original actress cast in Dunst’s role) would have had nearly the same devastating effect. And, for all of Melancholia’s bleak nihilism, it’s ultimately exhilarating and strangely life affirming, strangely enough. To sum up: I laughed, I cried, then the world ended. Go see it.

Ben says:

Sign of the Cross (1932)

I never considered myself a Cecil B. DeMille fan in the slightest. The Ten Commandments was omnipresent on cable during the holidays growing up, so I always just associated him with the bloated, 4-hour long sword and sandal epics of the 50's. All of that changed when I saw his mad masterpiece, Sign of the Cross. Sure, this chronicle of the persecution of Christians in Nero's Rome contains plenty of righteous religious chest-thumping, but it’s pre-Hays Code, so it also features feral lesbian debauchery, a Christian being impaled on the tusk of an elephant, Claudette Colbert’s boobs, and one of my favorite bits of stunt casting, Charles Laughton as Nero, reveling in his character’s wickedness and chewing his way through even the most inconsequential scenes. It turns out, DeMille’s work in the 30’s stands head and shoulders above the popular and pandering fluff I always associated him with. The director works wonders with a pre-widescreen square frame. If you’re an art buff, you would do well to brush up on your Giotto compositions before diving into Sign of the Cross. This movie holds many, many wonders for lovers of the movies. And if you’re taking time out of your Christmas celebration to read this blog, chances are that means you!

Runners up: The Cameraman, Midnight in Paris, Ken Russell's The Devils, Spider Baby, California Split, Drive, Hugo

Josh says:

Midnight in Paris

"Adriana: I can never decide whether Paris is more beautiful by day or by night.

Gil: No, you can't, you couldn't pick one. I mean I can give you a checkmate argument for each side. You know, I sometimes think, how is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a sculpture that can compete with a great city. You can't. Because
you look around and every street, every boulevard, is its own special art form and when you think that in the cold, violent, meaningless universe that Paris exists, these lights, I mean come on, there's nothing happening on Jupiter or Neptune, but from way out in space you
can see these lights, the cafés, people drinking and singing. For all we know, Paris is the hottest spot in the universe."

"Hi, my name is Josh and I love Woody Allen too much."

"Hi Josh"

It started with "Manhattan" and continued through "Match Point." Yes there were bad movies in there, but I held out hope, especially after reading an article that said he still felt he could make the "perfect American movie." So bold and yet so tantalizing ... "Woody my friend,
you could do that if you only made me laugh again" I thought.

Then I saw "Midnight in Paris" and I remembered what I loved about his works.They are, at their core, a man asking legitimate questions in the face of world that is increasingly uninterested in him and what he has to say. They are funny and true and talk about big themes in small contexts, and of course they are obsessed with the past and completely neurotic in a good way.

Midnight is all of that and more.

Owen Wilson gives his best Woody Allen impression (the best yet I'd say) in a romantic comedy about time travel and how nostalgia colors our everyday lives. That description sounds complicated, but it's really not and it's really fun. I don't want to give anymore description as it will just make it sound silly and spoil it in the long run, but I will say a healthy understanding of English lit 101 will help you get a lot out of this movie.

Allen does a great job of balancing a big cast with bigger characters and our perceptions of them and of course you can't get a better backdrop than Paris. As expected the script is witty and bright and I would list this as Wilson's best performance in years. Course you have to deal with Rachel McAdams for a bit, but I promise it's worth it. It may not be the "great American movie" (specially because it's in Paris), but I think it hits it's mark.

Honorable mentions: "Source Code," "Hugo" and "Moneyball"--- Overall I think this was a down year for new movies by the way.

Luke Says:

The FP

Not the best movie I saw this year, but my favorite for sure. The FP feels like a movie that shouldn't exist. With it's creation, it's almost as if we're ushering in an era of "anything is possible" movies, which is one of the most exciting things about this movie. The thing with artistic technology is that, when it's created, only those with a lot a money get to use it, or decide how it's used. Think Photography. Heck, think Painting. All the incredibly early stuff is beautiful, but all the risks the early artists took were either minute changes in the common style, or subtle hints at their true motive that they were unsure would ever be noticed by anyone. Then, as the technology became more widely available, the number of artists not only increased, but the number of risks being taken increased. A really easy way to visualize this is by thinking about the history of recorded music. The early recordings were an awful lot of jazz standards and classical music. From there, the technology became minorly more accessible, and people started taking one or two risks (granted, they were safe bets, but bets none the less) and recording "hillbilly music" (Appalachian folk, roots blues, etc). Move up the years and you get rock and roll groups, leading up to punk music, hip-hop, grunge, "indie" rock, various forms of electronic music, all leading up to the current era of music production where having a polished sound is easy enough to get on a small budget that the aesthetic of lower quality recordings has made a ... come back ... if you can call it that.

This trend can easily be seen in relation to movies. More and more movies are coming out with staggeringly low budgets ... but that doesn't mean that summer blockbusters are going to be easily crafted at home any time soon. The difference between the gradual democratization (maybe "increased accessibility" are better words) of music recording technology and movie making technology is, frankly, making movies is still currently more difficult. Camera's still need good lighting in order for the picture to come out "right," you still need actors who can evoke some sort of emotion, and then you have the combined difficulty of putting in the right music. Sure, you can cut those things out entirely, but that is going against the point (and heading down the trail of an entirely different argument: What makes a movie a "movie?" Is a 5 minute youtube vlog a "movie?" What separates that 30 second shot of your nephew playing football from Transformers? Is this a movie?

The FP is the kind of movie that shows that we, eventually, will be able to have full length feature films that are comparable to the slag we're handed on a weekly basis from big studios. Which means a few good things and a few bad things. The main good thing is that we'll have a greater variety of movies out there ... and the bad thing is that the ratio of good to bad movies will probably remain the same. So instead of just having a whole bunch of crazy good movies coming out, we'll have an enormous amount of movies coming out, and it'll be even harder to find the "good" ones. BUT, the cool thing is that we'll be able to decide what that means for ourselves. Which, again, brings us back to The FP. I don't know very many people who would like this movie as much as I do, and that's okay, because I think it's "good," and that's all that matters.

We sincerely hope that you've enjoyed reading our second annual 12 Days of the Movie Advocate as much as we've enjoyed putting it together. Here's to another great year of movies, conversation and fun!

2 Movies that are Family Traditions - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

Almost there! Today we continue our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate Series with 2 movies that are family traditions.

Justin's List:

2. Wicker Man (1973)

We try to watch this for the equinox. The first and best (and only) pagan-horror-musical. I've written at length about my love for Wicker Man here.

1. So I Married an Axe Murderer

Remember when Mike Meyers was awesome? I've watched this movie about a hundred times with my mom. I think you could call it her comfort movie. We'd watch this when she was going through a bad break up or if she just needed cheering up. We still recite lines to each other, "Look at his heeed, it looks like a grapefruit on a toothpick!"

Ryan's List:

2. Whatever Horrible Rom-Com Comes out Near Christmas Day

That is what my mom wants to do every Christmas: see a shitty romantic comedy. The quality is besides the point – her motto (I swear to God): “I always like movies that get less than 2 stars.” Did you see Rumor Has It? An unfortunate take-off of The Graduate, in which Jennifer Aniston fucks the man who allegedly inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character, only to realize he may be HER DAD???? I… just… can’t. What about The Holiday? In which Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet switch lives, and for some reason Diaz hooks up with Jude Law, while Winslet ends up with Jack Black (CUZ SHE’S A FATTY YOU GUYZ). Love, Actually? (I don’t care what you say, it sucks) One exception to the “com” subheading is the Christmas after my dad died, when for some godforsaken reason we settled on Cold Mountain, in which Nicole Kidman waits for her star-crossed lover Jude Law to walk home from the goddamn Civil War, only to have him DIE at the moment of their reunion. That was probably a bad call that year. I’m not entirely sure what we’ll see this year – depends on whether or not she’s seen New Year’s Eve yet, I suppose.

1. Flatliners

One day, sometime in the mid-1990s, my older sister Kendra began a Kiefer Sutherland phase. Okay, it turned out not to be a phase – we’ll call it an orientation. As a result, I have seen Flatliners, a largely forgotten Sutherland/Julia Roberts-led ensemble, supernatural thriller about 800 times. You guys, it’s not that good. I mean, I was really more of a William Baldwin man when I was 13, so the combined Baldwin/Sutherland presence was certainly appreciated, but Jesus it’s bad. That said, it will never not remind me of me and Kendra, tween-agers, rewinding the VHS for the second time at 1 in the morning on a Friday night. I didn’t have that many (ZERO) friends back in those days, and she was nice enough to allow me to attend her bi-weekly, in-our-basement, all-girls sleepovers at which they watched Flatliners (usually twice), typically followed by The Lost Boys. I will be forever grateful.

Kickstarter: Edgar's Comics

2011-12-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I hope you've been enjoying The 12 Days of The Movie Advocate. We'll be back to our regular programming soon.

Today I wanted to call your attention to a Kickstarter project I became aware of through this article.

Edgar's Comics is a project by Denver filmmaker, David Johnson about the biggest score in comics history. The movie that Johnson wants to make is about the owner of Mile High Comics, Chuck Rozanski's real life discovery of the most important comics collection of all time while still a teenager. The collection of Golden Age comics that Chuck came to own in turn was the catalyst for the comics collecting industry as a whole. As a native Coloradan and comics enthusiast, this project really interests me.

Please go read up on the project and if you think it's worthy, consider contributing some money to the Kickstarter and voting for it to be Project of the Week on Indywire.

I will be interviewing Johnson about Edgar's Comics after the holidays, so stay tuned!

-Justin

3 Movies I Would Make if Time, Money, and Talent were No Object

2011-12-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

We're continuing our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate Series today with 3 movies that we would love to make if we had no obstacles.

Miranda's List:

3. Careers: The Movie

Careers is a board game designed to be an alternative to Life and Monopoly. Life has a standard “American Dream” goal: a family of pegs and a house that is paid off. For Monopoly, you need a pile of money and fewer friends than when you started playing. In Careers, you set your own formula of hearts for love, stars for fame and $$$s for money. I have a small collection of these games. I still think they’re fun to play with friends, especially when you can find things like the space explorer spot “Meet Mars lady - 10 hearts” adorable.

The way I see it, the movie has two ways it could go.

1. The creator James Cooke Brown’s story of staying up late designing the game on his own time, as well as its changes throughout the years. Either a documentary or probably James Franco could play him. See Readymade article here:

http://www.readymade.com/magazine/article/designing_his_own_careers

2. The lawsuit over the 90s remake called Careers for Girls, the patronizing brainwashing tool for preteen girls with dumbed-down or belittling career choices. Thinking it could be a legal drama. It crumples my heart when I see that the Super Mom career requires a liberal arts degree to be free to enter.

2. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

A moment with Wikipedia and IMDB tell me that Alexie did make a PG-13 movie called Smoke Signals. Hello, #1 on the Netflix list. What I would wish for is this: an insanely popular movie for kids based on The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I want kids everywhere to get this message: life is hard, but you can transcend your circumstances, whatever they are.

Additional reading

1. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas

This one actually might happen. Now, I admit a bias here. Also, Justin and I live in Georgetown, Colorado where we share the streets with famed Colorado author Sandra Dallas. Her novel The Persian Pickle Club focuses on a group of women in Depression-era Kansas who form a quilting circle. In part, it is a mystery, but the main themes are friendship and kinship between women in differing circumstances. The story unfolds in a world that I thought was truly rich and interesting. Also, it caused me to make ham and grits with red-eye gravy three times in a week.

Word on the street is that this movie is in negotiation. If some astute movie maker out there set for a Google Alert for “Persian Pickle Club movie” and is reading this, (hello!) do contact me. My mother, Cindy Harp, would be perfect as an advisor to the production as far as accurate quilts and stitch coaching. She’s currently the president of the board of directors of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden. She can get you in touch with Denver-based quilters to round up as many extra hands as you need. Let’s make this movie happen!

Look: I know that this might sound like the opposite of a normal Movie Advocated story. I know you’re a smart, hip, movie-loving person. Wouldn’t you watch a movie that is basically a period murder mystery that you could enjoy with your mother or grandmother?

Justin's List:

3. We3

There is apparently an unproduced screenplay adaptation of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's comic, We3 sitting in a desk somewhere in Hollywood. We3 is an excellent comic, and would lend itself to a really entertaining movie. The plot is essentially Homeward Bound plus The Terminator as 3 weaponized pets fight their way home.

2. Giraffes on Horseback Salads

I'd need a time machine for this one... Legend has it that Salvador Dali wanted to make a movie with The Marx Brothers. It's best to let Dali's script speak for itself:

The "Surrealist woman" is lying in the middle of a great bed, sixty feet long, with the rest of the guests seated around each side. Along the bed, as decorations, are a group of dwarfs caught by Harpo. Each is supported on a crystal base, decorated with climbing flowers. The dwarfs stay as still as statues, holding lighted candelabras, and change their positions every few minutes.

While love tears at Jimmy's heart, Groucho tries to crack a nut on the bald head of the dwarf in front of him. The dwarf, far from looking surprised, smiles at Groucho in the most amiable way possible. Suddenly in the middle of dinner, thunder and lightning begin inside the room. A squall of wind blows the things over on the table and brings in a whirl of dry leaves, which stick to everything. As Groucho opens his umbrella, it begins to rain slowly.

Cinematic gold.

1. A Huge 10 Part Ken Burns Style Documentary About the History of Comic Books

Maybe it's just my love for comics coming out here, but I think that a Big Important documentary about comics history is missing. It would fit nicely in with Burns' own Jazz and Baseball as another uniquely American institution. If I were going to make this, I'd start with an hour on the great old newspaper comic strips like Little Nemo and Krazy & Ignatz, move on to the creation of Superman and the Golden Age of comics, then continue like that through the DC New 52 relaunch that happened this year.

Please note, that before I settled on this list, Day 3 was going to be "3 Movies that would make Sweet Video Games." Ever the stalwart trooper, Luke actually made his list, here it is:

Luke's list, in no order other than the order that they came to him, but numbered just the same:

3. Bedknobs and Broomsticks or Twin Peaks:

I think either of these movies would make brilliant "Kings Quest" or "Monkey Island" Style Adventure games. Pointing and clicking around the bizarre locales, finding things and putting them on other things to finally open that door. You know, when games used to be so tedious we weren't sure whether or not we understood the term "fun."

2. Sliders

Sliders may not be a movies, but I think it's being divided into episodes would serve itself well if ever adapted into a "Kingdom Hearts" style ... whatever the heck kind of game that was. And instead of mashing up Disney and Final Fantasy, they could mash up Sliders and Quantum Leap!

1. Casshern

Explosions, super armies, and a big sort of undead boss fight at the end? Sounds like either a Castlevania or Devil May Cry type game to me! Seriously though, this movie is basically already a video game, so I don't really know how well that would work. But it sure would look pretty!

4 Favorite Ladies of Cinema in 2011 - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today for our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate series, we're looking at our 12 favorite ladies in cinema of 2011.

Ryan's List:

4. Emma Stone as Emma Stone in Real Life

Emma Stone! She’s so funny! Don’t you think you’d be best friends if you ever met? Like, you run into her at a bar or something and you both happen to order the same drink – something kind of old-timey and nostalgic. And you have a laugh about how no one orders them anymore, but they remind you of your grampa, and then somehow it comes out that you’re both from Illinois*, and isn’t that funny? So you stay at the bar all night, even after all the friends you came with have left, talking about Illinois and drinking Manhattans until finally the waiter comes over and says, “so… can I get you anything else?” in that tone they use when really they just want you to leave because it’s closing time and there’s still so many lemons to cut. So you pay the tab and leave, and you’re standing there on the sidewalk, knowing you’re probably not really best friends with Emma Stone, but for that one night you were best friends with a movie star, and you can’t wait to tell all your other, pedestrian friends that she was actually so nice and normal and fun! So you say goodbye to Emma Stone, and hug sort of awkwardly like the end of a middle-school date. And when you start walking home you’re barely around the corner when you start to text someone about it but you stop, thinking that telling everyone about it right away cheapens it somehow. Makes it less real. But then suddenly your phone buzzes in your hand and it’s a text from Emma Stone – you exchanged numbers earlier never thinking either of you would ever use them – asking you if you want to have brunch the next day? It’s sort of a business thing, but it could still be fun, plus, there’s mimosas, so whaddya say? And then suddenly you are friends with a movie star, and you start getting nervous that you’re gonna fuck it up so you should call in that Xanax prescription now while you’re thinking about it. Don’t you think that sometimes? Best Part: Every scene with her and Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid Love. I was so ready to hate that movie and was then completely charmed.

3. Rooney Mara as Lisbeth in the trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The actual movie hasn’t come out yet, so I put her in with a little trepidation, especially since I found the books about as dull as a Subway sandwich; but her hair is so crazy! And the bleached eyebrows OMG! And she was good in that one scene of The Social Network, so the odds are good! Best Part: Bleached eyebrows! Motorcycles!

2. Kristen Wiig as Annie in Bridesmaids

Actually, Bridesmaids and Melancholia would make for an incredible double feature, now that I think of it. Call it “Reasons Not To Get Married”. I tried to think of a performance that was a little less “mainstream” - perhaps a little more underseen (Michelle Williams and Shirley Henderson in Meek’s Cutoff both come to mind), but Wiig is just so damn funny and effortlessly WEIRD as the lead in a blockbuster summer comedy I can’t leave her out. Best Part: Annie’s drunken airplane meltdown tour-de-force centerpiece.

1. Kirsten Dunst as Justine in Melancholia

This is maybe my favorite performance of any lady, ever, in the history of film. Dunst fucks, yells and cries her way towards the apocalypse, taking her whole hapless family along for the ride. She’s as beautiful as broken porcelain, and Lars Von Trier knows exactly how to direct her. I hope they develop some kind of Allen/Keaton relationship, but with more crying and inappropriate sex. Best Part: Justine hikes up her wedding dress and fucks her bosses’ hot young assistant in a golf course sand trap during her own wedding reception. My hero! I should also mention that Charlotte Rampling as Justine’s mother gives one of the all time best wedding toasts of all time.

*I am not from Illinois, and I don’t think Emma Stone is, either.

Justin's List:

4. Alison Pill – Midnight in Paris/Goon

One of my new favorite supporting actresses since I saw her awesome turn as Kim Pine in last year's Scott Pilgrim. Allison Pill has since shown up in two of my favorite movies from this year, as Zelda Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris, and as the love interest in Goon. Those three roles show great range. I'm super excited to see what she does next, and to hopefully see her in a leading role.

3. Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids was a revelation. You need to see it. Kristen Wiig is one of the great comedians of this generation.

2. Melodie Sisk – Vacation!

Melodie Sisk is the cool one at the party that will steal your girlfriend away when you're not looking. I wanted another chance to rep Zach Clark's incredible existential beach movie. Vacation! is hugely deserving of a wide audience and a cult following and Sisk is a big part about why the movie works.

1. Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk about Kevin was my favorite new movie of the year. Tilda Swinton gives the performance of her life here.

Luke's List:

4. Jodie Foster - The Beaver, Carnage

Okay, so a lot of props go to Jodie for braving the waters and making a low budget movie staring one of the most hated men in Hollywood right now: Mel Gibson. I wanted more from the movie, but I love risks, and Jodie Foster, a women not really known for directing, or really being very visual at all. It's as though she doesn't need anyone to look at what she's doing, and that sort of confidence is hard to find basically anywhere. She's just a solid, unflappable woman, and I love her for that, and I always will. I haven't seen Carnage yet, but it looks brilliant, and can't wait for it.

3. Saoirse Ronan - Hanna

Dang. She gave me shivers in Hanna. I haven't seen her in all the other movies in which she's been nominated for many awards for her performances, but I can definitely see what I've been missing. Add my name to the list of people who are 1) interested in seeing where her career goes, and 2) hoping that she doesn't get burned out and is actually having fun.

2. Jessica Chastain - The Tree of Life

While basically everyone plays a minor role in this movie other than Hunter McCracken, Jessica's performance continues to stand out to me. Her ability is such that she made the entire movie more engrossing, her comfortable, natural performance was warming and soothing. She was also in 6 other movies that came out this year, which makes a little bit of sense when considering that she probably filmed most of her scenes in The Tree of Life over a the last 3 years, but that only kind of makes up for it. Dang, she's working hard, and it's good to see that she's getting recognition.

1. Kirsten Wiig - Bridesmaids

Kirsten Wig co-wrote and then starred in one of the best movies I've ever seen, and that movie is Bridesmaids. I was wary, because of Judd "You-Don't-Mess-with-the-Zohan" Apatow's name tied to it, but I was convinced by my friend Beth that it would be worth it, and it totally was. I think it's a turning point in not only American Comedies, but American Cinema in general. It's funny, smart, and doesn't pander to the audience. I can't say I'm much of a fan of her on SNL, but let's be honest, I haven't liked SNL since I was 10 and watching the Sandler/Farley era SNL skits, so that's not really saying anything. Thank you Kirsten Wig. (oh, and I would have mentioned the obviously brilliant Melissa McCarthy, but since I'm too desperately in love with Gilmore Girls, it would kind of seem a little biased).

Josh's List:

4. Elle Fanning - Super 8

Fanning's turn in "Super 8" is getting well deserved award buzz. She was brilliant in the film, showing a versatility the Potter brigade wish they had at her age. Watch for her down the line.

3. Michelle Monaghan - Source Code

Monaghan has a charm and easy beauty that directors look for in amuse. She was great in "Source Code" which proved to me she was more than just a face.

2. Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids

Funny and beautiful. Nuff said.

1. Kat Dennings - Thor

She wasn't really all that great in "Thor" but I really just wanted an excuse to search for pictures of her. I call that 15 mins. well spent.

5 TV Shows that are Worth it - 12 Days of TMA (Luke's late entry)

2011-12-21T21:23:00.000-08:00

Whoops, I took forever in writing this, and missed the train. Here's my "Worth It" TV Shows list:

5 TV Shows:
runners up: Kings (see Kings in it's entirety for free at Hulu), Breaking Bad (yes it is that good), The Mighty Boosh (absurd brit com), Dead Like Me (a Firefly situation. fans missed it so much, 5 years after it was canceled, they made a movie continuing the story)

5) Tim & Eric

Pure nightmare-television, this is one of the few Adult Swim absurdest offerings that continued to get better, instead of opting for "weirder," as the years went on. I highly recommend sitting down with one season every Sunday for the next 5 weeks and just running through it in one go. It'll take about 2 hours, you'll mostly just be sitting slack jawed, unblinking, but about every 7 minutes you'll break out laughing so hard you'll have to pause the dvd. There is nothing on the planet like Tim & Eric.

4) Northern Exposure

A solid TV show from "TV's second great era" (or whatever it's labeled) whose characters and sense of community stand as a bold and unwavering juxtaposition to what is mostly a worthless wasteland of baloney sit-coms and reality television. You'll watch the 40 minute episode and be surprised by it's comparatively snail slow pace, but I garantee you that there are few to no characters on TV today with the depth and personality of even the smallest character in this show.

3) IT Crowd

A brilliantly funny BBC comedy. If you don't get it, apparently, then you just don't get it. I feel like I live this life without my life looking remotely similar to these people.

2) Pushing Daisies

Colorful, absurd, cute, quick, witty, amazing character, beautiful sets, and a detective story? This show needs to be seen to be believed.

1) Avatar: The Last Airbender

You will frequently catch me saying that this show is the Only TV Show That Has Ever Mattered, and I will stand by that. It showcases every positive attribute possible in television. It is, to my knowledge, the only TV show that was fully conceived before even a single frame was shot/drawn. They knew that it would be 3 seasons, and when they signed on with Nickelodeon, they told them that they would not sully the reputation it would surely have by tacking on extra, unnecessary seasons. It's also the only show with a sustained full series story arch. Arguably LOST could be a contender, but while they have said that they knew what they were going to do, there are to many slow, worthless moments in the show for that to really be true, true in the sense that it's true in Avatar. There isn't a wasted moment in Avatar. Every scene is either driving the plot forward (never telling, always showing), or developing the characters ... usually both at the same time. And it's funny. And FUN. And Sad, messed up, and challenging. And basically anyone can watch it and get something out of it. I will go to my grave thinking that it is one of the best works of art the human hand has ever crafted. Stand any show up against Avatar: The Last Airbender, and it wilts.

5 TV Shows that are Worth it - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

We continue our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate Series today with a look at 5 TV shows that we think are "worth it."

Ryan's List:

5. THE VAMPIRE DIARIES (CW)

A big “FUCK YOU” to Netflix streaming for this entry. It just kept showing up on the “Suggestions For You” category, and finally, one lazy weekend, I gave in. “That was terrible,” I said to The Boyfriend upon conclusion of the first episode, “d’you wanna watch another one?” Now I’m hooked like a toddler on meth, even though I barely follow the plots. Team Damon, all the way.

4. HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL (HGTV)

I HATE ALL THESE PEOPLE. THEY DO NOT DESERVE SUCH NICE HOMES.

3. AMERICAN HORROR STORY (FX)

Is it good? Not really. “American Horror Story” is totally offensive to gays, black people, those with Down’s Syndrome, teenagers, abortionists, Jessica Lange, women in general, psychics, psychologists, men, real estate agents, and ghosts. The plot is ridiculous, even for a haunted house show. The acting is hammy bordering on unwatchable. The violence is gratuitous, the nudity even more so. The tendency to use real, horrible tragedies (Columbine, for serious.) as inspiration for a cable-soap about ghosts and demon babies is about three bridges too far. But GODDAMN if I can’t take my eyes off it. (that may have something to do with Dylan McDermott’s impeccable naked ass, which is in virtually every frame, and should be credited separately in the opening titles)

2. ENGLIGHTENED (HBO)

The penultimate episode, in which Diane Ladd’s character wandered around her house and then went to the grocery store, was probably the most riveting 30 minutes of television in 2011 and nothing happened. The plot moved forward about ¾ of an inch. NOTHING HAPPENED. It’s Office Space as an existential ½ hour comedy. I Heart Huckabees meets Mary Tyler Moore meets Norma Rae. Laura Dern is the best thing to happen to pay-cable since Lisa Kudrow (LONG LIVE THE COMEBACK), and the show will almost certainly never see a second season. A bleak, hilarious, watch-through-your-fingers half-hour that I look forward to all week long.

1. !!!!!!!!!!GAME OF THRONES!!!!!!!!!! (HBO)

I wasn’t expecting to like it. Castles? Dragons? Knights? Are you fucking kidding me?! Then I watched the first episode. It’s TV for smart people (I had to take notes, seriously) and people who like to see graphic, televised sex (I DO)! All the actors are good! The sets look expensive and convincing! There’s incest and crazy plot twists and intrigue! Sword fights and beheadings like CUH-RAZY. Also, Jon Snow is my TV boyfriend, and we’re getting married soon. We’ll live at The Wall, and I will warm his furs and pour his mead, and scratch his Direwolf behind its ears, and do his bidding as he so chooses. If you don’t like this show, we can’t be friends.

Justin's List:

*Honorable Mention - Louie

I just started watching this show a couple of days ago. I'm about halfway through the first season. Louie fills the void that I have after a disappointing season of Curb your Enthusiasm. Louie C.K.'s television persona manages to be more sympathetic than Larry David's, and while the show doesn't have the same level of virtuosic plotting that the best seasons of Crub does, the slice of life style of the show manages to be incredibly moving and funny all at once. If I could verify that the rest of the episodes are as good as the ones I've seen, this would easily be #1.

5. Deadliest Warrior

The vast majority of pop-educational TV on the air is a bunch of big, dumb ridiculous B.S. Deadliest Warrior is the logical conclusion of History Channel programming. If you're not familiar with it, the premise is that two historical figures are compared to each other through weaponry and "x-factors" like courage or determination, and then a computer simulates who would win in a fight. The cast hacks at pig carcasses with swords and runs obstacle courses with historical weapons and then debates which person ate better. The match-ups range from drunken argument material like, who would win in a fight between a samurai and a viking? To the completely absurd like Al Capone vs. Billy the Kid.

4. Viva Pinata!

Wins the award for the weirdest kids show ever made. Sadly overlooked by people who would actually enjoy it. The premise is that there's this place called Pinata Island where the Pinatas leisurely spend their days in candy gardens fattening themselves up to be launched out of a cannon and broken to pieces at birthday parties. They're supposed to be honored about being smashed to bits for candy... It's a neon colored existential kids show. My favorite character is the Fudgehog.

3. Spaced

If you haven't seen Spaced, you need to. Spaced was a sitcom from the Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz team. It's currently on Netflix Watch Instant. I would suggest the episode, "Epiphanies" from season one as a good barometer of if you'll like the series, or not.

2. South Park

I don't know how this show keeps getting better. On average, the season that just concluded was the best so far. There's some Colorado pride in this pick as well. I strongly suggest watching the episode, "You're Getting Old," if you're a lapsed fan. By far, South Park is the smartest show on TV.

1. Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation is my favorite show currently on air. the series deals with the goings on at the Parks and Rec department of a small town in Indiana. I really like that all the characters feel real, and are likeable. Parks and Recreation has the best writing of any TV show going on today.

Josh's List:
5. 24/7 Flyers and Rangers

The second installment of the best sports documentary out there. It's like "Hard Knocks" but better because you have zero preconceived notions about the players. I also love that they shoot it like its a Nat Geo show about animals.

4. Workaholics

It's like "It's Always Sunny" but a lot faster and a lot stranger. Probably the number one source for inside jokes at work for me too.

3. Wilfred

Who knew Elijah Wood was funny. A remake of a very dark comedy from Australia, this show captured my heart instantly. I think the exact moment came when I saw the dog take a rip from a bong and pass it to Wood while they were talking about ways to kill a man. Wilfred is someof the strangest and most hilarious TV you will see, hands down.

2. Game of Thrones

Forget "Boardwalk Empire", this is the best drama on HBO right now. Acting and story are right on and it is rare for me to say that for a fantasy show. I haven't read the books, but I don't have to because Iknow the show is better and who wants to read the page count equivalent of four Bibles.

1. American Horror Story

There have been shows that scare me and shows that intrigue me, butthere has never been a show that made me yell "oh shit" at 10:30 at night at the top of my lungs. We are like 10 episodes in and I literally have no idea what is going on or going to happen, but I needto watch more, I haven't felt this way about a show since season three of "Lost."

6 "Why Did I See That?!?" Movies we saw in 2011 - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today we continue our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate Series with a look at 6 movies we're not quite sure why we saw this year.

Ryan's List:

6. The Muppets

I loved it, but it made me feel like I was a million years old. It’s like I could feel my hair turning gray around my temples as the children in the theater began to grow restless around 40 minutes in. Fozzie’s jokes weren’t landing with them… I don’t even think they knew who Kermit was. Hindsight is 20/20, and I should have just waited for the DVD so I could’ve watched it by myself and pretended I was 7. Also I kind of think Jason Segal is a piece of shit, so I could have fast-forwarded through his parts.

5. Paranormal Activity 3

I know! You don’t have to even say it. I’m embarrassed for me too. The question I have about the Paranormal Activity series is not, “What’s up with this haunted family?”, it’s “WHY DO THEY VIDEOTAPE GODDAMN EVERYTHING??”

4. Unrelated to Movies, but I Have Now Watched 13 Episodes of The Vampire Diaries on Netflix.

Presented without comment.

3. The Day I Took Too Many Decongestants & Watched Saw 2, 4, & 6 (maybe 5?) on Netflix

Ummmmmmm, am I the only one who knows how fucking confusing these bitches are? There are hundreds of characters, and they ALL look like Eric Roberts, and have police jobs, and sometimes Jigsaw is alive but sometimes he’s not, but seriously WTF? You need a Master’s Degree in Horrible Screenwriting just to keep up. I saw the first one a hundred years ago and thought, “Sick day! I can finally catch up on the Saw movies! Why watch them in order?!” LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. Why on earth do they use Roman numerals in the titles?! I watched II, easy – then IV because I thought it was five, but I think it’s really four, then I watched VII which is maybe seven but might as well been an un-subtitled telenovela set in a dirty warehouse. Fuck.

2. Insidious

I mean what the fuck. The Further? It was an incomprehensible disaster. I am only marginally sure it came out in 2011, but it should have come out NEVER. Rose Byrne, you are fined – good thing about Bridesmaids OR ELSE. I can’t believe I paid ONE WHOLE DOLLAR at Redbox for this mess.

1. Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

Seriously why did I see this? It seemed like such a good idea on that lazy Sunday in July. “Hey! Do you wanna go see a 3D movie? It has air-conditioning!” I said to The Boyfriend. Then we spent the next 8 hours of our lives watching a barely comprehensible, blurry, dim pile of crap… and yet! I sorta kinda had fun, but I’m ashamed to admit it. Something about a whole bunch of people all together on a hot summer day in a dark theater watching the worst piece of shit ever, and enjoying it. Shia LeBeauf though. Ugh. We need to put a stop to that.

Justin's List:

6. Vamp

OK, so I actually know why I saw every movie on this list. I'm going to tell you why I saw them, and why I should have known better.

An 80's teen sex romp starring Grace Jones as a vampire stripper with Long Duck Dong from 16 Candles as a supporting character. Of course I watched it. Jones was in about 10 minutes of the movie, and the rest was absolutely insufferable.

5. Octaman

A 1950's style monster movie repackaged as a 1970's Jaws rip-off featuring a guy in a rubber octopus suit. This was the most insanely front loaded movie I've ever seen. The first hour was absolutely hilarious, but the last half hour dragged worse than Manos.

4. Green Lantern

I know exactly why I watched this, I'm a HUGE Green Lantern fan. So much so, that I'm incapable of telling you if the movie was good or not. In general, any movie plot that takes more than a sentence or two to summarize is doomed to failure. Green Lantern had a 5 minute info dump at the beginning to catch people up to speed. I liked it, but not a lot of other people did.

3. Action Jackson

I watched this after re-watching Arrested Development. Take a generic 80's action vehicle, add some Carl Weathers, Vanity, and some explosions and you've got a stew goin' baby!

2. 976-Evil 2

This was the most bat-shit crazy movie I've seen this year. I meant to write about this after I saw it, but didn't for some stupid reason. Robert Englund directed the first 976-Evil movie, which wasn't very good. In that one, a satanic phone horror scope hotline revealed the future to people. In the sequel, the killer from the first movie is promptly locked up in jail. From his cell, he astrally projects and kills all kinds of innocent nubile PYTs. This is a total early 90's Skinemax movie. There are boobs in literally, the first minute of the movie, and then never again. My favorite scene involved a roadhouse, a possessed stripper, and a demonic voice. You do the math.

1. Enter the Void

By FAR the worst movie I saw this year, and quite possibly my least favorite movie of all time. Like watching someone play a shitty video game, a Windows Meida Player Visualization, and an anti-drug PSA all at once. I'm completely baffled by how much attention and love this movie got. I really wanted to like this movie, I even had a dream about how watching it and loving it. Huge mistake. Maybe I didn't like it because I wasn't on any drugs at the time. I'm not sure what drugs it would take to get me to like this movie, or how much I'd need to take. I dunno, the credits at the beginning were kind of cool.

Luke's list:

Here it is roughly in order. From least disliked to most hated. --Let me first say that I have a really hard time saying that I hated a movie, and that when I go on record as saying I disliked a movie, I do so will no ill will. I feel as though there are legitimate issues with the movie that, for whatever reason, were not resolved before the movie made it to the screen. Okay, here's my list:

6. We Are the Sea

As much as I hate to call out a Hollywood blockbuster, I doubly hate to talk poorly about a movie with local ties. I felt that We Are the Sea was poorly paced with an unlikeable protagonist. While visually pleasing, I found nothing within the protagonist with which I could either relate to or sympathize with.

5. Cool World

I wrote up this movie earlier this year. See that here.

4. The Initiation of Professor Kimmer

A movie that not only has local ties, but is entirely a product of an underground film scene here in town. A friend of mine happened to assist with it, so I saw it. TIoPK is also poorly paced with an unrelatable protagonist. The story follows a new college professor, Kimmer, who becomes seduced by a group of fellow professors who happen to be members of a coven of witches. The witches wish to kill Kimmer. There were a large amount of plot holes, so most of that description is honestly guess work. It was clearly an homage to B-movies of yore, but without any of the style, heart, or ingenuity present in older, classic B-movies. There was no apparent motive for the witches, the characters lacked any semblance of depth, the lighting was such that, at times, it was difficult to make out what was actually occurring on screen. It was a film that really felt like a lot of effort had been put into it, but that the team have not quite found their footing as far as producing a finished product goes. I have to also mention that, though I myself am not Wiccan, I found myself highly offended by a line that spoke more about the forethought put into the movie than anything else. The line in question, delivered by a witch defending her sacrificial actions, was something along the lines of "It's called Witchcraft. It's a religion. You've probably never heard about it." This is after the witches labeled themselves Wiccan. Come on guys, look into this stuff a little more before you make a movie about it.

3. I Am Nancy

This movie could have been really cool. It started off promising, with Heather Langenkamp seemingly going on a journey to discover why the focus of so many horror movies with the "final girl" trope seems to focus more on the antagonist/monster than it does on the actual main character. There could have been an incredibly in depth conversation regarding topics such as male gaze, misogyny, etc. Instead we get Heather Langenkamp awkwardly asking fans, or friends, why they don't like her. I hope she follows up this documentary with another one that digs deep into the genre and asks questions that really delve deep into not only American culture, but maybe even the human psyche.

2. Let Me In

I'm pretty sure I saw this movie last year, but I'm 1) sort of at a loss as to what else I should put on this list, and 2) still rather pissed off at this movie. It is almost the best example of a complete and utter waste of time. There are three other movies that come to mind, but only one of which I saw in the last year, which is my #1. I don't care enough about this movie to dedicate any more thought to it.

1. Enter the Void

No. No no no no no. and Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew. While the colors are nice, please never see this movie. I cannot stress enough that this movie is a COMPLETE waste of time. The movie is from the perspective of the protagonist. Maybe 6, or 7 things actually occur in this movie. One of them is SPOILER watching the protagonist's sister during copulation. From the inside of her vagina. Remember, you're seeing this through his eyes. And it goes on forever. SPOILER ENDS. Everything goes on FOREVER. you see so many overhead shots of streets that it feels like you're playing GTA2. NEVER SEE THIS MOVIE.

7 Movies that Changed the Way we Think about Movies - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

We continue our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate series today with 7 movies that changed the way we think about movies. Enjoy!

Luke's List:

7. Rushmore

When I saw Rushmore for the first time, I was blown away. At the time, my movie watching experience was that of children's movies, schlocky big budget movies, and schlockier "wide audience" comedies, and while I had movies that I really had a great time watching, I didn't really connect with anything in any meaningful way. In fact, I didn't see much of an art to movies, I thought of them as pure entertainment. Then I saw Rushmore, and it showed me that movies can be so much more than a cheesy love story or large explosions. There could be a subtlety to movies that I previously just didn't notice.

6. Rope

Not my first Hitchcock movie, but the first that blew my mind. Another movie rife with subtlety, Hitchcock's ability shone bright enough that my young mind opened up and started to see that movies didn't just have to have simple plots, and that tension could be built with not only clever dialogue and terrific body language, but with minute lighting changes and camera placement.

5. The Searchers

This one is kind of a cop out, because The Searchers was honestly just the first Western I saw that showed me that Westerns could be awesome. Before I saw it, my young mind categorized Westerns as "those dumb, old movies about stupid cowboys." And, while The Searchers is old, and was when I saw it, and it was about cowboys and the old west, it was about so much more than that. Again with the subtlety kick, but The Searchers showed me that Westerns, like other brilliant movies, could subtly be about more than it's setting, it could touch on human issues that have been relevant throughout time.

4. Pierrot Le Fou

Ah yes, French New Wave. I had filed FNW movies under "that artsy crap that no one understands or actually likes" until I saw Pierrot Le Fou. It's true that I had no idea what was happening throughout most of the movie that first time, because the movies I'd seen up to that point were all pretty cut and dry on how to arrange things like "plot" and "camera angles." That said, I loved it. It showed me that movies that took me outside of my comfort zone could be fun, and that there was a whole universe of "artsy crap" to delve into, just waiting to be understood and liked.

3. The White Room

When I mentioned this movie in the Soundtracks list (two lists ago), I said the short story about this movie is that this band wanted to make a movie and that it went horribly wrong. Well there's no way I'm going to go into the whole story, but the slightly longer version is that this crazy duo, The KLF, made a movie for some crazzzzzy reasons (that post is forth coming). Their plan was to make a movie within a movie (possibly with bookends as well, but I'll have to check on that to be sure), and while filming the innermovie, they ran out of money. They didn't even finish filming everything they wanted for the inner movie, and what they did shoot looked awful. But they still realllly wanted to make the thing, so they scheduled a private showing of the material they had filmed and edited, hoping to get more money from investors to complete the movie. The investors watched the ~60 minutes of film, and straight turned them down. The movie was abandoned, never to be shown again. But the weird thing is that you can find copies of it. And it's on the internet. How is a complete mystery to me. All of this only partically blows my mind. What really blows my mind is that, after tracking down the movie (the only two lines of dialogue dubbed in Russian) it's actually a pretty good experiment in tone. It's the chillest movie I've ever seen. This hardly even starts to scratch the surface of the story behind this movie, but that's enough for now. I can't believe something like this exists is essentially my point.

2. Gone With The Wind

Straight up a genius movie. I saw it in a hotel room halfway between home and MN to see relatives. I was not a fan of "old" movies, probably strictly on the basis that they were "old." But because this movie is pure magic, stumbling on it after flipping on the hotel TV to surf around before bed, my sister and I were sucked in. We sat, probably slack jawed, and sucked in every moment. It proved to me that "old" movies could be good.

1. Borderline (1930)

Here's the daddy of them all. I'm gonna need a bigger blog post (to fully express my adoration for this movie). Borderline is a simple movie, from plot, to camera angles, to dialogue. But it's so drastically different from basically every movie out there, in camera work, plot, mise-en-scene, pacing, etcetcetc, especially considering when it came out. Macphereson (the director/screenwriter) took his camera, pointed it at the actors, and lingered on them for far longer than would seem appropriate, forcing us to delve deep into the image. Frequently there are shots just of people's hands, or people just staring at one another, shots which evoke a feeling of uncomfortableness in me that I cringe when thinking about them, but a good sort of cringe. It's an effective movie, one that shook me to my core. I hadn't known that was truly possible until watching this movie. Brilliant.

Justin's List:

7. Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers makes the list because it feels like I've been on both sides of it. When it first came out, I completely took it at face value as a movie about space marines fighting bugs. Any commentary was completely lost on me. I've been a huge champion of this movie since as the best movie about the war on terror - granted it came out several years before 9/11.

6. Kill Bill

Kill Bill parts 1 and 2 makes this list because to my college freshman mind, they legitimized genre films.

5. A Clockwork Orange

Kubrick's masterpiece makes the list because it was the first movie that really challenged me. I saw this for the first time in my freshman year of high school. Aside from Alex's character arc, it was probably the first movie with a truly ambiguous ending that I watched. Consequently, I read the book and just about everything else I could about the movie. Jump forward to present, and I'm still not sure about that ending...

4. Taxi Driver

The virtuosity of Taxi Driver struck me more than anything. It's such a singularly focused movie on the part of Scorcese and De Niro. To some extent, this list reads like a list of my favorite movies. The things that intrigue me most about movies is how narrative, acting, and directing all fit together. Taxi Driver is a great example of all those elements working in perfect concert.

3. The Red Shoes

The thing that fascinates me most about The Red Shoes is that every element of the movie is a fractalThe thing that fascinates me the most about The Red Shoes is that every element of the movie is a fractal. The fairy tale of The Red Shoes informs the ballet, which informs the movie itself, which informs the production of the movie, which informs movies in general. Aside from the cleverness, the movie is shot beautifully and is completely life affirming.

2. The French Connection

The French Connection is along with The Rules of the Game and Night of the Hunter tied for my favorite movie. The French Connection works because Friedkin stays out of the way of the story, yet his fingerprints are all over it. The movie is extremely dark and challenging. The lengths that Popeye Doyle goes to to get his man mirror what Friedkin went through to bring us this gem.

1. The Rules of the Game

The Rules of the Game changed the way I think about movies more than any other movie because it is able to capture so much of the human experience in a mere 106 minutes time. It's not REAL, but it's not trying to be either. By lying, Renoir gets closer to the truth than anyone else. And after all, isn't that the point of art?

8 Movies we Adored as Children - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

We continue our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate Lists today with 8 movies that we adored as children

Justin's List:

8. Wayne’s World

I distinctly remember spending a summer where I had virtually no TV recepetion, a crappy Sega Genesis game, and a VHS copy of this to keep me busy for like 3 weeks. Needless to say, I've seen this movie about 10 billion times, and is one of the only movies that I have completely memorized.

7. A Nightmare on Elm Street 6: Freddy’s Dead

I've seen this more than any of the other Freddy movies. Why couldn't Dream Warriors have come out when I was growing up?

6. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

As I recall, this was the first R-rated movie I saw. I don't think I could pick a better one today.

5. Batman

I saw this in the theaters and was somewhat scared. I watched it a million times on VHS. I had the edition with the commercial with Alfred pushing Diet Coke before the movie starts. It's the little details like that that stick with you...

4. Toxic Avenger

Strangely, the moment I became aware of shame was when I asked my mom to record this off TV for me. I had seen it before, but I guess was completely ignorant to the adult overtones the movie had... I was maybe 6 or 7. Mom called and questioned why I had seen this. I still feel ooky when I watch this today.

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze

It's weird to say that this movie doesn't live up to how I remembered it, but seriously, it's no where near as good as the first one. Instead, it's MORE MOVIE. Vanilla Ice and the ridiculous Super Shredder nonsense, somehow even for what it is, it lacks subtlety.

2. Harry and the Hendersons

I've probably seen this movie about 50 times, seriously, and I don't remember any of it. I'm not at all interested in re-watching this, and I still catch shit for how many times I made my Dad sit through this.

1. Superman

Superman, on the other hand, I'm completely unapologetic about. I love this movie, even still. It was one of the first blu-rays I bought and is one of my ultimate comfort movies. I don't think that it's possible to improve on it as far as superhero movies go.

Luke's List:

Runnners up: 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Abyss

8. The War

I haven't seen this movie since I was a child, when I would watch it about once every 4 months, and I almost don't want to see it again, because it probably too depressing. This movie started the Elijah Wood crush for me, most certainly. If not for the love affair with Rachel Leah Cook, my celebrity crush list would be a list of one.

7. Little Nemo

Okay, true fans of Nemo in Slumberland think this movie is dumb or whatever. But 8 year old Luke LOVED this, and was clearly not cool enough to have access to the original prints of the revolutionary newspaper comic. I watched this movie a billion times, and I say that without shame.

Editor's note: It's the damned squirrel, Luke! Seriously, WTF? Makes the movie unwatchable. Was being in the land of dreams and imagination not enough to be compelling for kids!?! -J

6. The Land Before Time

Everyone saw this ... but whose first showing was at their mother's office building where they just installed state of the art projection technology? I believe that number is 2. My sister and I. BLAM.

5. Liar Liar

Was this a "Kid's" movie? I have no idea. But I know that my sis and I and all our friends watched it about once every two weeks, and are still able to quote the heck out of it.

4. George of the Jungle

This movie. Oh man. I can still recite entire scenes from it. Its fun, and ridiculous, and should totally not work at all, considering that it's a kids movie for 90's era children based on 60's era Rocky and Bullwinkle rip off. That said, I still quote this movie at least once a week.

3. Grumpy Old Men

My love for this movie is probably closely tied to my adoration of my Minnesotan family members, as this movie, and its sequel, remind me so much of them. Sauna's, fishing, scandal, it's got it all!

2. The Sandlot

Okay, so if you had a childhood, you obviously loved this movie. If you didn't, do yourself a favor and watch this movie. Little more needs to be said.

1. Ghost

Yes, really. "Ghost?" you say? Yeah, GHOST. I have no idea, to this day, why I loved this movie as much as I did. But the fact remains that, in 5th grade, I watched this movie every night for more than a month. Yes there's an awesome "drag me to hell" scene. Yes ghosts are cool. But, seriously, in 5th grade, what else was there that I ought to have been so interested in? Nothing. This puzzles me to this day. But I can't deny that I adored Ghost more than any movie I'd ever seen, even if it was only for a short period of time.

Our 9 Favorite Soundtracks or Scores - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today we continue our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate lists with our 9 favorite soundtracks or scores

Justin's List:

9. Tokyo Drifter - Hajime Kaburagi

My favorite Seijun Suzuki movie. In Tokyo Drifter, the musical theme is used over and over diagetically and non-diagetically. It gets stuck in my head for weeks after a viewing.

8. Stormy Weather - Various

Stormy Weather is basically a 70 minute music video. The music throughout is incredible. Aside from Leena Horne, it features Fats Waller and Cab Calloway.

7. Scarface – Giorgio Moroder & Various

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pQQHnqBa2E

Sorry, can't embed this one. Apart from my favorite Giorgio Moroder score, Scarface has a lot of great 80's songs in it. Definitely a time and place sort of soundtrack, it's still unbelievably fun.

6. Goodfellas - Various

http://youtu.be/BbwFXngs9Lw

Sorry, YouTube won't let me embed this one. The scene in particular I'm linking to is the montage featuring Derek and the Dominoe's "Layla." Aside from that powerful scene, Scorcese makes liberal use of Phil Spector's girl groups, classic crooners, and more.

Goodfellas – Goodfellas - Music From The Motion Picture

5. Halloween – John Carpenter

Aside from the insanely iconic main theme, Halloween features some great incidental music from the movie's director, John Carpenter. Carpenter clearly knows how to use music to elevate the mood of the movie. In effect, his extremely tense score masks a lot of the financial deficiencies of the movie.

John Carpenter – Halloween Motion Picture Soundtrack

4. Housu - Godeigo

It's the feel-good, feel-bad horror movie soundtrack of the year! Seriously, this movie has the goods. There's nothing about it that I don't like.

3. Master of the Flying Guillotine – Neu!

Famously used without Neu's permission, Master of the Flying Guillotine is the Reese's of movies combining two of my favorite things, over-the-top kung fu action and Kraut rock. If you haven't seen this yet, seriously put it on your Netflix RIGHT NOW!

Neu! – Neu! 2

2. Danger Diabolik – Ennio Morricone

My favorite Ennio Morricone score, even considering his work with Sergio Leone. The Danger Diabolik soundtrack finds Morricone trying his hand at 60's lounge and psych-pop. It's as good as you think it is. The movie is even better.

1. Deep Red - Goblin

While I have a great affection for all of the Goblin soundtracks, my favorite is their work on Dario Argento's Deep Red. Here, they example virtuosic musicianship and interplay between percussion and melody, while creating haunting melodies that stick with you for days afterward. The title theme for Deep Red strikes an uneasy balance between haunting and catchy that's impossible to shake.

Ryan's List:

9. Go

For a hot second in the late-90s, I thought I was going to be a raver because of this movie and, more, importantly, the soundtrack. Sarah Polley is my role model.

Go (Motion Picture Soundtrack) – GO Music From The Motion Picture

8. The Royal Tennenbaums

A soundtrack (and movie) that made me feel impossibly cool in high school, then slightly embarrassed later on, but now I feel confident enough again to say it’s cool. The placement of The Ramones over Gwyneth Paltrow’s bad behavior montage is inspired.

7. Halloween

Iconic, and how often can you say that about a horror movie score?

John Carpenter – Halloween Motion Picture Soundtrack

6. Breathless

Jazzy, sexy, cool, French, saxophone. I want to have sex right now.

5. Gremlins

WE-WE-WE-WE-WAH-WAH, WE-WE-WE-WE-WAH-WAH, WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH. That is how you write it phonetically.

4. Aliens

Editor's note: unembedible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKSQmYUaIyE

Otherwise what would every action movie trailer ever be scored with? (runner up: Titanic, for best over use of synth-flute)

3. Dancer in the Dark

Bjork 4 EVER – also LARS 4 EVER.

Björk – Selmasongs: Music From The Motion Picture "Dancer In The Dark"`

2. Jurassic Fucking Park

There’s absolutely no way you can disagree with this. NO. WAY.

"Weird Al" Yankovic – Jurassic Park

1. The Little Mermaid

Fuck y’all haters. ‘Kiss The Girl’ is the SHIT. ‘Under The Sea’ is a GODDAMN CLASSIC. ‘Part of Your World’ will most likely be stuck in your head for the rest of the day now, SUCKER. “Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they play all day in the SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!” I win.

Alan Menken – Little Mermaid

Luke's List:

Side note: my runner up was:

9. Harry Potter Series

I love the scores to these movies so much that just hearing the main theme will send chills up my spine. This is most certainly partially because I love the movies, but that aside, they're just really stirring scores.

Harry Potter Soundtrack – Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets/ Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

8. Darjeeling Limited

Whether or not Wes Anderson is the one who puts together his soundtracks is information I can't find on the internet, so I'll go on thinking that he does. He is undoubtedly a master of composing beautiful images, and his soundtracks, to me, just add to the list of reasons why he understands this medium better than most. Out of all of his movies,I felt this movie had music that juxtaposed and accented the images in the most provocative way. Well done Wes, well done. But there's still a bit too much hip-kid in it for me to really "get down" to it outside of the movie setting, which is why it's not at the top of the list.

Various Artists – The Darjeeling Limited

7. Saturday Night Fever

I love disco, and after seeing this movie in high school, disco became a genre of music I found to be the most equally upbeat and tragic music. This is truly one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen, which is what makes the soundtrack that much more meaningful. Whether you're a brother, or whether you're a mother, you're staying alive.

6. Danger: Diabolik

This one will most likely end up on Justin's list too. He played this at one of our crew's movie fests, and I have to say it's one of my favorite "Justin" picks. It's just got the grooviest, butt shakin'ist little diddies that ever were.

5. Escape From New York

I didn't want to put The Thing on another list, so I'm putting this one, which is essentially the same thing. I'm ashamed to say that I'm just a sucker for electo-synth future music. Maybe it hits a nostalgic nerve ... which wouldn't really make any sense, because I was born in the 80's. Whatever, it's bad ass and totally works. End of Story.

John Carpenter – Escape From New York

4. Back to the Future Series

Now this one hits a nostalgic nerve. I picked this up on vinyl about a month and it has stayed on my turn table since. Every song is upbeat, fun, and unabashedly ridiculous ("I gotta get back in time"). That and I can picture every corresponding scene when I listen to it. Feel good album of Forever.

3. The Keep

This is another "electo-synth future music" soundtrack that I inexplicably adore, except replace "future" with "supernatural." Tangerine Dream has never sounded better. Incredibly cheesy, but equally earnest, exactly like the movie.

2. Brick

Pure brilliance. This is one of those occasions that, despite how good the movie is, without Nathan Johnson's nimble hands at work, this movie would not be as good. It is the Best example of how a soundtrack should work. It should be my number 1 slot. But that's reserved for....

Nathan Johnson With the Cinematic Underground – Brick (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

1. The White Room

What is the White Room? I'm sure we'd all like an answer to that question. I'll do a full post on this movie eventually, or you can just read about it on your own if you're so inclined, but the short story is that this band called The KLF set out to make a movie, and it went horribly wrong, for many, many reasons. You can only find bootleg copies of it, or crappy versions uploaded to internet video sites, but the soundtrack is available all over the internet ... so also in bootleg form I guess. You certainly can't buy it. Yes, The KLF do(es?) have an album called The White Room, but it's nothing like the soundtrack. The Soundtrack is sample heavy dream pop, purely there to help you reach that real next-level chill. Part of me loves this soundtrack because of the story behind it, which is one of the best stories in music and movie history in my mind, and the other part of me loves it because its cheesy, faux-earnest/earnest/faux-earnest/earnest nature. You have to hear it to believe it. Find a copy and just blissssssss out.

The Klf – The White Room

Ben's List

9. The Red Shoes – Brian Easdale

I had no idea how hard this list would be to put together. It hurts my soul to leave off perfect scores such as Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s The Adventures of Robin Hood, Tangerine Dream’s Near Dark, and Walter Schumann’s Night of the Hunter. To state the obvious, film history overflows with spectacular scores. The Red Shoes is a great place to start. Not only did Easdale compose an exciting, romantic score for the movie itself, he composed the Red Shoes ballet within the film in character as if it were written by fiery young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring). Though his work is less iconic than the other scores on this list, Easdale performed a miracle with The Red Shoes.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0nXpZOVezKSdeM06oNiNFb

8. Scanners – Howard Shore

Howard Shore’s bombastic, monophonic Scanners theme is almost medieval in its simplicity. It’s in the arrangement that Shore’s vision flourishes. The 7 note descending patter is repeated throughout the score ad nauseum, but here as synth strings, there as a low brass quartet, and fully orchestrated over there. Shore’s work with Cronenberg in the 80s was visionary in it’s blending of traditional classical and avant electronic arrangement. In some ways his vision here and in the Videodrome score has yet to be matched.

7. The Thing – Ennio Morricone/John Carpenter

Another painfully straightforward but incredibly effective early electronic score. It’s unclear which passages were composed by Morricone and which by Carpenter, and I’ve heard word that the pair did not get along very well. Regardless, the end result is as cold, isolated, and full of dread as the movie it belongs to.

http://open.spotify.com/album/69KqTyOmKaqxeX48d4FvEh

6. The Bride of Frankenstein – Franz Waxman

Franz Waxman’s work on Bride of Frankenstein is a whole different approach to horror scoring. Remember, this is before Krzysztof Penderecki inadvertently turned swarms of discordant strings into a viable soundtrack option. This is even before serialism, to a large extent. Waxman’s score is a thoroughly modernist affair. His Bride theme is shiny and full of wonder, a devilish suggestion given that it's set to the misguided Doctor’s sacrilegious creation of life.

http://open.spotify.com/album/0SdR3TGz9qtYRddMp5CCFd

5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Wayne Bell/Tobe Hooper

Speaking of sacrilege, what better way to score the purposeless slaughter of innocents than with something that sounds like heated metal swallowing itself?

4. There Will Be Blood – Johnny Greenwood

They say that a good score should match the tone of a movie’s visuals without overwhelming them, but Johnny Greenwood’s There Will Be Blood soundtrack succeeds largely by ignoring that rule. How many otherwise benign sequences in this movie are wrenched into unbearable tension by Greenwood? Not only does Greenwood’s work suggest Daniel Plainview’s inner fire, at times it even seems to egg the demons on.

3. The Third Man – Anton Karas

Whoever came up with the idea to score this moody noir with upbeat zither music is one of the great accidental geniuses in the history of the movies. The Third Man is about characters that try to hide their feelings, and so the score is mostly surface fluff, but occasionally betrays deep pools of emotion.

http://open.spotify.com/album/5wbldmZLkQ3jQXiW0CvVJN

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams

Ironic, isn’t it, that Wagner’s leitmotif concept would reach its peak execution in a movie about a roguish Nazi-killer? John Williams has always been a master of melody, and you probably can hum both main themes from Raiders without any prompting whatsoever. Not only is this music catchy to the point of cultural omnipresence, but it’s really good too!

1. Vertigo – Bernard Herrmann

Of course the greatest movie of all time has the greatest score of all time. In this harrowing journey through the dark realm of obsession even the most casual passages are haunted by shadows. This is one of the great orchestrated works of the twentieth century.

What are your favorites?

"Page One"

2011-12-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

A scene from the 2011 documentary "Page One"

As a journalist currently working in the paper industry the 2011 documentary "Page One" holds a level of allure that I think would be lacking in the general public. It would be hard for me to expect a person who has not studied media or who has not worked in a media source to be fully committed to a 2 hour movie about something as far off an monolithic as the New York Times, but I think that this is a movie everyone should see and could love.

Let me start by saying that I am a massive fan of documentaries. I watch them constantly. Good ones, bad ones and ones that I don't really think made sense. In my opinion the best ones are the ones that ask a simple question about something we already think we know about. By following that question the viewer learns how little they know about the topic and is thus enlightened. "Page One" does this task perfectly. It simply asks: what is a year like in the media department at the New York Times in 2011? A simple enough question to answer, but the film becomes complex and powerful due to the richness of its "characters"- anyone walking out not a fan of David Carr is just wrong- and because they started filming just as the market and the news industry began to shift, meaning they were now shooting an institution under great stress to change and grow or die like the papers in Denver or Seattle.

With "Page One" we are privy to interview sessions with sources, the battles leading up to deadline and the daily grind of gathering and reporting news. We learn about the value of stories and why they are placed in the paper. We are exposed to other departments and learn how each works together but against each other for space and sources. The general public is not likely to know how any of this happens or why. They simply know that there is a paper on their step and it tells them what is going on in the world.

This documentary shows how that happens in a simple and elegant style with enough background and pace to make it manageable and accessible. The film could have easily been bogged down in a massive overarching narrative of the news industry and its sudden decline, but it is so focused the scale of the project, and the impact, seem small.

The decision to focus on the media desk, which covers issues like media access and news delivery trends to things like Wikileaks, was also interesting and extremely effective. It allowed the director of the film Andrew Rossi ("Waiting for Superman") -to let the "characters" talk about the changing news medium and how they felt about it, rather than relaying on a narrator. In short, it made the film self-reflexive with little effort or impact on the final product.

In all it is a beautiful, well paced film that should be an interesting watch for anyone, especially if they don't make the news for living and I wouldn't be surprised to see it during award season.

Editor's note: At some point, "Page One" was streaming on Netflix. If it is still is, you know what to do.

Our 10 Favorite Cinematic Bad Guys - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

We continue our 12 Days of The Movie Advocate with our 10 favorite cinematic bad guys. Enjoy!

Luke's List

10. The Horned King - The Black Cauldron

The Disney Execs have made their fair share of baffling decisions, but the choice to adapt the second book in a series drawing influence from some of the darker corners of Welsh Mythology has to be one of the stranger choices. But I like a company that takes risks. Especially when that risk is to make a children's movie whose main antagonist is essentially the Devil. Nice Disney ... real nice.

9. Chief Inspector Charles LaRousse Dreyfus - A Shot in the Dark

Not a traditional "bad guy," per se, but still essentially the antagonist in A Shot in the Dark, and one who, to this Pink Panther fan, is just as recognizable and lovable as Inspector Clouseau

8. Rainbow Randolph - Death to Smoochy

Another nontraditional "bad guy," but it's one of Robin Williams' best and most memorable roles as far as I'm concerned. He does some incredibly morally reprehensible things in this movie, without ever really making us hate him. To still, even a little, be rooting for Randolph by the end of the movie is a feat not unworthy of mention.

7. The Plague aka Eugene Belford - Hackers

Fisher Stevens plays an unforgettable old guy who knows a little bit too much about youth culture. Not quite to the point of being a creeper, his riding around on a skateboard and unstoppable desire to get those darn kids for encroaching on his turf and discovering that he's using his kid powers for evil. I think he's more iconic to me than a great deal of other, more traditional baddies purely because of how laughably out of touch he seems ... even if he really does know the Hacking game pretty dang well.

6. The Old God - The Gate

A second "devil" style bad guy, this unnamed Old God is the greasiest, most terrifying image I have from my childhood. I was an impressionable child to say the least, and how this movie slipped past the guard tower I'll never know, but, even looking at it today, it still gives me shivers. Just look at it.

Editor's note - I couldn't find a picture of the Old God, but you should seriously just watch The Gate, it's awesome.

5. The Creature - DeepStar Six

This thing is gross, and absolutely terrifying. The team behind this includes some Huge names in creature creation, namely Mark Shostrom who has almost literally seen and done it all. You can tell his touch with a glance at his work. When you see this thing for the first time, you'll flip out. This movie is poorly rated because it came out the same year as like 7 other deep ocean horror movies. Revisit it, I'm tellin ya.

4. Biff - Back to the Future

I'm trying to keep my mentioning of the BttF series to a minimum, because I've seen over like 2000 movies, and I don't want to keep talking about the same ones. But Biff is just one of the most classic antagonists ever. This guy is there in every era, it would seem purely so that there is someone to take down the McFly's.

3. Gideon Gordon Graves - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

I'll always be a fan of anything Jason Schwartzman does. That said, I think that even if I didn't like him, this role would have made me fall in love with him. Again, not a traditional "baddie," but, frankly, I've never held a huge amount of adoration towards the "classic" baddies like Freddy and Jason. I am certainly a product of my generation, in that I'm sick of those guys. Gimme something I can sink my teeth into. Gimme my partner's more attractive, more successful, cooler ex-partner. That's a baddie I can hate.

2. The Joker - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

Okay, so the Joker is well known to be one of the most idolized bad guys out there. But that's Burton's Joker, and Nolan's Joker. Not the Paul Dini Joker. This Joker is messed up. I won't ruin anything about the movie if you haven't seen it, but there are a myriad of good reasons this "kids" movie was edited down after Columbine. I still recommend only seeing the "unedited" version though, if only to see how twisted this story is.

1. The Thing - The Thing (1982)

An ever changing, ever adapting, unknowable killing machine? From Rob Bottin's capable hands came a creature that is undefinable, unknowable, and, essentially, invisible ... even though it's probably right next to you. He took shadows and made them a visceral thing. He turned the dark into The Thing. Pure Terror.

Ryan's List:

10. The Sanderson Sisters - Hocus Pocus

Because those kids are fucking annoying.

9. SMARTSHARKS!!! - Deep Blue Sea

SMARTSHARKS!!!!!!! They’re so awesome! SMAAAAARTSHAAAARKS

8. The Bat/Pig Flu - Contagion

Runner-up, Gwyneth Paltrow. What a bitch.

7. Elsa the Hot Nazi - Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade

Because she looks hot in a pencil skirt, is greedy for religious iconography, and gets stuck a rat coffin at one point. Her delivery of the line “You zaid go beetvveeen them!” is magical.
6. Michael Myers - Halloween

The only consistently scary slasher movie killer (and yes, I’m counting Leatherface). Even in the lesser Halloween sequels, he still manages to be unnerving – the Shatner mask helps a lot, as does his non-reliance on a signature weapon – he just uses what’s handy.

5.The Heathers - Heathers

“Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.” Long live Martha Dumptruck.

4. The Man With the Keys - E.T.

Although he ultimately turns into a benign force near the end of the movie, Peter Coyote’s unnamed government agent’s appearances in the beginning are so sinister he injects the entire movie with an undercurrent of dread. He is literally a spectre of adulthood haunts Elliot and co. They flee from him; but ultimately can’t help turning into him. “He came to me, too, Elliot.” Get it…?

3. Mad Madame Mim - The Sword in the Stone

I realize that I’m already at number 3 and so far none of my favorite villains are, you know, actual human beings – I’ll get to them. Madame Mim, like Malificent, has rather mysterious motivations. She apparently wants to kill a child (disguised as a bird), to prove to Merlin that she’s a better Wizard, or something? Also, if you can turn yourself into a pretty slip of a supermodel with just the snap of your fingers, why wouldn’t you just make that your default, instead of looking like a old hag all the time? That aside, I think she’d be fun to be friends with.

2. Gremlins - Gremlins

What are Gremlins anyway? Are they supernatural? Kind of – they have arbitrary rules to follow. Are they Chinese? I think so. Patient Zero (Gizmo) appears to be fluent in Mandarin and lives in an Asian junk shop in Chinatown. Why are they such assholes? Who knows! Mayhem is fun, and they are relatively easy to kill. (A note to Hollyweird: I’m positive you’re gonna remake this any second now and I implore you not to.)

1. Maleficent - Sleeping Beauty

Perhaps the only legitimately scary Disney villain and most definitely the hottest. Mostly I appreciate that her entire motivation as a character is that she’s pissed that she wasn’t invited to a BABY SHOWER, so she decides to MURDER A CHILD in the most complicated and time-consuming way possible (involving a fucking magic spinning wheel, and a 16-year conspiracy). Plus she can turn into a dragon at will.

Justin's List:

10. Coffin Joe - At Midnight I'll Take your Soul, This Night I'll Possess your Corpse, Awakening the Beast

Coffin Joe is full of empty threats, misogyny, and gross long fingernails. He's such a ridiculous character that even accounting for almost 50 years, and Joe being from a different country, he's still completely ridiculous. That said, I find him strangely compelling. In his first movie, At Midnight, I'll Take your Soul, we're introduced to Coffin Joe as he scandalously eats red meat on a Friday! Oh no, take that Pope! There's no one else like Coffin Joe in all of cinema though.

9. Street Toughs – Death Wish Series

Anyone who dates Charles Bronson is asking for it. The street toughs in each of the 5 Death Wish movies will probably rape and murder you if you have anything to do with Bronson. Aside from sporting generally awesome fashions and hair cuts, the gangs that have terrorized Paul Kersey have featured such luminaries as Ted from Bill and Ted, Laurence Fishburne, and Jeff Goldblum.

8. Vampires - The Lost Boys

The last time that vampires were cool. Who wouldn't want to join Keifer Sutherland and his band of boardwalk punks as they listened to Jim Morrison and harassed tourists? They didn't sparkle and they sure as hell didn't hang out at a high school.

7. Rhoda Penmark - The Bad Seed (1956)

The number one reason why I haven't had kids yet. OK, maybe not. Rhoda from The Bad Seed is an evil hell spawn with the smile of an angel. The Bad Seed is a seriously creepy and entertaining horror movie.

6. Michael Myers – Halloween Series

A lumbering juggernaut who can separate the virgins from the victims. I prefer Myers to Jason because nothing about him is supernatural per se.

5. Dr. Phibes - The Abominable Dr. Phibes/Dr. Phibes Rises Again

Philbes is probably my favorite Vincent Price villain. With the help of his lovely assistant, Vulnavia, Phibes comes up with the most ridiculous ways to dispatch his enemies. Take for example, the first murder in Dr. Phibes Rises again. In it, Phibes releases a bunch of fake, wind-up snakes to attack a bodyguard. The bodyguard becomes wise to the fake snakes just before a real one bites him! No big deal, the bodyguard cuts open the wound, sucks the venom out and goes to call poison control. However, when he tries to call, a spike shoots out of the receiver and into his brain! Evil!

4. The Turnbull AC’s/The Orphans/The Baseball Furies/The Lizzies/The Punks/The Rogues/The Riffs/The Hurricanes/The Boppers/The Hi-Hats/The Electric Eliminators/The Savage Huns/The Moonrunners/ The Saracens/Satan’s Mothers/The Jones Street Boys/The Van Cortlandt Raiders/The Boyle Avenue Runners/The Gladiators/The Panzers/etc. – The Warriors

The number and variety of rival gangs in The Warriors is staggering. One is based on baseball, one is super broke, one is for girls, and one looks like a bunch of gay guys who are out clubbing. It's a wonder The Warriors ever made it back to Coney Island.

3. Harry Powell – Night of the Hunter

Probably the scariest one on this list. I've met people with love and hate tattoos on their knuckles who didn't get it. The only thing scarier than a bad guy who knows that they're bad is one who can justify their badness.

2. Joker – The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger's Joker is iconic bad guy performance of the last decade. No one comes close, and time will tell its influence. I feel so sorry for Tom Hardy having to live up to comparisons for Bane in the sequel.

1. Freddy Kruger – A Nightmare on Elm Street series

Freddy captured my imagination more than any other filmic bad guy and was probably responsible for more bad dreams growing up than anything else. As my friends know from our 24 hour film fests, I'm incapable of staying up for more than about 22 hours. The thought of someone waiting there at hour 23 to get me is terrifying.

"Real Steel" at Cheyenne's Popcorn Palace

2011-12-15T20:47:00.001-08:00

Editor's note: This is part one of an ongoing series where I review movies that are currently playing at Cheyenne's Popcorn Palace, a $2 theater in the middle of a dead downtown area.

"Real Steel" is the best boxing movie this year.

That may come across as a great compliment at first glance, but I don't actually think there was another boxing movie this season. Of course the movie has robots instead of humans = further disqualification. Actually that is probably the only thing you know about "Real Steel", it has robots and they box. You may also know that a kid learns a life lesson and Hugh Jackman is hard on his luck, but mostly there are robots and they hit each other with dramatic music. Some are Japanese, some are small, others big - I mean you get it.

What you may not know, but probably guessed, was that the script is terrible. A complete ripoff of "Rocky" (almost shot for shot), it is probably the least suspenseful movie I have ever seen. It also fails to answer simple questions like:
* "Why are these giant and extremely colorful robots beating each other up in increasingly strange and exotic boxing rings with little to no organization?"
* "Why are they boxing in a traditional ring still? Shouldn't there be more safety measures to prevent arms flying off from crushing people in the crowd?"
* "If they have robots that box, why don't they have bots that do other things?"
* "Why are the bad guys bad again?"
* "If a robot fought a bull, who would win?"

I feel like when you see a movie about robots, at least two of those questions should be answered before the film is over and actually that last one was answered in the first 15 minutes of the film so I guess I could be overstating this.

The story line goes something like this: Jackman fights robots for a living. He sucks at it. He was a boxer before. He is reunited with his 11 year old kid who is sassy and excited about life. They bond and fight robots all summer long, drinking Dr. Pepper and listening to music on their Dr. Dre headphones. The robot they use was junky, now it is really good. It can take a punch. It's really important that you know it can take a punch. They make money. They lose money. It is made clear again that their robot can take a punch. They become famous right before a falling out with each other and on the verge of a very big fight against an enemy they can't possibly beat. They reconnect, and continue to fight robots beating this invincible enemy because their robot can take a punch. Jackman knowing how to box also helps them win. "Fin."

The actors seem to have been left to their own devices for the most part. Jackman pouts, Evangeline Lilly stares into the distance and the kid dances with the robot before each fight in what is supposed to be an adorable and endearing act but is really bad. I will say the fight scenes between the robots are smooth, and the graphics are very well done, but it sure takes you out of the moment when the kid and Jackman argue about a cheeseburger for a full minute and half and that's before we get to them ridding in a car for 15 minutes and talking about nothing for another 10 minutes.

I like fighting robots just as much as the next guy and there are a few interesting shots, but I think most people over the age of 8 should skip this one.

Our 11 Favorite Animated Movies - 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

We continue the 12 Days of The Movie Advocate with our 11 favorite animated movies. Enjoy!

Ben's List:

11. Wizards

Wizards might not be objectively “good,” but Ralph Bakshi’s bizarre post-apocalyptic epic sticks with me. I love the idea of collaging animation styles, and Bakshi was the best besides Disney at that – the good wizard is a Saturday morning cartoon yet his fairy sidekick is straight out of Hustler. Rotoscoping mashes up against traditional cell animation and there’s even some WWII source footage thrown in there. Bakshi was a interesting mind. Scatterbrained and seedy, but interesting.

10. A Town Called Panic

I think I’m just putting this on the list because I want more people to see it. I want ALL the people to see it. The manic, slapstick stop-motion adventures of Horse, Cowboy, and Indian are exhilarating and piss-your-pants hilarious. This movie is like sucking on a giant pixie stick for 80 minutes.

9. The Iron Giant

I don’t rewatch this as much as I should. It’s great to see Brad Bird’s feature debut become the celebrated classic it deserves to be. This is one classy production.

8. The Nightmare before Christmas

Though I’ve cooled on Tim Burton over the years, Nightmare was huge for me during my teenage years. I’m a huge fan of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials, so this movie strokes my geek spot just as pleasurably as any Star Wars homage ever could. Danny Elfman’s finest moment.

7. Robin Hood

As hippy-dippy as Disney ever got. The best parts of Michael Curtiz’s masterpiece The Adventures of Robin Hood are distilled and kiddie-fied. The stoned soundtrack and laid back animation combine to make this one of my ultimate “comfort movies.”

6. The Incredibles

More Brad Bird. The dude is an amazing action director, which you will experience soon enough in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. He cut his teeth on the action genre with The Incredibles, and pretty much schooled 99% of all other action directors on his first try…in a kid’s movie. I could take or leave the Ayn Randian undertones, but the Incredibles is stylistically, er, incredible.

5. Howl’s Moving Castle

The fact that Howl’s Moving Castle is my favorite Myazaki movie baffles a lot of people, but I am equally baffled by the general indifference towards the movie. Just in terms of “world building,” this is the most inspired, rich, suggestive universe Myazaki has ever played around in. The plot walks a tightrope between unpredictable and arbitrary, which I think is part of the charm. There are passages of this movie that are divinely haunting and beautiful and the character work is unparalleled in Myazaki’s oeuvre.

4. The Adventures of Prince Achmed

By far the oldest movie on the list, Prince Achmed is a hidden nugget of pure gold in the annals of film history. Dating to 1926, Lotte Reiniger’s visionary adaptation of Arabian Nights tells the story with paper and metal cutouts on abstract colored backgrounds. It is the most amazing possible version of that admittedly dry description. Reiniger draws real pathos and excitement out of lifeless pieces of paper, which, come to think of it, is sort of the textbook definition of great animation.

3. Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I’m a total sucker for insular animated worlds. Rankin/Bass productions hold a special place in my heart, and this is certainly the best work of their career. If I was the kind of nerd who collected memorabilia, you better believe my house would be covered with figurines of the Bumble and Yukon Cornelius. Now mush. Mush!

2. Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo is a perfect movie. The incredible detail given to these beautifully rendered environments and the way that the story is deftly guided by oceanography and zoology betrays the amount of work put into this production. Finding Nemo features Thomas Newman’s best score, and some of the most impactful montage and editing in recent memory. It’s a beautiful movie on every level.

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

My god, it’s just… just… the best. It’s motherfucking Snow White, for fuck’s sake. Animation has never been better. Film in general has rarely been better.

Editor's note: check out Ben's article on Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Hitler here -J

Justin's List

11. Justice League: The New Frontier

My favorite of the DTV DC animated movies. The New Frontier is concerned with the Silver Age incarnations of character and placing them within the larger zeitgeist of late 50's/early 60's culture. The title is a reference to JFK's famous speech about space exploration. The New Frontier represents all the hopes and fears of the nuclear age.

10. Coraline

This made the list because I'm married to a wonderful woman who is essentially Coraline grown up. This adaptation of Neil Gaiman's children's book is charming and spooky, two things that children's movies seldom get right.

9. Brave Little Toaster

One of my favorite cartoons as a kid. It's been ages since I've seen this, and I'm not sure if it would hold up. I am really intrigued about using household appliances as a stand-in for pets in this Homeward Bound type story. There's something kind of heartbreaking and charming about this movie.

8. Paper Rad: Taking out the Trash

I'm not sure that this counts as a movie in the strictest sense. This is a compilation of shorts from the Pittsburgh art collective. People from my generation will find it eerily prescient and familiar as Adult Swim type humor meshes with Rose Art and Trapper Keeper art of yore.

7. Princess Mononoke

My favorite Miyazaki movie, and one that on paper it looks like I wouldn't like. A beautiful and stirring example of how good fantasy can be in the right hands.

6. Fantastic Mr. Fox

The Fantastic Mr. fox was my favorite movie of 2009. Wes Anderson brought a book by one of my favorite authors to life. What the team achieved with stop motion is a good argument against the increasingly prevalent computer generated animation that seems to be a requirement these days.

5. Sword in the Stone

It seems a little weird to say, but the thing I love most about The Sword and the Stone is its pacing. If this movie came out today, at least half the movie would be spent with teenage/young-adult Arthur kicking ass. I love the idea of Arthur as a skinny weakling learning the ropes from Merlin. The animation is classic 60's Disney and shows a devotion to design that's been lost for decades.

4. Incredibles

My favorite Pixar movie. A way better Fantastic 4 movie than either of the Fantastic 4 movies. Brad Bird was the best thing about Pixar and the golden age of The Simpsons. Bird understands what makes families compelling and manages to bring out the best in them despite the characters' flaws. In that, he somehow manages to capture what we know to be true in real life.

3. Perfect Blue

As much as I love this movie, it made me insanely mad that we lost the director, Satoshi Kon, at such a young age. This is the most cogent and understanding movie made about the nature of celebrity and exploitation.

2. Heavy Metal

A big dumb movie with lots of boobs and violence. Heavy Metal is celluloid id, a triumph of schlock, and one of my all-time favorite movies.

1. Dumbo

CG movies will never be as good as hand drawn movies until they can nail the looseness and expressiveness of the animation of Dumbo. A very short movie that shakes me to the core every time I watch it. Dumbo will break your heart, scare the shit out of you, and fill you with hope. What else could you want from a movie?

Luke's list:

-side note: The Thief and the Cobbler would have ended up on this list if I would have seen all three versions before making this list. Like my buddy/film prof April used to say, "you can't review a movie you haven't seen."

11. Fantasia

I'm keeping it to one "classic" Disney movie in this list. This one doesn't count as a "classic" Disney movie because the general population just saw it once and slept through it, or bought it and never watched it, out of some sense of loyalty towards Disney. Sorry, but that's totally true. Yes there is a groundswell of true believers, but they're probably the same people who loved 2001: A Space Odyssey (guilty). I LOVED this movie as a kid, and it would end up on a list coming up in a few days if it weren't such a shining achievement in animation that it would be tarnished by being placed next to that string of embarrassing movies. You'll see. And if you haven't seen this, seriously, dust off that VHS copy in your basement and slap it in the VCR.

Tied for 9. An American Tale: Fievel Goes West

Mind you, I haven't seen this movie since I was a child, but it was such an effective movie that I'll stand up to defend it any day of the week. Yes, An American Tale 1 had more memorable music (There Are No Cats in America, Somewhere Out There), but this movie was pure adventure, and probably the first "western" I could, without shame, admit that I enjoyed (come on, kids hate westerns).

Tied for 9. The Rescuers Down Under

This one also doesn't count as a "classic" Disney because no one remembers that Disney did it. It's essentially the same idea as with Fievel Goes West: you take (an) established character(s) and place them in a new environment, the environment lending itself to the conflict just as much as actual plot points. But, as with Fievel Goes West, it's pure adventure, the animation so vivid and unique that to this day I'd be able to tell a scene from it just from a quick glance.

8. The Iron Giant

I've only just recently seen this movie, and I have to say I was moved to tears. It's joyous, unconventional, straight up bonkers story makes up a movie that you'd be hard pressed to find the equal of.

7. Robin Hood

This is the "classic" Disney movie that made my list. It's, in my mind, the best example of everything a "classic" Disney movie ought to be, and it doesn't have any of the weird, reprehensible morals that the "princess" movies are known for.

6. The Secret of Kells

Short, yes, but an acheivement in showing how non-Disney, more expressive style can still get the story across, and delight the eye. Granted, it's not the most experimental, but it's still fairly distinct compared to the standard forms of animation.

5. Perfect Blue

I'm also keeping it to one Satoshi Kon movie. This movie is messed UP. Story aside, the cinematic, explosive nature of the movie couldn't possibly be better represented by the art, and the direction. Just all around a gripping thriller. One that you would be most likely to be able to show to someone who distrusts "anime," and possibly make them a believer. If not with this movie, then certainly with the next pick...

4. Princess Mononoke

I'm aaalso keeping it to one Miyazaki movie. The one, the movie that sparked a generation to become Japanophiles, a trend we still have yet to escape ... and you'll not find me complaining, because the more money we can pump into Miyazaki's coffers, the better.

3. The Hobbit

Basically like watching a watercolor painting in action. I've rarely seen a style of animation so precisely match the tone of the story. Like watching pure magic unfold before your eyes.

2. Wall-E

Aaaand I'm keeping it to one Pixar movie, and this is definitely my top. I remember walking out of it thinking to myself "is it wrong that I may have a new favorite movie?" That's while wiping away tears, mind you. It's got probably my favorite opening scene from any movie I've ever seen.

1. Phantom Tollbooth

A faithful adaptation of the brilliant children's book, one of the greatest injustices of the modern era was made right just last year when a remastered version of this was finally released on DVD. Which means that, when you're done reading the articles on this site, you need to find a way to procure a copy. It's colorful, imaginative, fun, and filled with lessons I find myself still in need of taking to heart. Absolute brilliance.

Ryan's List:

11. Ferngully

First of all, I’m not really an “animation guy”, and second of all, FULL DISCLOSURE: I haven’t seen this shit since probably 1990, so in no way can I speak to it’s quality as an adult. As I recall, the main guy who gets shrunk into a fairy size and fights toxic sludge alongside a wise-cracking bat was pretty hot for a cartoon. And yes, that’s all the reason I need.

Editor's note: there's a shocking amount of Ferngully cosplay that I saw while looking for that picture. -J

10. The “Don’t Walk Away” sequence in Xanadu

In which Olivia Newton John (Kira) and Michael Beck (Sonny) are having a date at the Holiday Bowl, and are then suddenly, inexplicably and awesomely turned into cartoon birds, fish, and fairy-things while the Electric Light Orchestra sings the best power ballad in the history of roller-disco.

9. The Black Cauldron

“Wait, DISNEY? WTF IS THIS? SRSLY? Ok. I’m scared. This is great.” – Ryan Thompson, age 7

8. Coraline

Totally original, harrowingly beautiful, and good in a grown-up way, not just for the kids. Also features a delightful, prickly, and downright unlikeable main character voiced by a spry Dakota Fanning.

7. Avatar: The Last Airbender

I told you I’m not really an animation guy. Not to be a jerk, like, “UGH BABY MOVIES”, I just don’t really seek it out much. BLIND SPOT. Although The Boyfriend has made me watch Avatar: The Last Airbender a few times (I HATED EVERY SECOND).

6. Editor's note: watch My Neighbor Totoro -J.

If you’re expecting some Hayao Miyazaki, you’re shit out of luck, ‘cause I’ve never seen any.

5. Wall-E

I liked WALL-E a lot.

4. Despicable Me

They keep showing Despicable Me on HBO, and it’s pretty fun.

3. Ratatouille

Okay, back to the list. I also kind of liked Ratatouille.

2. The Incredibles

I don’t know what it is about it. The stylized landscapes and character design, the unconventional voice casting (Sarah Vowell and Craig T. Nelson? Ok, sure.), the action scenes better than in most summer blockbusters. It’s an instant classic. Nostalgia, humor and actual pathos.

1. The Secret of NIMH

When I was a wee child, my sister and I were allowed to go to the Albertson’s in Idaho Falls and rent one ACTUAL VHS per week – I inevitably chose NIMH every single time. It’s a children’s movie starring a cast of rodents dealing with the metaphysical fall out of animal testing. What’s not to love!? It’s also, to a child (and most adults), terrifying. Chock full of supporting characters like The Great Owl, Nicodemus, and Dragon, the farmer’s hellcat, the field in which Mrs. Brisby lives is a virtual warzone of supernatural animals. I never get sick of it.

What are your favorites?

Our 12 Favorite Directors - The 12 Days of TMA

2011-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today we kick off our annual tradition of 12 lists in 12 days to celebrate Christmas. Today we have our 12 favorite directors. Be sure to check out the list from last year too. Enjoy!

Ryan's List:

12. Robert Altman - Nashville, The Long Goodbye, M.A.S.H.

‘Cause I feel like I need at least one dead person, and I like Altman a lot.

11. Sofia Coppola - Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette

I saw Lost in Translation on one of the very first dates I had with The Boyfriend. Almost 10 years later I watch it and remember every single moment of those two hours. The way his cologne smelled, the way our legs kept touching, the cold weather outside. That’s what Coppola is good at – making tiny moments into something monumental.

10. Joe Wright - Pride and Prejudice, Atonement, Hannah

Made the two best costume dramas of the new millennium with Pride & Predjudice and Atonement, then followed those up with the best tween girl assassin movie ever, Hanna. We’ll just forget The Soloist ever happened.

9. Stephen Frears - The Queen, Dirty Pretty Things, High Fidelity

Does buttoned up drawing-room dramas better than anyone else.

7. & 8. James Cameron & Kathryn Bigelow - The Terminator, Aliens, Near Dark

They used to be married, share actors all the time, and both are responsible for the most exhilarating action sequences ever. The barroom occupation in Near Dark, Ripley in the power loader in Aliens, every fucking moment of The Hurt Locker. Even Avatar, a monumentally insipid and overlong fantasia had its moments.

6. Paul Verhoeven - Showgirls, Starship Troopers, Total Recall

Should really be higher up on my list – he makes ENDLESSLY rewatchable movies. If there isn’t a boob shown by minute 40, it’s not a Verhoeven.

5. Paul Thomas Anderson - Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Magnolia

Magnolia gets better every time, even though There Will Be Blood doesn’t hold up for me.

4. Kelly Reichardt - Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff

Meek’s Cutoff, Wendy & Lucy and Old Joy all prove that you can make a movie for $50 with almost no dialogue and it will be about 400% more compelling than anything Michael Bay has ever dreamed of.

3. Steven Spielberg - Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.

The first, last, and best blockbuster-auteur. Jurrassic Park and Close Encounters of the Third Kind are the defining films of my adolescence. I saw E.T. on cable a couple weeks ago and wept like I had just lost a family member.

2. David Lynch - Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Elephant Man

Mulholland Drive. That is all.

1. Lars Von Trier - Meloncholia, Dancer in the Dark, Anti-Christ

I saw Melancholia a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. The same thing happens every time I see a Von Trier – except Manderlay. He’s a visionary, a genius, and an asshole. Love him or hate him – he’s one of the few remaining ARTISTS working in film today. Chaos reigns.

Luke's List:

This is as close to "in order" as I could get. The first middle few are probably interchangeable.

12. Sam Weisman - George of the Jungle, D2: The Mighty Ducks

The Director at the bottom of your list is supposed to be a ridiculous pick. That's the point. That said, I cannot deny that George of the Jungle and D2 were key movies in my formative years, and that, to this day, I will argue to the ends of the earth that they are perfectly paced, tonally sensible, solid movies for any age.

11. Dario Argento - Susperia, Phenomena, Interno

Dario Argento's vision of pure, unbridled terror, coupled with his penchant for technicolor, make him unlike any other director. He understand the medium better than countless others,
effortlessly incorporating chilling visuals and, at times, nauseating sound effects, all combining to create some of the most immersive movies out there.

10. Robert Zemeckis - Back to the Future I-III, Death Becomes Her, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Another director whose influence on my childhood could never bee underestimated. His more recent movies have, admittedly, all been fairly embarrassing, but when he felt comfortable to be more adventurous and take more risks, he shone more brilliantly than any star in the sky.

9. Stanley Kubrick - 2001, The Shining, Dr. Strangelove

Yes yes yes, I get it, this is the most obvious choice ever. Well shush, his movies are awesome and everyone knows it, on to #8.

8. Brian De Palma - Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, Blow Out

A long time worshiper at the throne of Carrie, it took me a while to delve into his other movies. Another director who has sort of petered out in the last few years, his mark on cinema will never be forgotten, even if some of his greatest hits remain relatively unknown.

7. Tobe Hooper - Poltergeist, Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1,2

Forget for a moment that the movies I've listed next to Tobe's name are essentially the best he's ever done, and really focus on the fact that the same guy was able to make all those movies, two of which are unarguably cultural landmarks. Poltergeist is, as far as I'm concerned, one of maybe 7 perfect movies out there. That puts you on my list regardless of other movies tied to your name, Tobe.

6. John Carpenter - The Thing, Escape from New York, Prince of Darkness

John Carpenter is yet another director from days of yore that has just been a total disappointment recently. But he made The Thing. Yep, top director.

5. Paul Verhoeven - Robocop, Total Recall, Showgirls

This man somehow pulled off making some of the most culturally recognizable movies with scripts that by all rights should have never been green lit. And they work. Robocop, in my mind, will forever go down as the most serendipitous movie ever made. Maybe Verhoeven is just the luckiest director of them all ... or he's just crazy enough to work!

4. Satoshi Kon - Paranoia Agent, Perfect Blue, Paprika

Satoshi Kon's mind was unlike any other. His imagination was a swirling mess of colors which he undoubtedly struggled to pull out and tie to the page. His work seems ever moving, even as you look at a simple static image, and when you see it in motion, it bursts from the screen.

3. Hayao Miyazaki - Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service

If Miyazaki didn't invent magic, you could probably fool me into thinking he did. He is a wizard. I don't even need to go on, do I? If anything could be said, he essentially been making Japanophile's out of American children for the last 30+ years. Nobel Peace Prize worthy? He's got my vote.

2. Jean-Luc Godard - Pierrot le Fou, Breathless, Band of Outsiders

You never forget your first. Godard showed me that "weird" movies could be exhilarating, comical, and engrossing. Pierrot le Fou will forever be one of my all time favorite movies, despite my waning interest in French New Wave. He was one of many pioneers, all of which deserve an awful lot of credit, but this isn't a list of the most worthy directors, is it? Godard doesn't pander to the audience, but he doesn't obscure his vision to the point where it's no longer discernible. There's an awful lot to be said about that.

1. Wes Anderson - Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic

Oh shush. I myself have a long list of qualms with Wes Anderson's movies (lack of non-whites, lack of non-rich [save for Rushmore {kinda}], Bill Murray is the same character in every movie, etc.), but there is no one working in the field currently who so wholly understands the medium as Wes Anderson. His movies are tonal masterpieces, his characters have depth well beyond that of anything we've even remotely come to expect, and they, quite simply, are consistently (visually) gorgeous.

Justin's List:

12. Kenji Misumi - Lone Wolf and Cub Series

I put Kenji Misumi on my list for the work he did on the Lone Wolf and Cub series, which have become some of my favorite movies. Misumi directed 5 of the original 6 movies. His movies are great examples of Japanese exploitation movies as well as being very compelling and artfully shot.

11. Alejandro Jodorowsky - El Topo, Santa Sangre, The Holy Mountain

I became acquainted with Alejandro Jodorowsky's movies and comics for the first time this year. It was one of those moments where I was in disbelief that I had lived my life up until this point without knowing about his work. Jodorowsky's blend of surrealism, cultural and religious commentary, and chaos magic speaks to me in a way that few other artists in any medium do. Aside from his movies, I read his Incal comics that he did with French artist, Moebius. Simply put, I've loved everything Jodorowsky has been involved with that I've come across.

10. Werner Herzog - Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

What made me include Herzog this year as opposed to my list last year is that I saw Fitzcarraldo. Herzog is so in love with art and humanity that it makes all of his movies incredibly vital.

9. David Cronenberg - Videodrome, Scanners, A Dangerous Method

I think I omitted Cronenberg last year purely as an oversight. I love me some Cronenberg. Videodrome, Scanners, and The Fly are some of my favorite movies. As far as I'm concerned he's been batting .1000 in the last decade too. A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method are all masterpieces in their own way. Cronenberg's next movie, Cosmopolis, is an adaptaion of a novel by one of my favorite authors, Dan DeLillo.

8. Henri-Georges Clouzot - Le Corbeau, Diabolique, The Wages of Fear

Clouzot is my favorite thriller director. I think he out Hitchcocks Hitchcock. The Wages of Fear is probably the best commentary on the energy industry ever made, Le Corbeau is probably more relevant now in the wake of George Tiller's assassination, and Diabolique is blood curdling.

7. Dario Argento - Phenomena, Deep Red, Opera

Argento has given us nearly two decades of great movies. He's as fascinating and flawed as he is brilliant. I just hope he can give us some more classic horror sometime soon.

6. Wes Anderson - Bottle Rocket, The Darjeeling Limited, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

He's great. Sometimes I think I'm too cool to admit that I love Wes Anderson as much as I do, but then I'm reminded of how good he actually is. My first date with my wife was to The Royal Tenenbaums. My personal favorite is Life Aquatic.

5. Stanley Kubrick - Paths of Glory, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange

The man was in control of EVERYTHING. Each of his movies is vital and important in its own way. Aside from the one's everyone has seen, you should really check out Paths of Glory for one of the best anti-war movies ever made. Criterion just reissued that one.

4. John Huston - Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon

The thing I love about John Huston is that he knows how to get the hell out of the way of the story. He's the Hemingway of directors. Every time I see a movie that's over-directed, my love of Huston grows.

3. Quentin Tarantino - Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction

Last year, I didn't include Tarantino because I was trying to be cool. The thing that changed my mind: watching Jackie Brown again. Holy shit, that movie is unreal and about as close to perfect as any movie I can conceive of.

2. Martin Scorcese - Raging Bull, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver

Scorcese gets demoted to my #2 this year, but it's no fault of his, but rather how #1 has grown in my esteem.

1. Jean Renoir - The Rules of the Game, The River, The Grand Illusion

Last year's #2 is now my #1. Since last year I've seen more of Renoir's movies and have read a great deal more about him. More than any other director, Renoir both embodies the things that I think art is capable of while also expanding my conception of art. He's idealistic about what man is capable of but completely realistic about what we can actually achieve due to our shortcomings. His movies manage to be life affirming as well as bittersweet. Watch The Rules of the Game or The River to see what I mean.

Who are your favorites?

Get Tuff Fest I: Wrap-Up Mega-Post 1

2011-12-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies. Here is part 1 of 3 of the last batch of movies. Stay tuned this week for the last installments!

The Secret of NIMH - If you saw it as a child, feel reassured that it is still as adorable and chillingly terrifying as you remember it. I was not lucky enough to have known what I was in for. It's like the Rescuers meets H.P. Lovecraft. Okay, not that crazy, but still dark.

Cronos - I was surprised that it wasn't set during the Spanish Civil War, as many of Del Toro's other movies are, but it's a better tale set in the modern era. Del Toro's movies generally concern mortals coming in contact with the other side. Cronos follows suit, looking deep into the heart of man (or maybe just this one man) when he is given something even he already knows well enough not to call a gift. It's as twisted and inventive as Del Toro's other movies, but on a slightly smaller scale, which feels natural and inviting.

Many more after the break!

Princess Mononoke - This was another animated feature I hadn't seen as a child that I feel as though I ought to have. I started watching more and more anime during my highschool years (post 2000), and by that time, though only 3 years old, Mononoke was already known to everyone as a staple. As I watch it now, nearly 15 years later, I can see how basically everything I watched in HS ripped it off pretty bad. Not to discredit the things I enjoyed in HS, but, rather, to add to the praise already given to this stellar movie.

Real Steel - Real Steel is a Hi-Five and a Half. Yes, it is as predictable as you think it will be. Buuuut it's still really fun! I honestly didn't think I'd have as great a time watching it as I did. It's a cute, sappy story with robots fighting ... how can you go wrong? I know your answer to that: Transformers. Trust me, you won't have to suspend your disbelief for Real Steel as you do for Transformers. Plus, this Twilight Zone Episode was based off the same short story by Richard Matheson! The sequel will surely blow.

Drive - A smooth, cool movie. It's the least pretentious piece of celluloid I've seen in a while. There is no more, and no less, "movie" in this movie than there absolutely has to be. There's not a superflous moment in the entire thing. It's also action pact, deliberate, and charming as hell. One of my new favorites.

Nacked Lunch - Yep, it's just as crazy as you've heard. I was won over almost instantly when Peter Weller showed up playing our protagonist "Bill Lee" (read: William Burroughs). But what really made me love this movie was that it is, as you probably well know, absolutely bonkers. I love the absurd. I do have to say though, it was a little long. Also that David Cronenberg never disappoints.

Sphere - I can definitely see why people either 1) have no idea what I'm talking about when I mention this movie, or 2) think I'm crazy for liking it. When people hear "Sci-Fi" they picture space explosions, not submarine psychodrama. But I really liked it, mostly because I like how odd the cast/characters were and how much fun it was to watch their world, quiet sensibly, fall right apart.

They Live - Break out the Bru-dogs and hunker down for one helluva ride. I can solidly confirm that They Live is wholly worthy of the hype it has garnered. Yeah, see it, you'll think of it about once a week for the rest of your life, and you'll be thankful for that.

A Serious Man - The Coen Brothers are not, by any means, Gods. They certainly have made a handful of essential movies. A Serious Man is a fine movie, but not essential. It's well shot, the acting is spot on, and the story is cringe-every-few-minutes tragic. But it's joyless, which is ultimately it's downfall

The Iron Giant - I have a tendency to write off animated movies as being kid schlock, even though I know full well that I ADORE likea billiun animated movies. This movie doesn't come up in conversation very often, for maybe the same reason that The Lord of the Rings doesn't: Everyone already knows it's the best thing ever, so we don't need to talk about it. It's pure, brilliant, and unbelievably sad. I definitely cried at the end, but "good cry" kind of cry.

Winter's Bone - Apart from stellar acting, I don't get the hype. I just wasn't compelled by the story at all. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood after watching The Iron Giant. That's a heck of a hard movie to follow up.

True Stories - David Byrne driving around Texas, pedantically learning about life in the fictional town of Virgil. I did like his "serious/not serious/serious/not serious" glazed over stare he employed when talking to the characters in his movie, though, if these characters had been real people, it would felt a little pretentious. If anything, this movie is worth it for the music (supplied by, of course, the Talking Heads), and John Goodman's performance.

The Virgin Suicides - A great experiment in tone, The Virgin Suicides had me not wanting to become acquainted with the characters, for I knew their fate, but, alas, I could not help but become overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia while watching the story unfold. While I grew up no where near the 70's, the movie did a perfect job of transplanting me right in the height of that fateful sepia-tone 70's summer.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

To see all the movies written about so far, click here: Get Tuff Fest I
Again, for an explanation, click here: Introduction to Get Tuff Fest I
To suggest movies I should schedule for GTFII, comment below or e-mail me: TheeLuke@gmail.com

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 23: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

2011-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

Just as the remake is coming out, I find it more pertinent than ever to point out that this movie, the original, which came out barely 2 years ago, is an astonishing accomplishment in filmmaking, and that no matter how good the American remake might turn out to be, it's still important to ask ourselves if the remake is actually something that needed to be done. Having seen what an American director can do to a remake of a popular Swedish movie (I'm referring to the scar on cinematic history known as Let Me In, a travesty of a movie), I'm not very excited to see TGwtDT(2011), despite how admittedly awesome the trailer is. Will I still see it? Yeah, I think I will, but I'm just saying I'm not getting to excited about it. And here's why:

Niels Arden Oplev's 2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a triumph. The characters are rich and enticing, each with complex but believable histories. For the audience, the joy of watching the meticulous unveiling of the mystery that the plot revolves around, the thing that links our characters, almost pales in comparison to the excitement that comes with learning more about the characters themselves. Watching them interact, learning more about their lives with genuine interest was more engrossing than watching any simple murder mystery. It was repulsive at times (not gorey, just uncomfortable), which didn't repel me, but, rather, drew me in further. An amazing, moving, movie. I DARE any director to have the same effect with the same characters and story, but without Oplev's hand and the powerhouses that were Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist. Double Dog Dare.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 20: Moneyball

2011-12-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

Moneyball is a terrific movie, plain and simple. It makes me feel nostalgic about a sport I feel absolutely nothing for (re: baseball), and that's impressive. Though, admittedly, of all the sports movies out there, baseball ones are the easiest to have a confusing amount of nostalgia for, for some reason. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill give brilliant performances, the script is clearly shooting for an Oscar, and there's a healthy helping of American Spirit drenched over every aspect of it. It is absolutely a solid movie, and to say any more than "it will go down as an instant classic" would be superfluous. Do you like movies? If you do, see Moneyball. It's a perfect example of how to do things right.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 19: Fire and Ice

2011-12-09T08:00:00.001-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

I initially ordered what I thought was Fire and Ice from Netflix, and what arrived was the documentary of Frazetta's life, Painting with Fire, that was supplementary to Fire and Ice. As a person with eyeballs, I am a fan, or at the very least, admirer of Frank Frazetta, and I was interested in his story, so I popped in PwF. A pretty poorly paced and edited documentary, PwF still succeeded in wetting my appetite for Frazetta's full length movie, Fire and Ice. I have to say I was not incredibly surprised when I saw it. I was still, however, fairly disappointed. Fire and Ice is pretty darn bad. It's interesting to see how he and the rest of the crew attempted to bring his paintings to life, but past that general feeling of interest to see what he could do, I couldn't recommend it to anyone. No strong characters, an awful excuse for a female character, and, at times, it kind of looked terrible. I suppose I'm glad to have seen it, and it was fun yelling at the movie with my friend Margie, but ... seriously ... it's pretty bad. Check out Painting with Fire though!

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 17: Restrepo

2011-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

I was previously unaware that I was as effected by the slew of wars over the past decade, mostly because, as far as I could tell, there'd always been a war, so it was just kind of a normal state. I didn't have any friends in the war because I was too young, and I didn't have any relatives in the war because they were too old. But now I'm at the point where I've got old neighbors coming home from the war ... or not. Thoughts about this have been slowly seeping in, but nothing could have compared me for Restrepo (Reh-strep-oh). You're introduced to actual people, some of which, by the end of the movie, are no longer alive. You see them laugh and joke around, and you see them in fire fights, and while you never actually see any bloodshed, it occurs off camera, it's just as terrifying, if not more, than if you were actually watching it. Before watching this documentary, my stance on the war was a general dislike, and a desire to see the troops come home. After seeing it, my stance has changed to me never wanting war to have ever existed ever. An incredibly powerful and important movie, I'm afraid that Restrepo will never get the circulation it truly deserves.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 15: A Town Called Panic

2011-12-07T08:00:00.002-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!
p.s. This task has, addittedly, gotten the better of me haha. 60 movies in 60 days on top of a job and being in a band and wanting to read stuff sometimes? haha, yeah, I'm going to need to move a little faster than that. So I'll publish the reviews I've already written, and do a huge wrap up, single to two sentence wrap up of the other movies!

This is another one that I'd seen before, but definitely wanted to see again, especially with a new group of people who hadn't seen it. Luckily my buddy Dana was around, so we put it on. A Town Called Panic is a motion picture adaptation of a series of 5 minute puppetoon series of the same name. The movie feels an awful lot like twenty 5 minute shorts back to back, the plot free floating and sporadic, but never to the point where it feel taxing. A pure and simple exercise in absurdity, A Town Called Panic is what I call a great, fun movie.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 13: The 39 Steps

2011-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

I was fortunate enough to be able to watch this movie with someone who had worked on a production of the stage version of the 39 Steps. He said that, while this version was a great drama, the stage version was more of a comedy. After looking back on the movie, I could see the points where certain elements, if played differently, could have been laugh out loud funny. That said, I was glad for the drama, as Robert Donat's sly and dry wit and humor would have felt a little dull if everything else was being played up to the nth degree. Hitchcock showcases his at this point well developed sense of pacing and camera work. There's a particularly titillating piece of camera work involving the shot starting in a car, then swinging out as the car drives away, that mirrors Fritz Lang's revolutionary window shot in M (seen here), but improves on it in ways that only Hitchcock could. Of course it's awesome, it's Hitchcock.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 12: Burnt Offerings

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

I put Burnt Offerings on my list primarily because John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats once mentioned it and gave it a fair amount of praise. Burnt Offerings is, first and foremost, a very long movie. It's only really 2 hours, but it feels way longer. Without giving any spoilers away really (as this is the premise of the movie), the house this family agrees to stay in for the summer appears to be draining the life from the family. Whether or not this is what is actually happening, it does appear this way, and when your movie's goal is to show the life slowly being drained from someone, you have to realize that this feeling will be experienced by your audience as well. If you're really into Dark Shadows, and love campy 70's horror, and have nothing to do, then I'd recommend that you watch Burnt Offerings. If not, then I'd heavily consider watching this one scene from it. Warning, Spoiler. That's really all you'll need.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 11: Who Is Harry Nilsson?

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

Everyone likes Harry Nilsson, even if you don't know who he is. I've been a fan of his since my Dad played me Son of Schmilsson when I was a kid. I particularly liked "You're Breaking My Heart." As I got older, I gathered up as much Nilsson as I could get my hands on, absorbing it like the leading brand of paper towels. Until recently I didn't look into his personal life too much, as I've never found that sort of information as interesting as the music itself. But when someone makes a doc about one of the most under-appreciated musicians of the 20th century, I figure it's my duty to find out a little about the guy. Who is Harry Nilsson goes into immense detail about how crazy this man Harry's life really was, and how if a startling genius can also be a huge jerk, and, simultaneously, a loving man. Okay okay, that's not that startling, but still, it's a good story and a well paced documentary, so what more could you ask for?

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 10: Haunted Honeymoon

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

Haunted Honeymoon sort of slipped its way into the festival. I'd seen it before when I was a kid, and didn't put it on my list, but after watching the Expendables, and randomly seeing it in my suggested queue, the people I had over and I thought it'd be a good companion piece. Haunted Honeymoon, for those of you who don't know, was Gilda Radner's last movie before she died of ovarian cancer. Watching it honestly feels like we're looking in on a fever-dream during the last few days of love bird's Gilda Radner and Gene Wilder's marriage. Going in to this movie with this knowledge adds a strange dynamic, watching Gene and Gilda unknowingly fall into a potentially life threatening situation, and laugh, dance, and sing their way out of it feels like an all to apt swan song. But it also makes it harder to watch, because now, looking back, we know it's a swan song, but at the time that it was being made, they were still fighting hard to make it more than that. And, outside of the movie, happily ever after didn't really come through for G&G. A heartbreaking movie without ever intending to be one.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 9: The Expendables

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

The Expendables is everything that you think it is. It's a throwback to the testosterone-driven explosion-smorgasbord era of cinema, and really nothing more. At this point in my festival, a few friends had come over, and a few drinks were had, so any semblance of what the plot of this movie was almost entirely lost on me, but, as you probably guessed it, that didn't really matter. There were big manly men fighting each other, huge explosions, cameos, and every other sort of unabashedly self serving, masturbatory aspect of the epics given homage by this overblown production. Oh yeah, and it also totally ruled. It was just too much fun, even at its most base moments.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Beer Wars

2011-12-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

Justin here with a look at the documentary, Beer Wars, which is currently streaming on Netflix.

Beer is one of my great pleasures in life. In terms of a time and money investment, it’s up there with movies, comic books, and music. The hobbies that I like the most are ones that reward knowledge and curiosity. No doubt everyone who is a regular reader of this blog had some sort of epiphany moment where they realized that there are good movies being made that don’t get shown in the megaplexes. At some point you found out that there’s a whole canon of awesome movies stretching back to the dawn of cinema to discover. It’s like going through nerd puberty. Beer is, of course, the same. The Bud Lights and Coors of the world are the equivalent of the Paul Blart or Nick and Nicky movies. There’s as much diversity in beer as there is in movies.

Beer Wars doesn’t so much highlight the different kinds of beers and independent breweries, but examines the different challenges that independent brewers have when going toe to toe with the huge macro brewers. Beer Wars is more about business than brews, but it’s damned fascinating. If you’re the kind of person with even a passing interest in good beer, then you should watch this movie. If you’re the kind of person who is interested in how big corporations in any industry fight off the smaller, more interesting competition, than you need to see Beer Wars.

The movie is written and directed by Anat Baron, the former president of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Coincidentally, Baron is allergic to alcohol and doesn’t drink at all. Her intense fascination with the beverage industry combined with years of experience fighting for market share make her perspective really vital. Through the course of the movie, Baron interviews old colleagues like Kim Jordan, founder of New Belgium Brewery; Greg Koch, founder of Stone Brewery; and Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery. Each relates their different goals and struggles. The common theme seemed to be a focus on product and people above profit.

The most interesting parts of the movie, however, are about Inbev/Annheiser-Bush and Miller/Molson/Coors. From the 1940’s onward, these giants bought up the competition and strived to make their beers as inoffensive and homogenous as possible. By manipulating a ridiculous distribution system and flooding the market with products, they are able to secure a maximum amount of shelf space and force independent beers off the radar of consumers. Those two companies spend millions of dollars each year in marketing to push their shitty beers while independent breweries often have no marketing budget.

A large portion of the movie chronicles the struggles of a newly minted indie brewer trying to get bars and liquor stores to carry her new beer. Ultimately she becomes so exasperated that she tries to sell out to Budweiser. The movie promotes the idea that it’s practically impossible for the little guy to compete.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Beer Wars and learned a lot, it wasn’t without its flaws. There were a few too many “man on the street” type segments with Baron berating the sports bar scene about their drink choices and I wish they had covered the difference in ingredient sourcing a little more.

Craft beer has gained some serious traction in recent years. Even at my local dinky small mountain town liquor store I can get a tasty beer from New Belgium or Sam Adams. I hope as more people discover the immense diversity and pleasure of these drinks that Beer Wars becomes just a snapshot of a weird time and place in American culture.

Follow me on Twitter @CouchJustin

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 8: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

Uncle Boonmee is a hard movie to really review. It's certainly beautiful, and definitely an experience, but it's not for everyone. It's another slow and contemplative movie, floating by at glacial speed. What is happening in the plot takes a back seat to deliberately weighty silences and long stretches of either metaphorical or literal wanderings. I did like it, and found it uncannily beautiful, but I can't say I really understood what was happening, and found myself getting so lost in it that I zoned out, my mind going on trips of it's own. When it would come back, it would appear that nothing much had changed since I left. If explored more deeply, I may come out of it with a deeper understanding of the plot or even the message, but I'm not sure I'll be quick to revisit this admittedly strange and beautiful movie.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 7: Trollhunter

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

There were moments while Watching TrollHunter that I was leaning forward, jaw agape, eyes wide, and heart racing. It doesn't have to rely on the audience pretending they're watching a "real" found footage movie, which honestly makes the movie more engaging and a hell of a lot more fun. Yes it's a bit of a Blair Witch rip off, but it I think it accomplishes a thing that Blair Witch would have killed to: It's a blast to watch. I was laughing and smiling the whole time. It's a fun, unassuming, unexpected adventure.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 6: I Love You Phillip Morris

2011-11-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

I Love You Phillips Morris is a fun, funny, twisted tale of one man's selfishness never really catching up to him. The moral of the story may have been lost, but with this movie it really is all about watching this based-on-a-true-story movie unfold. Jim Carrey's portrayal of real life Steven Jay Russel is charming and hypnotic, most of the joy found in the movie being derived from watching him get away with all of the just-barely-believable madness that occurs throughout the movie. Jim and Ewan act their tushes off in the playful, colorful, outrageous, blast of a movie. Definitely the feel-good-movie of year (two years ago).

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Ken Russell, in Remembrance

2011-11-28T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hi gang, Ben here with some sad news. The great British director Ken Russell died yesterday. If you read that sentence and asked yourself, “Who?,” don’t worry, you’re not alone. Despite being one of the most iconoclastic yet iconic directors to throw his mad fantasies up on the silver screen in the last half a century, Russell is all but forgotten even amongst otherwise literate cineastes.

It hasn’t even been two years since I saw my first Ken Russell movie. When I first read about Russell’s Lisztomania!, it was one of those flicks I moved hell and earth to track down even though it has never been released on DVD. Why? Because it’s a biopic of famed Romantic piano composer Franz Liszt…that finds Liszt chasing women around with his 15 foot long erection. This is also the movie that casts Richard Wagner as a Nazi-uniformed Frankenstein’s monster who kills Jews with a machine gun. It was love at first sight.

Roger Daltry as Franz Liszt, seducing everything with a pulse.

However, by populating his irreverent – some might say blasphemous – biographical movie with vampires, spaceships, and rock’n’roll icons (Ringo plays a wisecracking Pope) Russell shoots so far past the mark of bad taste that Lisztomania! actually manages to achieve some kind of sublime truth about its subject. Through all the madness, Russell stays remarkably true to the spirit and passions of Liszt himself, even as the facts are mutilated.

Ken Russell’s best movies (and his worst, for that matter) attempt a foolhardy balance between near-divine intellectual enlightenment and straight-from-the-gutter crass exploitation. Russell was “The Fool” from King Lear. His movies are dirty jokes for the smartest guy in the room.

Tchaikovsky struggles to balance art and lust in The Music Lovers.

Time has not been kind to Ken Russell. What many call his masterpiece, The Devils, was never released uncensored, and is unavailable on DVD to this day. Profound works such as the understated (for Russell, anyway) Tchaikovsky biopic The Music Lovers go unwatched. After his final day in the sun with Altered States over 30 years ago, Russell struggled with funding and relevance. I can only hope that news of the director’s death might lead to a wider reconsideration of his work. It would be a shame for Russell’s star to grow only after his passing, but nothing would make me happier than thoughtfully restored DVD/BluRay releases of some of Ken Russell’s “lost works” (whatdaya say, Criterion?) and a general reevaluation of his place in the pantheon of great directors of our time.

Ken Russell, you will be missed.

-Ben

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 5: THE THING

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

There are few movies that occupy the upper echelon of movies I consider good (there are a lot of good movies, but few perfect is what I'm saying). I bring this up because, obviously, The Thing is one of the few movies I consider basically perfect. From the terrifically chilling soundtrack to the stellar performances from every cast member, from Rob Bottin's godlike visual effects mastery to the straight up bonkers premise, from the brilliant cinematography to the spot on look into the human psyche, John Carpenter's The Thing is an unstoppable behemoth of a movie. No matter how many times I see it, the sense of terror present during my first seeing it surfaces again in new and bizarre ways. It's flat out an effective movie. And if you haven't see it, I envy you, because you get to see it for the first time now that you're going to go out and see it right away.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 4: 2046

2011-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

2046, the third of Wong Kar-wai's informal trilogy, brings back the main male lead from In the Mood for Love, now exploring the life after the end of his relationship with his wife and wife of the man whom his own wife ran off with. It can stand alone as it's own movie, but the references to the previous movies that persist throughout 2046 are many, and I could see the movie being fairly confusing without the foundation of at least InMfL. 2046 has several non-chronologically occurring story arcs, the movie switching between them at what would at first appear to be random intervals. But as the movie progresses, it becomes evident that the emotional tone of the segments mirror each other, each scene, regardless of specific arc, giving off a specific emotion, or relating a specific feeling. It is without a doubt a puzzling movie, however if one allows it to wash over them, they'll find themselves floating in a sea of blurred, but overall rewarding, emotions, as it would seem was Wong Kar-wai's true motive with making each of these movies.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

The Muppets

2011-11-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

Justin here with a review of the new Muppet movie.

There’s no moment in The Muppets as magical as Kermit singing “The Rainbow Connection” in the original. There’s no puppetry as amazing as Kermit riding a bike. There’s no celebrity cameo as amazing as Orson Welles.

But The Muppets is really good. It’s a worthy Muppet movie. It’s a great family movie.

The main ingredient missing is Jim Henson. But that’s an unfair criticism. He’s gone, and no one can take his place.

What I appreciated most about The Muppets was its tone: upbeat, hopeful, and sincere. This isn’t a crass cash-in like Muppets in Space or Muppets Treasure Island or anything like that. The Muppets is full of the exuberance for life that made the original so good. This isn’t Episode One: The Phantom Muppets.

The plot revolves around Jason Siegel, his Muppet brother Walter, and his girlfriend
Amy Adams going on a road trip to get the old gang back together to save the Muppet Studios from an evil oil baron. Basically your standard Blues Brothers/UHF/Breakin’/Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo plot. What were you expecting? Shakespeare?

Of course the plot is secondary to the Muppet antics and song numbers. Everything worked out pretty damn well. I kept expecting a major misstep, but nothing happened that was ever train wreck worth. The most cringe worthy moment came from an unexpected rap scene that mercifully only lasted about a minute. What’s more, this movie is so charming that certain gags worked that shouldn’t have, like when Camellia and a flock of chickens cluck out a wordless version of Cee-Lo’s “Fuck You.”

The cast worked really well. I didn’t even really mind the parts with Sigel and Adams, because I kind of like them and they’re kind of likable. I think everyone understood that having a couple of human focus characters was a necessary evil because it would be kind of weird just watching puppets for 90 minutes. I was glad to see Rashida Jones in a role outside of the excellent Parks and Recreation. Jack Black was even able to tone down his shtick and stay out of the Muppet’s way.

I’m not the level of Muppets fan that some people I know are. But I grew up watching the movies and re-runs of the show and Fraggle Rock. I really liked this movie. My expectations weren’t super high, but The Muppets definitely exceeded them. The screening I saw was made even more special because I saw it with my mom and my brother. Was it just like old times? No, not really. But it was pretty great.

Follow me on Twitter @CouchJustin

Also, if you're looking for other great takes on the Muppets, be sure to check out Roger Langridge's superb Muppet Show comics.

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 3: In the Mood For Love

2011-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

Wong Kar-wai’s second in his informal trilogy, In the Mood for Love is the most accessible of the three. Faster paced than Days of Being Wild, more concise than 2046, In the Mood For Love is a heartbreaking exploration of the processes of losing a lover to infidelity. It’s still very much a contemplative movie, slow and deliberate, but more emotionally charged. There are conversations that are so unbelievably hard to watch that I felt uncomfortable just being in the same room as the movie. The soundtrack comes in gracefully during emotional moments, causing the heart to swell and one's breath to freeze in their lungs. It's a desperately beautiful movie.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson

Get Tuff Fest I: Movie 2: Days Of Being Wild

2011-11-25T08:00:00.001-08:00

Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!

The first of Wong Kar-wai’s informal trilogy, Days of Being Wild is a slow, contemplative, mood focused film that follows around a Hong Kong playboy’s exploits with one woman, whom he quickly becomes bored of, and another whom he can’t seem to rid himself of. The movie explores courting, copulation, certain people’s compulsion to constantly remain on the hunt, and the inevitable emotional fallout that all of these things may bring about. It’s a sad movie, and moving, but it is certainly not for everyone. Bring your patience and be prepared to let it wash over you and you may find it rewarding.

-Luke Hunter James-Erickson