The Film Skinny

You people are disgusting

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:07:15 -0800

At what point did people decide en masse that movie theaters should be the epicenter of sloth and waste?

I'm the type of dude who likes to sit through the credits, making fun of goofy names for catering companies and such. (Best one ever: Hot Goblin.) And after they run the list of songs, and the PETA notice about no animals being harmed, and all those company logos, the theater management (or maybe it's some automated thing) turns on the house lights, bathing everything in blinding, disorienting brightness.

What that light reveals could easily be interpreted as incontrovertible evidence of humanity's inherent evil. Or grossness, anyway:

Acting singers vs. Singing actors

Mon, 19 May 2008 16:51:43 -0800

I read an interview with Scarlett Johansson in Spin magazine recently in which the ingenue talked about her new album: She sings a bunch of covers of Tom Waits songs. (Fellow Waits fans, allow yourself a minute to wrap your brain around the concept.) Like oh so many singing actors before her (I'm looking at you, Kevin Bacon ... and Russell Crowe ... and Bruce Willis ... and Eddie Murphy ... and, oh forget it), Johansson defended her, ahem, artistic crossover by pointing out that musicians — like Waits, himself — are allowed to cross the line in the other direction without catching much flak. She has a point. Or does she? Is it easier for an actor to make good music, or for a musician to act? Why is Tom Waits in a movie cool while Scarlett Johansson singing is ridiculous? (To be fair, I haven't heard the album yet. Maybe it's awesome.)

Best endings ever

Mon, 12 May 2008 16:04:07 -0800

So last week, one of my fellow T-S movie reviewers wrote in his review of "Iron Man" that its final moments, "dethroned the short reign of 'There Will Be Blood' as the best ending ever." I suspect it was hyperbole, but it got me to thinkin'. What ARE some of the best movie endings ever. Opinions undoubtedly differ, but here are a few of my faves:

Indiana Jones and the AARP

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:37:56 -0800

Please forgive this — yet another nerd-a-thon blog entry on my childhood hero, Indiana Jones. But the way I figger it, if you can't get your nerd on in a blog, then you may as well grow up. And I'm not about to do that.

Herewith, my argument for why Indy should be immune to the type of "He's so old ..." jokes justifiably lobbed at Rambo, Rocky and John McCain.

The crux is this: He's an archeology professor. As such, he has always been a reluctant hero, perpetually in over his head, flying by the seat of his canvas pants and more often than not getting the living crap beat out of him. Granted, Harrison Ford will be 70 in five years. But my grandpa was a professor and didn't fully retire until he turned 76. Of course, Gramps could no more swing from a bullwhip than bend the Matrix. But he's not Harrison Ford. And I honestly believe Harrison Ford could still whoop some ass.

In the early movies, he was less believable as a college prof. He has grown into that role. It's kinda like the Batman flicks. Michael Keaton made a great Bruce Wayne, but was kinda Mr. Mom-y for the caped crusader. Val Kilmer had the opposite problem. George Clooney, well, let's just not talk about that. My point is that, as long as Steven Spielberg doesn't have him doing helicopter kicks from a one-armed handstand, Indy's age just adds more subtext to his reluctance as a hero.

Or perhaps I'm just a softy who can't stop worshiping a childhood idol. Either way, I've put myself in a vulnerable position. One of my few remaining slivers of childlike awe will be offered like a prized archeological relic come May 22. Be gentle with me, Indy.

Aw yeah, dude.

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:25:13 -0800

Finally.

I came up with this new design (extra nerd points if you can identify the movie that the above image came from), like, weeks ago. And the T-S tech guys said, "We'll put it right up on the blog page." I'm older and wiser than I was then, and I've learned that tech guys are very ... technical. Jeff, one of trusty the guys, just explained thusly: "I said it would be up by Saturday; I just didn't say WHICH Saturday."

Mmm hmm. Anyway, here it is at long last. The Film Skinny blog: A depository for all my obsessive, irrelevant and ill-informed rantings on all things movie, or "film," as I put it in my more snobby moods. Hop aboard one of these Web-based ATVs and join me for some brodies in the cinematic dirt.

Czech me out

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:26:05 -0800

Last time I was at CostCo, I picked up a couple of DVDs that I've been meaning to add to my collection for years: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus." At $8.99 apiece for two-disc special editions, I couldn't resist. It wasn't until I got home and started unwrapping them like a fat kid opening a package of Ho-Hos that I made the connection: Both of these Best Picture winners also earned Best Director honors for Milos Forman (aka "The Chubby Czech-er"). It got me to thinkin'. There aren't many directors who have earned two Best Director awards. Or so I thought.

New and improved

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:52:01 -0800

Welcome to the Film Skinny blog. This — appropriately for a film blog — is a sequel of sorts to The DVD Playa blog to which I (rarely) posted over the past few months. I hope to make this followup join the list of sequels that were actually better than the original: "The Empire Strikes Back," "X2," "T2," "Spiderman 2," "Star Trek II," "Evil Dead II" and, arguably, "The Godfather II." (What have I forgotten?) But then again, I doubt any director ever intentionally made a sequel worse than the original, unless you count Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of "Psycho" a sequel. (I sure don't.)

At any rate, this will be a (cyber)space for me to dump the innumerable random thoughts and unsolicited opinions that spawn from my unhealthy love affair with movies. Join me in my rantings and ravings, won't you neighbor?