Before we begin, a brief warning to all parents considering taking the wee ones to see Focus Features’ latest, 9. Be certain that whatever kids you’re taking are stout of heart, because there are some creatures within this film–and the actions they take against the main characters–that may seriously frighten younger children. The film’s rated PG-13 for a reason, so consider yourself duly noted.
As for 9 itself–only the second animated film from Focus following their highly successful Coraline–the movie is amazingly entertaining and visually striking. In spite of its ending, which left me sort of flat, it’s very possible this film might make it onto my Top 5 list at the end of the year.
9 takes place in a not-too-distant future, wherein humanity has been betrayed and destroyed by the highly intelligent machines they’ve built. Any similarities to the Terminator franchise end there however, immediately upon the introduction of the titular hero (voiced by Elijah Wood)–a stitchwork figure only inches tall, brought to life by an infusion of part of the very soul of its creator…the scientist who created the machines’ A.I., ironically to usher in an age of peace. The peace has been achieved, all right: the peace of the grave, brought to vivid life via scenes of ruined landscapes and brief glimpses of dead bodies, among them a mother still clutching her child. (more…)
The Open Road, starring Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges as an estranged son and father who struggle to reconnect during a cross-country trip to visit Timberlake’s ailing mother, opens in limited release today. Sure, it sounds like a downer, until you consider that the next road movie coming out is October’s The Road, where Viggo Mortensen plays a father struggling to protect his son from cannibals in postapocalyptic America. Suddenly the Timberlake flick seems pretty rompy!
The Open Road is a dramedy, supposedly, but I usually like my road movies to have a little more whimsy in the engine. You know what I mean — they should have things like bears in Studebakers and phantom truck drivers and Paul Giamatti freaking out like a tightly wound wallaby. With that in mind, hop in and let’s take a ride down the Random Road Movie Highway.
The Muppet Movie (1979): I wouldn’t know what to think about somebody who doesn’t love The Muppet Movie, other than that he or she is probably a sociopath. In fact, that’s the first question the authorities should ask suspected serial killers: Do you love The Muppet Movie? If the answer is no — BAM! Throw away the key.
The Muppet Movie — directed by TV veteran James Frawley, who, frankly, Jim Henson should’ve kept around for the rest of the Muppet movies — is a lot of things: a musical, a comedy, and the best repository of cameo appearances since It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), but at its heart it’s a road movie. It’s even — dare I say it — an odyssey. (And unlike It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, which I suppose could fit the same description, it’s aged beautifully. Even the Hare Krishna bits are still funny.)
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!
The point of a column like this is not to be a consumer guide, or to give “thumbs up”/”thumbs down” to the latest media product (which is just as well since Ebert owns the whole thumbs-up thing and could sue the pants off me for copping his gimmick). I’m trying to engage some of the ideas underpinning popular culture — notions of authenticity, influence, presentation, expectation — and kick them around to see how they fall. I’m trying, in short, to start a conversation.
And sometimes I’m trying to start an argument. It falls to the critic sometimes to assume a contrarian stance, either by default or by design. The aim is not simply to be disagreeable, not to reflexively oppose received wisdom, but to take nothing for granted. By taking an opinion that “everybody knows” is wrong, you put your interlocutor in the position of defending the view that “everybody knows” is right, and examining why it’s right. And that’s how you get at deeper truths.
And so, in the spirit of the pursuit of knowledge (and also in the pursuit of pissing people off, why isn’t particularly helpful but which can be a whole lotta fun), here are my fightstarters — a selection of my contrarian, heretical, or just plan Wrong ideas about pop culture. You may disagree: in fact, that’s kind of the point.
Batman: 20th Anniversary Edition (2009, Warner Bros.)
purchase from Amazon: Blu-ray
The movie industry seems to break a new record for box-office totals every single year, but if you remember the summer of Tim Burton’s Batman — and all the crazy lengths people went to in order to get tickets for an opening night screening — you know that the movies themselves tend not to inspire the same level of frenzy that they once did. I was 15 when Batman came out, and I remember spending pretty much an entire day looking for a theater that wasn’t completely sold out; I ended up at a midnight screening at a dingy little multiplex over an hour from where I lived, and I went home absolutely thrilled with the experience.
I’ve seen all of Warner Bros.’ subsequent Batman adaptations, but none more than once, including the original, so I was eager to break in my new Blu-ray player with the 20th Anniversary Edition release that hits stores tomorrow. Although there isn’t really anything new here — it just breaks off Batman from the previously released Anthology box — it was all new enough to me, and having never been a fan of the “buy the whole series or you don’t get none” philosophy that studios love, I was staunchly in favor of this edition even before I unwrapped it.
The movie, though? It doesn’t hold up so well. Twenty years can do a lot of things, and not all of them are kind. (more…)
I always get a little thrill when Danny Elfman decides to step back in front of the microphone or, more bluntly, when Tim Burton decides to let Danny Elfman step back in front of the microphone. His last actual studio recording with a band was 1994’s ill-fated Boingo, an attempt to drag wacky and macabre party rockers Oingo Boingo into the ’90s, yet the dire and very pointed rock sound of the album accomplished two unwanted things: it alienated the original fans who wanted the music to be more fun and less funereal, and it failed to attract new fans thanks to its alignment with the moody, grungy times. After a live farewell concert, documented on a final band release, Elfman and longtime collaborator Steve Bartek went back to the scoring stage.
It makes perfect sense. Elfman had carved out a wildly successful and respected niche in film scoring, and his signature polkas from hell and minor-key romanticism have become immediate signals to an appreciative audience. Still, whenever there’s a reason to sing and Elfman accepts the challenge, it gets me charged up. That it takes Tim Burton’s strange visions to do it ensures that such occurrences aren’t altogether frequent. Remember that Burton’s last musical partner was some dude named Stephen Sondheim, whoever the heck that is; when it’s Elfman’s turn I start to get those old heebie-jeebies back. His music for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) leaned heavily on his film-music sensibilities, but his tracks for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) as well as a jazz number from Corpse Bride (2005) drew from his more contemporary side.
Before we begin, a brief warning to all parents considering taking the wee ones to see Focus Features’ latest, 9. Be certain that whatever kids you’re taking are stout of heart, because there are some creatures within this film–and the actions they take against the main characters–that may seriously frighten younger children. The film’s rated PG-13 for a reason, so consider yourself duly noted.
Batman: 20th Anniversary Edition (2009, Warner Bros.)
I always get a little thrill when Danny Elfman decides to step back in front of the microphone or, more bluntly, when Tim Burton decides to let Danny Elfman step back in front of the microphone. His last actual studio recording with a band was 1994’s ill-fated Boingo, an attempt to drag wacky and macabre party rockers Oingo Boingo into the ’90s, yet the dire and very pointed rock sound of the album accomplished two unwanted things: it alienated the original fans who wanted the music to be more fun and less funereal, and it failed to attract new fans thanks to its alignment with the moody, grungy times. After a live farewell concert, documented on a final band release, Elfman and longtime collaborator Steve Bartek went back to the scoring stage.