So, Premiere Magazine did a list of what it considers the 20 most overrated movies of all time. They have quite a funny little write up for each with an explanation and a rebuttal. I suggest you read their list, but I’ll type it again here with my own personal comments (and additions!)
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As much as I like award shows, and rooting for an actor or two before the presenters announce the winner, there has always been one constant that I have frowned upon. That’s those ‘gift bags’ that are handed out to presenters and nominees. I’ve always equated the gift bags to the contestants who don’t get on stage for the game show The Price Is Right. Some celebs dislike gift bags so much that they simply give them away to charity, like George Clooney did last year. Well, now, one actor is so fed up with the gift bag business - and it is a business- that he has stepped up and proclaimed freedom from gift bags.
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What to do? I haven’t been much of a Mel Gibson fan since his producer/director debut, Braveheart (which i know everyone else loved, but I took offense to because of the gay character.) When he became proudly anti-semitic and oddly Catholic-ish, a drunk driver, and all around nut-job I finally felt vindicated. It was easy for me not to support him whatsoever on his Passion project, because it’s not a story that interests me much anyway (I mean, who is the idiot that doesn’t know how that movie is going to end?) But now there is Apocalypto.
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The saying goes that food is the best way to a person’s heart. When somebody tells me this I always respond with: no, actually it’s through their ribcage with a meat cleaver. Eden proves me wrong: Food, when it is prepared with care and attention, by someone catering deliberately to the taste buds and desires of their diners, to all intents and purposes equals love. At the 2006 International Film Festival Rotterdam, Eden won the audience choice award and it’s easy to see why. Eden is a movie of the heart, albeit via the stomach.

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There have been an absurd amount of die hard James Bond ‘fans’ who did not like the choice of Daniel Craig as 007, and all what it adds up to is a curiousity about how well the new Bond stacks up to other actors who have been Bond, specifically Pierce Brosnan, whose last outing was Die Another Day. After seeing ‘Casino Royale’, I’m convinced that the color of hair or eyes do not a Bond make. It is the way the actor protrays him. In addition, the new Bond film has two things going for it storywise: a rebooting of the franchise, and no Q branch.
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It would appear that the majority of audiences in the States avoided the third installment of Fast and The Furious, and some critics are equally as dismissive. It played a factor on me passing on the film during its brief summer theatrical run. To my surprise, after catching Tokyo Drift on DVD,I found it more entertaining than the previous two Fast and The Furious pictures. Perhaps with the omittance of a cameo of Vin Diesel, the opening title sequence could say it all, as the first part of the film’s title is all but invisible.
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If many World War II veterans relived the beaches of Normandy by watching Saving Private Ryan, than many art students will have the same feeling with Art School Confidential. Terry Zwigoff continues his directing career with the exploration of misfits and misanthropes. His previous films include Crumb–one of the best documentaries in the past decade and the charmingly offensive Bad Santa.
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Once in awhile, there is a nice little action film that comes along, with great stunts, wonderful camerawork, and a lead which has presense. The film need not be an Oscar contender, but that picture delivers the goods in action and suspense. It’s a plus if the movie attempts even the most minor of characterization, and a plot that moves the film along. Once in awhile you’ll get a picture like The Marine which features WWE’s Jon Cena in his first ‘action’ picture, which has none of the above.
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My local cinema regularly organises something called “filmflirt”. The idea is for single people to go and see a movie and then mingle afterwards at a get-together where they can check out any prospects. In a supreme bout of (ballsy) irony, the organiser for this event programmed Shortbus; meaning that all these good willing singles, no doubt dressed up to the ninths and scanning the room for their future true love, were shown a wry comedy about loneliness and the inadequacies of human relationships.
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Most professionals use their blackberries & Franklin Planners for setting up appointments & using phrases like ‘Call to action’, ‘Turn-key’ and ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater’. I use mine to help plot out the various hours of programming I simply cannot miss during the Fall. As a true movie, TV & football-lover, this time of year typically has me on sensory over-load. There’s Must-See shows, college football on Saturdays & my personal favorite, the ‘for your consideration’ Oscar-bait movies premiering by the boatload each Friday. But on the whole, the last few months have been, well, ehh.

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