Don't call it a comeback!!!

My boy Quentin Tarrantino showed ya'll expletives wut it is. He pulled down 37.6 mil and a not too shabby 65.1 mill worldwide. Personally, i'm happy for the news, not only because he shares my name (kinda) but he avenges his last movie Death Proof connected to Planet Terror in the experimental Grindhouse double feature. It was majorly slept on for no real reason I can think of. It kinda got panned for being talky especially after the raucuous zombie actioner that was PT. After sitting through a feature length flick and an assortment of fake trailers, i think people were spent and lost some attention. Still, Death Proof was cool as shit for being nothing more than a polished, fun, original revenge plot featuring 4 girls who do what girls normally do, beat some ass. I'm not a girl, but if i were i would think i'd be in love with this movie. And it featured Zoe Bell, who is friggin nuts and cool as hell all at the same time. I can't wait to see Basterds and highly suggest the movie if for nothing else than Brad Pitt's Aldo Raine.

Me calling the kettle black

I’m not elitist. Random right? And so early in the blog. But still I was inspired to write on the subject of snooty nosed filmic critiques when last Friday my sister and I watched a segment of Movie Mob on Reelzchannel (they owe a check for that plug).If you don’t know Movie Mob is essentially a symptom of our faux-starmaking times. Instead of actual talent, producers put joe blows with an internet connection and a netcam on television to spaz out and deliver movie reviews (I promise I don’t mean to throw salt I’m just so sick of the miserly execs and their cheap reality shows, but that’s another blog entry). Anyway, the lowest vote getters get kicked off. Given the buzz around the toy flick, I don’t need to tell you it got ugly. They thrashed the film pretty handily. I watched desensitized to the flame throwing, but my sister stared, with a twisted expression of her face. Y’know the kind you give when someone cuts you off, or someone closes the door in an elevator when they obviously see you coming. Y’know the one you give to an asshole. Well, she shared with me a peeve of hers. My sister exclaimed how lame it is that people go after movie that hard. They seemed to exude this air of pretentiousness in their review. I was taken aback a bit. Have I became the chest thumping, mean-spirited film elitist my sister despised?

Since I changed my major to film studies, (and thereby crushing my parents dreams) I’ve understood films on a different level. Before I started following films seriously-somewhere in high school I suppose-I demanded little more than explosions, glossy special effects and maybe a breast or two. The more I grew as a film snob I started to desire more than pretty brauds and cool set pieces. Now, dare I say it, I refuse to relinquish my hard-earned money for nothing less than novelty and characterization. All of that is a long winded way of saying that I fear I may be among the dregs of suit wearing, snooty aired, film critics or tech-savvy, toxic movie message board whores who rip movies apart to shreds throwing adjectives like Middle East projectiles. Hiding behind their apt command of the human language and an open thesaurus, they shit on movies for simply being what they are. Summer movies are what they are for a reason. Broad, gross-out comedies are what they are. It’s unfair to judge a film harshly to standards it doesn’t seek to attain. Movies are like food. If you don’t have a palette for the broadness of a Tyler Perry film then maybe you’re in the wrong theater. I recognize the function of the critic as a modern wolf crier, championing the great films for us and steering us from the bad ones. Still, it has become a competition to viciously denigrate movies that have no intention of being Casablanca or The Graduate.



We have to just take a look at why we take a movie apart by the limbs. Why should we feel the need to beat on it to no reason when a simple “Do not Recommend” will suffice. I’ll give you that certain films out there are mindless as shit. Transformers I’m looking at you. Nonetheless, it’s never cool to bash someone’s art no matter how little of the art you think there is. Is it because we compare it to other films with markedly different intentions? I know no film exists in a vacuum, but it’s important we make a distinction. Because I tell you elitism is not fly. I don’t know, what do you think?

Recs in effect:
My recommendation for this week isn’t a movie, but a resource for good criticism that I cosign
Filmspotting- These guys have an incredible podcast that I listen to weekly. They take every film seriously and focus on how the film works together holistically. They keep it lively and encourage a full discussion with listeners about why a movie works or does not. Does it push the medium? Is it original? Does it provide a visceral reaction? Highly recommended.

It's official. I'm in love with Summer.

So for this summer I hadn’t many films that I ravished the opportunity to see. Sure you had your Star Treks and your Hangovers that I was interested in seeing but honestly I lacked that visceral desire to view. The summer 09 was weak and with good reason coming off the summer 08 with the likes of Ironman and that flying rodent movie. Still, it does have its diamonds.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw one of those diamonds in the rough when I checked out Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer. It seemed to be ages since I first heard about this film which led to months of anticipation. Immediately, the trailer sold me, communicating such a note of originality and post-modern freshness. The field of rom-coms are sorely lacking these days and this movie claimed to be something more, and more importantly something different. Given my sorespot for rom-coms, and desire for some innovation I’ve been looking forward to these 500 days for a little less than 200.

Tom is every man in the history of life at one point or another. As a greeting card writer who lost his way on to something much grander, he’s stuck in holding pattern of work functions and adequate living standards. Until the Girl, Summer. Sometimes the best conflict comes in the simplest terms. I definitely have to give it up for this movie for having one of the best taglines I’ve heard in awhile. Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t. Plainly put, 500 will probably be the most originally fresh movie you see so far this year. It feels like a really savvy take on typical rom-coms, sometimes steering into the trappings just before surprising you. (Spoiler alert!) Make no mistake, they don’t end up together, but the journey is so much more satisfying. The movie darts around their relationship sacrificing a timeline (and natural progression/deterioration of a relationship) allowing Webb to make some editorial juxtapositions that unveil his ideas of this whole love thing. The way the little things that make you fall in love with a person can quickly turn into painfully annoying peeves. Webb taps into the love sorrow of all of us and the chemistry on screen emotes the pain and euphoria requisite in a serious relationship. Tom and Summer seemed destined and doomed together all in the same film thanks to two really wonderful performances. Joseph Gordon Levitt turns a love-sick, punch drunk puppy, but manages to still be a man, just in a lot of pain. And Zooey Deschanel’s Summer reminds you of every girl who rejected you, but made you come back for more. The movie adds to itself with some gorgeous shots such as this one below proving some really deft cinematography. It was lit by Eric Steelberg who also worked on Juno apparently as well as some lesser known flicks. I love that it has such an organic feel and Webb's not afraid to move the camera. At the same time, it's not distracting. Also, it's worth mentioning the incredible soundtrack as well gliding along with delicate piano riffs and this utterly downloadable song from Regina Specktor which opens the film.

Elixir: This movie really couldn’t miss with me. I love rom-coms and this one really enlivens the genre for me, opening it up for a post-modern generation (An Annie Hall for the facebook generation?). The most important thing about this movie is how genuine it is. 500 feels familiar in so many ways because it refuses to give what we’ve been conditioned to want. It teaches a lesson about being grown-up about love. That’s said, I really hope it makes money. Execs need to see that audiences are crying out for films like this. It’s a story that doesn’t give you what you want, but what you need.