Posts Tagged ‘Megan Fox’

Farkakte Film Flashback: High School Hell Edition

Jennifer's BodyJennifer’s Body, the first script of Diablo Cody’s to be produced since she won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for 2007’s Juno, opens today. It’s about a cheerleader played by Megan Fox who’s possessed by demons from hell and wreaks bloody carnage upon her male classmates. In other words, it’s about high school.

Of course there’s no shortage of movies that portray high school as a kind of hell on earth, both literally (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and figuratively (Election, Heathers, every movie to ever star Ally Sheedy). But in honor of Jennifer’s Body, I thought I’d re-enroll in a few other, more random cinematic high schools, if only to remind myself how happy I am to have left the real thing behind all those years ago.

Which reminds me — if I ever see the inside of a locker again, it’ll be too soon.

My Bodyguard (1980): Pre-adolescence is a very impressionable time for a young moviegoer. For some reason, two movies stand out from that period of my life. One is 1979’s Meatballs, which introduced me to “It just doesn’t matter!,” a mantra I probably leaned on a little too often in subsequent years. The other is My Bodyguard.

The Chicago high school that Clifford (Chris Makepeace) attends in that film is pretty tough, in that all it takes to get you roughed up by Matt Dillon’s Mike Moody and his cronies is to show up at school in a hotel limo. And having Ruth Gordon as your grandma back at home — or at least at the hotel where you live — only helps so much.

Fortunately for Clifford, he has Randy, the loner who may or may not have killed his own brother. Randy’s played by Adam Baldwin, who isn’t related to all those other Baldwins, which is a huge advantage in this particular role. Seems to me Clifford and Randy have one of the great movie friendships, and I’d go so far as to place the scene where Moody gets his as one of the top-five movie comeuppances. At least among those not involving an automatic weapon.

It’s worth noting that director Tony Bill also coproduced The Sting, which featured another great cinematic friendship but didn’t showcase Joan Cusack sporting the biggest hair of her career. So I’ll take this one.

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Film Review: “Jennifer’s Body”

PrintTo Hollywood’s credit, there’ve been a lot of female-focused thriller/horror films coming out lately. It’s almost as if production studios in La-La Land have suddenly realized there’s a feminine demographic they could cater to/exploit. Unfortunately for the ladies, studios still think that they can just throw anything at audiences and get away with it, which is why so many of the recent “girl power”-type films have been lousy.

The new horror/comedy Jennifer’s Body, written by Diablo Cody (instantly famous for penning the brilliant Juno) and directed by Karyn Kusama (AEon Flux and Girlfight, the latter of which bestowed upon the world the dubious gift of Michelle Rodriguez) is without a doubt the best of the bunch to come along thus far, although given its surprisingly uneven narrative, that’s not saying much.

First off, for those of you who are wondering: yes, Kusama kept in the scene where the two leads Jennifer (Megan Fox) and her oddly named best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) share a “controversial” lesbian kiss. It’s in close-up, it’s almost two minutes long, and for those who are attracted to such, it’s a very satisfying scene. Not since Susan Sarandon got it on with Catherine Deneuve in 1983’s The Hunger have two women looked so good together. Sorry to spoil it for you though, Fox and Seyfried only almost end up in bed together. (more…)

Sugar Water: Test Your Knowledge of Hollywood’s Creative Bankruptcy!

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The summer movie season finally begins to wind down this weekend with the release of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. So what’s next in Hollywood’s blockbuster pipeline? Would you believe a song-and-dance remake of The Bodyguard starring Hugh Jackman and Miley Cyrus? As of July that was the case, but earlier this month a spokesperson for the Wolverine star denied he was involved in the project.

It’s just as well since “Personal Security” sounded like an April Fool’s Day joke in the first place, but these days it can be difficult to tell when Hollywood’s being serious about its various remakes (The Last Dragon, The Secret of NIMH, and even 1985’s Clue, among many others, are currently in development), sequels (a second Bull Durham, a fourth Beverly Hills Cop, a fifth Indiana Jones adventure), and adaptations of everything under the sun. (By the way, I loved that comment you left on the site that one time. In fact, that comment would make a great movie!)

Can you believe everything you read? Well, of course you can, but that doesn’t mean you should. Without consulting any sources, including all your friends who work at Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, take the quiz below and submit your answers to me via e-mail. A winner will be chosen at random and will receive a prize package that includes Hannah Montana: The Movie on Blu-ray, the first season of Peyton Place on DVD, and a free copy of Jack Wagner’s Don’t Give Up Your Day Job, recently reissued on CD by Friday Music. Hey, remember when the General Hospital star made the jump to the big screen in 1984’s Hard to Hold? Or maybe that was somebody else. Oh well, on with the quiz!

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Bootleg City: Spoon, 11/8/07

Remember last week when I was duped into thinking I’d been sent that Air Supply bootleg by a guy named “R. Murdoch”? It never crossed my mind that “R.” might be short for Rupert, as in Rupert freakin’ Murdoch, the megazillionaire media mogul from down under who owns the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, 20th Century Fox, Fox News, the Fox network, and three-quarters of the world’s fox population, be they animal or female.

Rich guys like Mr. Murdoch don’t miss a beat: last weekend, as he was waiting for his credit-card purchase of Transformers star Megan Fox to go through on the ol’ laptop, he decided to google his name for fun, when up popped the insinuation that he’s a fan of Australian soft rockers Air Supply. “I’d rather have me wedding tackle chopped off than listen to those two drongos!” he said in an e-mail I received on Saturday afternoon.

Turns out he’s an Olivia Newton-John fan, but unfortunately I don’t have any bootlegs by the star of Two of a Kind. (I know, I know, nobody remembers the Travolta-and-ONJ movie that isn’t Grease, but Two of a Kind is a 20th Century Fox product, so I’m being forced to mention it.) However, Mr. Murdoch did threaten to cut out my heart with a dull spoon, which made me remember that I have a terrific bootleg by one of the best bands working today. That would be Spoon, performing in Tallahassee, Florida, at a club called the Moon. In June? Sadly, no — this particular concert took place on November 8, 2007. But it’s well worth a listen.

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DVD Review: “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People”

how-to-loseHow to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2009, MGM)
purchase this movie from Amazon: DVD

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is a film that wants to be the type of slapstick, ‘R’-rated fare that Vince Vaughn has struck gold with, yet it also yearns to be the type of Richard Curtis breezy, romantic comedy that has made Hugh Grant a leading man. If it had stuck with the latter and dispensed with the slapstick shtick, I believe it could have been a much better movie, especially with a cast as talented and pleasant to watch as this one.

Based on Toby Young’s memoir about his short stint working at Vanity Fair, the film stars Simon Pegg as the brash Sidney, a small-time aspiring British celebrity journalist who is brought to New York by Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges), who runs an upscale magazine. Sidney believes he’s going to waltz into the big corporate offices and show them a thing or two. Harding puts him in his place as the new guy, telling him this is his big break and issuing a warning that he’ll have to impress everyone in order to succeed. Instead, Sidney just manages to piss off everyone around him.

Sidney is relegated to a small department that covers celebrity sightings and must work for a slimy exec, portrayed by Danny Huston. (It seems that after The Constant Gardener, Huston is really becoming the go-to guy when you want someone to play a sophisticated, sleazy jerk.) Sidney’s desk is located next to a smart, pretty aspiring novelist named Alison (played with typical girl-next-door adorability by Kirsten Dunst). She and Sidney develop a love/hate relationship that you know will grow into admiration and eventually love. Unfortunately, Alison is having an affair with a married man whose identity we can see coming from a mile away.

While Alison pines for her secret lover, Sidney becomes infatuated with a rising starlet, Sophie Maes (Megan Fox). Fox is great as the airheaded/manipulative Maes, showing that she has some range beyond the typical hot babe role. Sophie’s slick manager (Gillian Armstrong) arranges for Sidney to write an article about one of her other clients, a flavor-of-the-month film director. Selling out his principles for the opportunity of a featured piece in the magazine, Sidney is propelled to stardom and attains the kind of wealth and fame he always dreamed of. From that point, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People follows the tried-and-true formula of a hundred romantic comedies — until Sidney and Alison inexplicably find themselves watching La Dolce Vita in a park under the stars. (more…)