Wall Street was the cinematic exclamation point to the slick “Me,me,me” greed of the ’80s. An Oliver Stone film that’s as accessibly mainstream as they come, Wall Street famously introduced “Greed is Good” to the American lexicon. It also gave us a Michael Douglas performance (as the charming douchebag Gordon Gecko) that didn’t show flabby ass cheeks or the Douglas O-face. 20+ years later, Wall Street lands a sequel courtesy of Oliver Stone– one that perfectly coincides with greed’s 2008-2010 …
Month: January 2010
When in Rome is an absolute travesty of a movie and so painful and upsetting that a night of reveling in latex and sadomasochistic groin clobbering would be a preferred alternative to the sheer misery of this so-called romantic comedy starring Kristen Bell (Couples Retreat) and Josh Duhamel (Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen). 29 days into 2010, it is now cemented as the worst movie of the year thus far and easily the crappiest thing to come to multiplexes …
As a parent, there’s no prospect worse than that of losing your child. To have the soul you’ve nurtured from innocence to independence stolen– even worse, violently– is the stuff that inspires the inkiest thoughts of revenge in the most law abiding of citizens. How much closer to darkness would an individual be if they had the means and wherewithal to do something about it? Edge of Darkness wants to explore that grief-born fulcrum and a host of other potentially …
If an independent movie plays in an independent cinema and no one goes to see it, did it really exist? On last Friday’s KVNU Movie Show, we were asked why a community like Logan, Utah couldn’t have a successful independent cinema. Moving away from Logan, the heart of the question was really: “Why don’t mass audiences support independent film”? I gave some quick answer about how it’s marketing and awareness and word of mouth and when independent films have almost …
I figured I’d follow Dan’s lead today and post a trailer for a film playing up in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival. This one, Buried, stars my mancrush, Ryan Reynolds, as a contractor in Iraq who is buried alive after his convoy comes under attack in Iraq. I’m assuming his kidnappers/gravediggers are nasty terrorists because they only leave him with a cell phone and a shitty flashlight, instead of fruit snacks and a juice box that would …
Sundance is lame. And I don’t mean that in a general sense– I mean that in the specific way people use attendance to the film festival as a fabricated measuring stick for their own coolness. The “look-at-me-I’m-at-Sundance-and-you’re-not!” types who use their presence among famous film folk as an empty ego boost. Fact is, in the end, unless they’re buying a movie or making a movie that can be purchased and turn a dollar, nobody else cares. In all other aspects, …
When I was a student at Mount Logan Middle School during the tender years of 1995-1998, I hated it. I (almost) everything about it. But after seeing the trailer for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid“, I want to go back. I want to relive it, because now I FINALLY realize how meaningless and stupidly funny it all was. We’ve needed a movie like this for a long time. Honestly, cinemadromes have been devoid of juvenile junior high-level humor since the …
So three weeks ago on the KVNU Movie Show I stupidly claimed Avatar would be hard pressed to beat Titanic’s longstanding box office record of $600,788,188 and wouldn’t even come close to the iceberg-doomed ship’s grip on the all-time worldwide box office of $1,842,879,955. Sure it was making some noise in December, but recent box office trends suggested it would drop by 50% or more in consecutive release weeks. I was confident in my opinion. Color me corrected. As, Tyler …
Andy, three weeks ago: “Avatar has no chance of upending Titanic.” Andy, two weeks ago: “It’s very unlikely that Avatar will replace Titanic as the top grossing movie of all time.” Andy, one week ago: “Avatar could beat Titanic.” Andy, today: “Pwned.” The socialist Canadian Broadcasting Company reports: James Cameron’s 3-D blockbuster Avatar has toppled one of the many records set by his earlier epic, Titanic. Kapuskasing, Ont.-born Cameron’s science fiction extravaganza spent a sixth consecutive week atop box offices …
On KVNU’s Movie Show Friday night, Andy and Dan delivered a brief preview of the biggest movies that will come to theaters (unless the movies, you know, make you think, in that case Westates won’t bring them to Logan) in 2010. One of the movies they mentioned, the remake of “Red Dawn,” reminded me to start doing a little Googling to find morsels of information about the updating of the 1984 Cold War thriller that made every teenage boy in …