Paul Newman dead at 83

Paul Newman has died at the age of 83. He died of cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut.

There’s not much I can really say, other than how much I adored Paul Newman. He was truly one of the best actors of his generation, and invested his life in philanthropy. Through his food company, Newman’s Own, he’s donated over $200 million to charity. Wow, Paul. You’ll be sorely missed.

RT: 50 Best Animated Films

Rotten Tomatoes has just released its list of the 50 Best Animated Films. I agree that practically every one of the movies on the list should be there, but of course, as with most “top” lists, I don’t agree with a lot of the results. The real thing to remember here, of course, is that Rotten Tomatoes ranks the films (for the most part) by the TomatoMeter, and so you get a film like Beauty and the Beast being beaten out by 101 Dalmations, which is definitely on the lower end of quality with Disney animated films. I don’t agree with that much at all, but apparently, the TomatoMeter says otherwise. One can’t fret about such a thing, though. Such review compilations are always off to some degree. Still, as with most lists in the same realm, it’s a fun distraction.

Update: If you want, you can spoil the top ten right here, below, with some commentary.

10: The Nightmare Before Christmas
9: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
8: Chicken Run
7: Fantasia
6: Finding Nemo
5: WALL-E
4: Toy Story
3: Pinocchio
2: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1: Toy Story 2

Toy Story 2? Seriously? The reason it’s #1 here is simple, though: it got the most positive reviews and the least negative reviews. It actually, according to Rotten Tomatoes, didn’t get a single negative review. Kind of surprising, if you ask me, but there it is.

I also have to object to Who Framed Roger Rabbit being on the list at all. It has animation in it… But why not include Mary Poppins as well? That certainly has a good amount of animation. Not to the same extent as ‘Roger Rabbit’, but the fact is that the majority of the film is live action, and all of the animation takes place within a real, live action world. I just don’t see the logic here. I don’t see it at all.

The 10 Most Talentless People In Movies

Over at The Movie Blog.com, they have a list (don’t you just love pointless lists?) of The 10 most Talentless People In Movies. It’s an interesting list. See it here. I would agree with all of the people on the list, but I have to say, after Paris Hilton’s political ad, she deserves a little slack. Sure, I guess in the movies you could say she’s talentless, but she’s not a talenteless person. I think she proved that. Not to mention the infamous sex tape. There was some real talent! …Ok, some snark there, I’ll admit. But let’s be honest. I gained a lot of respect for her after her performance in that ad. You can watch the video here.

IGN Summer Movie Awards 2008

IGN has just released its Summer Movie Awards for 2008. You can read all the “winners” and the reasoning for them here. Not surprisingly, Favorite Villain went to Heath Ledger for The Joker, and Best Summer Movie went to The Dark Knight. Most of the categories are kind of useless. But not really anything different than what you would find at, say, the MTV Movie Awards, with categories like Best Kiss. Still, though it doesn’t really mean much at all in the grand scheme of things, it’s a bit of fun.

Eagle Eye – Hmm…

From the second I saw the trailer for Eagle Eye, I was just confused. Is Shia LaBeouf really trying to reinvent his image? What’s going on here? I mean, how do we go from this, or even this, to… well… this? Is it just me, or does he seem completely out of place? Maybe he’s just got such a juvenile demeanor that it’s difficult to imagine him playing anything outside of an awkward teenager. I mean, the trailer is alright. But is LaBeouf in the right place? I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out. Personally, I’m not too excited, and I don’t expect much. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Though considering the backing behind the movie (Steven Spielberg producing, for example), it probably won’t do too badly at the box office.

Watch the trailer.

I’m back! …Sort of

Well, I’m here in Washington now. I have access to my laptop. But I’m busy as all hell. I doubt I’ll have much time to do significant updates for a little while. This mostly concerns actual reviews. I’ll try to write daily commentary on things – trailers, upcoming films, news, etc – I want to keep bringing movie news here. So, if there’s anything significant to report, I’ll start reporting it. Even small or miniscule things. But I want to be more active on the site. That’s my goal. Hopefully it’ll come to fruition.

G’bye for now

First, I apologize for not being very active. I’ve been busy packing. I’m moving out to Washington (state), and it takes a lot of work. I’ll probably be gone for about the next week. Maybe a little less. But don’t worry, I’ll be back ASAP!
Take it easy, everyone. Watch lots of (good) movies!

Oscars – The Dark Knight to get pre-Oscar re-release

Reuters is reporting that Warner Bros. is planning a January re-release of The Dark Knight in a push to get it nominated and perhaps win some Oscars.

Warner Bros. domestic distribution president Dan Fellman acknowledged ongoing talks with Imax execs over the prospect of restoring the Christian Bale starrer to some giant-screen venues in January. It’s uncertain if “Dark Knight” also will reappear in conventional venues at that point.

Though apparently, the plans are not finalized, and a wide re-release in conventional theaters looks doubtful, as the film is getting released on DVD in December. But even if a limited Imax re-release is done, it could generate some good momentum for the film.

This is also more evidence that The Dark Knight has better chances of getting nominated that some might think. I doubt Warner Bros. make this kind of push if it didn’t believe it had merit.

For more information on The Dark Knight‘s chances, see my previous post on the subject.

Commentary – Appaloosa On The Horizon (a.k.a Revival of the Western Part 2)

I had previously spoken about The Revival of the Western, and how I was excited for the upcoming Western, Appaloosa, written, starring and directed by Ed Harris. Peter Travers reviews the film in this month’s issue of Rolling Stone. It’s not currently posted on their website, but Travers gave the film three and a half stars, and seemed to have a lot of praise for it. Gritty, extremely well-acted, hearkening back to the roots of the Western from directors like John Ford. If it’s any credit to the trailer, that’s precisely the way I felt when I watched it. For once, maybe they got it right? Though I have yet to see the film itself, I am now more excited than ever for it to come out.

As I said, there’s a real revival going on in the genre. Can Westerns these days actually go wrong? I don’t know. It’s difficult to judge, since I have yet to see one that was bad, and honestly, of the ones I mentioned in my previous post, they were well above-average. I personally don’t know exactly what to make of the swing of very good Westerns recently. The ability to discuss and dissect aspects of good versus evil, morality, human nature, and other such deep-rooted themes, is a natural aspect of most of the best Westerns. Even ones that break tradition from the classic law-dog type, such as Brokeback Mountain for example, are very easily able to discuss and define stark moral contrasts.

Of course, I think that part of what makes the idea of these dark, gritty Westerns so appealing is that in the environments in which they take place, there are to the people, very clear ideas of right from wrong, just from unjust. The fascination comes when those ideas of morality and justice go astray.

Take The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, for example. Jesse James is Robert Ford’s hero, and yet he struggles with the idea of killing him, and after the deed is done, the ideas of what was moral, and right and just become skewed. Jesse James was a bad man, but did Ford have the right to kill him?

In 3:10 to Yuma, a scene at the end of the film tests the the characters’ ideas of what is right, and just, and moral under the situation. Was it right to allow Ben Wade to live in the first place? Given the circumstances of the characters, such questions are inevitable to them, but more importantly, the audience as well.

Even in a more unorthodox Western, like Brokeback Mountain, these same ideas pervade. Take the idea of homosexuality as it was understood in 1960s Wyoming (and Texas). When their love affair starts, the moral implications of the circumstances become all the more clear, and it’s impossible to avoid questioning the two men, as they’re both married while having the affair, which also has difficult effects on their families.

I think that perhaps this is the root of the success of the recent Westerns, and in fact the entire genre itself. We as the audience indentify immediately withthe idea of good versus evil, and the moral complexity of actions taken by these characters. In a way, though the setting may be different than our every day lives, the weight of their decisions, and the consequences as a result, are things that we invariably relate to.

Oscars – The Opening and The Dark Knight’s Chances?

I guess Oscar season has officially begun. CNN has an article that talks about the beginning of Oscar season through the Toronto Film Festival, where many Oscar contenders begin getting their names out there and recognition. It’s exciting. There are numerous films that ahve been discussed as potential Oscar contenders being screened at the Toronto Film Festival, so we’ll see what comes out of it; critics reception, audience reception, etc. There’s already some buzz about certain movies. I’ll discuss this more at length in another post a little later, perhaps.

But the CNN article begins by discussing the dilemma about The Dark Knight‘s chances come February 22, 2009 (when the Oscars will be broadcast next year). CNN paints a grim picture. A much bleaker one than I would personally give. I don’t, of course, consider CNN (or the AP, where the story originated) any kind of experts on either the Oscars or The Dark Knight‘s chances.

It’s true, The Dark Knight has quite a bit working against it. The biggest one, of course, is the genre problem. It’s a comic book movie; a super hero movie. The only other time I can think of that a movie in the genre was even being tossed around as a contender was Spider-Man 2. Roger Ebert pushed for it to get a Best Pic nod, but no dice. The only thing super hero movies ever get recognized for is their technical achievements. Usually it’s all about the special effects, right? But The Dark Knight has something going for it here: it’s not special effects driven, like so many other super hero movies. And it’s been lauded by both critics and audiences alike as breaking the mold that previous super hero films, like the Spider-Man and Superman films had made.

Heath Ledger is an obvious shoe-in for a Best Supporting Actor nod. And this is one of the reasons I think The Dark Knight‘s chances are better than they might at first appear, the history of the genre with regards to the Oscars. I can’t think of a time that a super hero flick got an acting nomination. That alone breaks a mold that’s been set. It also opens the door to other categories that seemed off-limits to super hero movies before. If they can nominate an actor, why not nominate the screenplay? Or the director?

Although I don’t consider box-office gross a grossly (ha-ha) huge factor in receiving nominations, it’s certainly played a part in the past. Some recent Best Picture nominees (and winners) have been smaller, more independent films that didn’t even make $100 million at the domestic box office. Crash and No Country For Old Men set a modern standard that box office gross didn’t really mean anything. Last year’s Best Picture nominees made well below the $100 million mark, with the exception of Juno. Still, the last time a critically-acclaimed film made half a billion dollars domestically, it went on to win 11 Academy Awards. When asked about The Dark Knight‘s chances of a Best Picture nomination, he replied, “I would be astonished were it not nominated.”

I have to agree with Ebert. Though history seems to be against a Best Picture nomination for it, The Dark Knight has already exceeded many people’s expectations, and then some. It’s entirely possible to break such a precedent. The Lord of the Rings did it. It was the first major fantasy film to ever be nomiated, let alone win, the kinds of awards that it did. When I think of The Dark Knight‘s chances in the perspective of historical precedent, The Lord of the Rings reassures me that such precedents aren’t set in stone.