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| Blog Cabins |
| Blog Cabins is your home for insanely important film/pop culture commentary and discussion. Whether you're into popcorn flicks or indies, your modest host Fletch has the bases covered. Well, unless you like Nic Cage - then you're pretty much sh*t outta luck. |
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| Fletch's Film Review: Hancock |
| 2008-07-23 14:53:00 |
Most films like Hancock - blockbuster actioners - generally take somewhere in the neighborhood of nine months-one year to complete: three months of pre-production, three months of filming, and three months of post-production/effects work. Hancock technically is no different; filming started in July 2007, and there were re-shoots that too the production through May 2008 (thanks, Wiki). Why then, does the movie feel like it went from idea to finished product in the span of four months?Perhaps it's because the story was around for so long (written in 1996), and was no doubt molested by so many people over the years. Though, if that's the case - and it has to be - then why are there so damn many holes in the story?Hancock starts off good enough - a novel idea ab...
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| The FF-UN HOF |
| 2008-07-22 01:32:00 |
No, I haven't gone acronym wild. Or poll wild. Well, maybe a little bit.Before I go about showing you more familiar faces whose names are unknown, I thought it was high time to induct a few members into the FF-UN Hall of Fame. In other words, you should already know the names of these guys. Some have remained character actors their entire careers, but many others have gone on to bigger and brighter things - starring in their own films, larger co-starring roles, directing, etc.Using the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame voting as a loose template, I'm decreeing that a potential member must receive 75% of the votes to be inducted. Below you'll see 10 choices for this first entry class - you can vote for up to five members. We could have as many as five inductees or as few as zero - it a...
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| Coming soon...er, later: Tardy Week |
| 2008-07-21 13:23:00 |
Hitting Blog Cabins this week:* A mini-review of Hancock. Which I saw almost a week ago. Success - tardiness on multiple fronts!* A review and/or thoughts on The Dark Knight. Yeah, I saw it (Friday afternoon), but I want to see it again prior to posting my review. At 2 1/2 hours, I need another go around to take it all in. Also, there have been roughly 65 billion reviews posted in the last 3 days, and I'd like mine to stand out a bit (as if that's possible). What better way than being late to the party?* Movies et al hosts a feature called Film Ignorance in which they try to edumacate themselves on some classics from yesteryear that so many people like you just keep screaming at them to see. I certainly know that feeling, and after seeing it hit #3 on the LAMB's countdown on the all-time T...
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| TGITDNMAR (7/18/08) |
| 2008-07-18 10:57:00 |
It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.This is going to be really short, since, if you know me at all, these are all really obvious. Also, I'm incredibly lazy and have tickets to see one of these movies at 3:45 today. Guess which one! WInner gets a prize!The Dark KnightFor whatever reason, I'm not nearly as psyched about this as I probably should be, and I'm not sure why. I mean, short of Indiana Jones, this was probably my most anticipated film of the summer, but I'm not finding myself geeking out. Maybe it's because I've tried hard to avoid learning much of anything about it, or maybe it's because I'm 31. I'll go with the former.Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 666%Mamma Mia!I'm seeing this as a double f...
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| All right, who put a vote in for Wall*E as Pixar's worst? |
| 2008-07-18 02:15:00 |
Stand up and be counted. And give reasons - I gotta hear this.Oh, and for the record, I'm about halfway through Cars - and yeah, it's easily the worst, at least as far as adults should be concerned. It also dawned on me that it's The Color of Money all over again, minus the Clapton and plus (an annoying) Bonnie Hunt. Where are though, Mary Elizabeth Mastrasansndnlongnametonio?...
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| Batman 1989-1997: The Aftermath |
| 2008-07-16 13:45:00 |
[Note: this post is a part of the Batman Blog-a-thon at Big Mike's Movie Blog.]Any way you slice it, the Batman film series of the late 20th century (not to be confused with Batman: The Movie, released 1966) was a bona fida blockbuster series. From the 250 million dollar success of the original (the 38th highest grossing film of all-time, adjusted) to the reviled fourth installment, which still garnered more than 100 million dollars domestically, the franchise saw a number of stars swing through its revolving doors, offering short- and long-term career boosts for many of those along the way - at least at the time of release.But what has happened to that collection of stars in the years since? Have their careers blossomed or tanked? Let's have a quick look ...
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| Fletch's Mini Film Review: War, Inc. |
| 2008-07-15 10:40:00 |
John Cusack stars in this political satire about - stop me if you've heard this one before - an assassin struggling with the morals (or lack thereof) of his profession who meets up with a vivacious brunette who helps him change his ways. Sister Joan co-stars as his assistant, as does Dan Aykroyd and a number of black suits and skinny black ties.Joan and/or a number of others involved may wish to call this the unofficial or spiritual sequel to Grosse Pointe Blank, but I'd have preferred that they had just made a different film. That's not to say that War, Inc. is bad - it's not. It is, however, distracting, in an film that's just different enough in tone and target from Grosse, to share so many elements with the "original."Along the way, prepare yourself to e...
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| New poll - Pixar, part II |
| 2008-07-14 13:00:00 |
There may be a few leftover votes, but I'm calling the fight right now. It started out as a close fight (Lederman scored it 10-9 through the first round), but quickly turned into a TKO. Insert other boxing analogy here. Long story short, The Incredibles is the runaway winner and earns the title of Best Pixar Film with 33% of the 53 votes, followed by Wall*E with 18% and the original Toy Story with 16%.Commentor Farmacy had the better idea - what would you choose as the worst Pixar film? I have a feeling this will be a 3-way race between A Bug's Life, Monster's, Inc., and Cars, but who knows. Our buddy Nic Cage (commentor, not actor) is a big fan of Cars, and when Nic Cage talks, people cover their ears....
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| LAMB Action Hero |
| 2008-07-13 20:09:00 |
There's a new 'battle' event going on at the LAMB - but this time, it's not a literal battle. The setup was this: if you had your choice, which action hero (or superhero) would you want as your roommate? I chose Iron Man, then wrote my (less than 500 word) essay, while my opponent, silly as he is, chose Underdog. There have been a few battles posted so far - check them out.In the meantime, here's a snippet from my entry:Go the the LAMB to read the rest of it, and the essay by my opponent. And of course, don't forget to vote for me....
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| Fletch's Film Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army |
| 2008-07-12 02:31:00 |
Where so many before have gone wrong, Hellboy II gets it right. Then again, it borrows quite a bit from some of the great ones that came before, so...more on that later.
Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army is that rarest of beasts: the sequel that bests its predecessor. By no means does that mean that the original was bad, but is a testament to all the places where II goes right....
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| TGITDNMAR (7/11/08) |
| 2008-07-11 11:42:00 |
It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.
Instead of creepy looking monsters, can Hellboy instead do us all a favor and attack the other films being released this weekend? Pretty please? 7 days and counting until The Dark Knight. Oh, and if you're interested, Big Mike is hosting a Batman Blog-a-thon over at his site - check...
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| Fletch's Film Review: Wanted |
| 2008-07-10 16:16:00 |
Note: for this review, I'm going to channel my allergies into the ability to type coherent sentences. It's a power that my father had, and now I have it. I will use it to rid the world of typos and misspellings. With great power comes great responsibility.
Note two: I realize that note one won't make a lick of sense if you haven't seen Wanted. Sorry about that. I've still honing my powers as we...
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| Familiar Face - Unknown Name #7 - Rick Gonzalez |
| 2008-07-08 22:53:00 |
Call them what you want - character actors, "That Guy(s)," scene stealers - I don't care. This is a regular feature where I spotlight one performer, whether they be longtime veterans like J.K. Simmons or Barry Corbin, or a fresher face just making their way up the stardom ranks. For previous FF-UNs, click here.
Today's Familiar Face-Unknown Name:
Rick Gonzalez
Where You've Seen Him (high...
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| I'm Gonna Party Like It's... |
| 2008-07-07 17:44:00 |
A couple weeks ago, I asked you what movie you (and your family were). Today, I ask you - what's your year?
For the longest time, I always considered 1994 my favorite year for movies. After all, I was 17/18, just heading off to college, and it's probably the year that my love for film really took off. To boot, what stands as one of my favorite films - Pulp Fiction - was released that year, and...
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| Fletch's Mini Film Review: The Promotion |
| 2008-07-07 12:29:00 |
Steve Conrad's The Promotion is the Alexander Payne film that Payne never made. Only, had he, it would have most likely been a better film than The Promotion ended up being.
The Promotion has all the ingredients of your typical Payne film (Election, About Schmidt, Citizen Ruth): voice-over narration, quirky characters, Midwest setting (substituting the Chicago suburbs for Payne's usual Omaha),...
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| New poll - Pick your Pixar |
| 2008-07-04 01:20:00 |
Walter and The Dude will be playing in the semifinals, but it seems as though The Dude is the better bowler, if only by a hair. Taking first place with 42% of the vote, El Duderino bested his best bud by a scant two votes, with that pederast Quintana rolling into third with just 3 votes. No contest.
For the latest poll, I figure it's time to settle the Pixar debate: which...
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| Notes from Captain Obvious... |
| 2008-07-03 11:20:00 |
Commando does not hold up well. At all. Don't believe me? Watch this:
I don't know about you, but my favorite parts were the ice cream face and the killer soundtrack. Granted, it does fare much better later on when the action (and one-liners) gets going, but that intro was painfully bad. Dan Hedaya hamming it up as deposed dictator Arius later on isn't much better.
Commando was released in...
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| Breaking News: Tony Stark popping up on film sets worldwide |
| 2008-07-02 15:37:00 |
LOS ANGELES - After helping lift the rejuvenated Incredible Hulk series over the hundred million dollar mark, Iron Man's Robert Downey, Jr. finds himself in demand and overworked.
Hot on the heels of the $300 million success that was Iron Man, the smart folks behind The Incredible Hulk, who already had a cameo for Downey's Tony Stark character lined up, decided to push up the appearance of the...
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| Fletch's Film Review: Wall*E |
| 2008-07-02 01:51:00 |
Derivative, repetitive, and mostly boring, Wall*E has to be considered the most overhyped, overrated piece of garbage (pun intended) of the new millennium. Tugging at your heartstrings with Louis Armstrong, Hello, Dolly and shades of R2-D2 is no way to make a modern masterpiece, much less one swathed in eco-morals and romance between inanimate objects.
Ah, who am I kidding? (You, hopefully.)...
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| CoWs (6/23 - 6/29) |
| 2008-07-01 12:52:00 |
Here are your Comments of the Week for 6/23 - 6/29:
* Joe05, in response to my chance of viewing The Love Guru:
"I don't even know why Love Guru was even made... I had probably -10% desire to see it."
* Diesel dropped by to get fooled by my Bizarro post, but offered a bizarro opinion of his own:
"I watched Fritz Lang's Metropolis last night. It was so awesome that I watched it on TiVo on fast...
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| TGITDNMAR (6/27/08 & 7/1/08) |
| 2008-06-30 17:43:00 |
It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.
You might be wondering what this post is doing here on a Monday. Well, I missed it on Friday, and this week's lone wide release is coming on Wednesday, so I figured I might as well split the difference and combine them both for what you see here now.
Wanted
Cubicle drone pulled from...
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| Sometimes, words just don't do justice... |
| 2008-06-30 11:17:00 |
I came to a sad realization while brainstorming for my post that was to be included with the LAMB's Movie of the Month feature for The Big Lebowski.
I have nothing of consequence to say about it. Or Fletch. Or The Princess Bride. Or any number of my other favorite films. There's something about the films nearest and dearest to my heart that makes me somewhat speechless. I imagine that this is...
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| Which movie are you? |
| 2008-06-26 16:01:00 |
A discussion with a few LAMBs the other day regarding favorite movie trilogies shot off into a tangent and along the way, an idea popped into my head. The topic was the qualification of certain sets of films being trilogies or not - when someone mentioned something a series like Indiana Jones or Die Hard, I felt compelled to mention that those no longer qualified.
This prompted DJ from Matte...
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| Fletch's Film Review: Get Smart |
| 2008-06-25 17:35:00 |
Adam over at Counting Down the Hours recently learned that a review of his had been blurbed recently for an Australian newspaper. Despite the fact that he has in-roads to this based on some of the places he submits his reviews, this makes me jealous. So, in the hopes of getting myself noticed by Warner Brothers (Get Smart's distributor), I hereby present some potential blurbs I've specially...
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| Giving back |
| 2008-06-24 13:00:00 |
The readers of this site give so much to me (time, patience, wit, no money) that I decided it's time for me to start returning the favor. Now, I'd offer back rubs or a round of golf or bowling or something, but the whole travel thing makes that difficult. I guess instead I'll just hand out some awards for the Comments of the Week. For gits and shiggles, we'll call these the CoWs and forget that...
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| Abide by the new poll |
| 2008-06-24 10:18:00 |
You all are a bunch of softies.
The Swayze (when preceded by "the," it is pronounced 'sways') gets sick, and now, suddenly 9 of you choose him for a comeback over such American icons as JCVD (not American), Steven Seagal (not an icon) and Wesley Snipes?
Actually, he'd be my second choice after JCVD. I was never all that big a fan of Mr. 3-Word Title, so I surely don't want a comeback from him....
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| PSA: A film you need to see |
| 2008-06-23 10:22:00 |
My friend Daniel recently wrote a post about a theater in his native Minneapolis that had been showing In Bruges up until very recently. He was amazed, that in this day and age where hundreds of new releases hit theaters each year, that a film so seemingly small could stay in one place for 19+ weeks. As you can see in the post comments, it was a sentiment that was shared by many folks across the...
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| TGITDNMAR (6/20/08) |
| 2008-06-20 23:44:00 |
It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.
The high in Phoenix today was 116 degrees. That's right, amigos, it was too hot to blog today. Though with Mrs. Fletch holed up in the bedroom with a stomach flu (coming soon to Fletch's body in three days!), the nighttime is the blogging time.
Get Smart
Though I've always been...
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| Fletch's Film Review: The Incredible Hulk |
| 2008-06-19 15:40:00 |
(Note: spoilers abound. Enter at your own risk.)
Why......?
...is it that every time Bruce attempts to contact Mr. Blue, Mr. Blue is right there on the computer, ready and willing to type 200 wpm, save for the one time that Bruce and Betty require him not to be at his computer (when they visit him and oh-so-coincidentally meet him outside)?
...does Betty plead for Banner/Hulk to stop choking...
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| Movies I'm Really Not Looking Forward To: Cheers |
| 2008-06-18 15:28:00 |
In the spirit of movies no one ever wanted to see like The Beverly Hillbillies, Leave it to Beaver, and George of the Jungle, I can't help but think of the inevitability that the studio execs of tomorrow, no doubt at a loss for original material, will be more than happy to dig into the archives of 80s and 90s television for ideas.
Previously, I tried my hand at casting the Full House movie. This...
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| Just 79 more days! |
| 2008-06-17 10:04:00 |
That's right, folks - BD hits theaters September 5th! Set your alarms and make plans (to be busy doing anything but seeing this) accordingly.
By the way, including this awesome movie, Cage has seven films in some stage of production, including a "re-envisioning" of the notorious 1992 Harvey Keitel flick Bad Lieutenant. Please please please don't unleash Cage's "little man" on the world, I beg...
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| Fletch's Film Review: The Fall |
| 2008-06-16 12:10:00 |
The Fall has an interesting lineage. It was adapted from a 1981 Bulgarian film titled Yo Ho Ho by a trio of screenwriters - Tarsem (who also directed) from India, Nico Soultanakis (whom I can only assume is from Greece), and American Dan Gilroy. Gilroy's twin brother John is a film editor and his older brother Tony is the writer/director of Michael Clayton. The film stars American Lee Pace (TV's Pushing Daisies) and Catinca Untaru, an 11-year old girl discovered by Tarsem in Romania (the film was completed in 2006). On top of all that, it was shot on 26 locations in 18 countries, and is set in both California and in the imagination of the film's lead characters.Exhausting, no?The film clearly shows the effort and heart put int...
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| TGITDNMAR (6/13/08) |
| 2008-06-15 10:50:00 |
It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.Well, better late than never. It may not be "the day" anymore, but damnit, TGITDNMAR just cannot be stopped by the limitations of time and space.The Incredible HulkWhy Ed, why?Did Norton peak too soon? His first feature role as Aaron Stampler in Primal Fear earned him an Academy Award nomination. His next two roles were supporting ones in films directed by Milos Forman and Woody Allen. After that? Just three of the most important film in pop culture land in the last ten years - Rounders, American History X, and Fight Club. Since then, it's been a series of not-so-peaks and valleys, from the highs of The 25th Hour and The Illusionist to the lows of The Italian Job and Death t...
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| Fletch's, er, Gaylord's Favored Five: SNL Movie Stars |
| 2008-06-12 11:01:00 |
On Tuesday, guest poster Gaylord dropped by with a delivery: a special version of Favored Five on SNL Movie Stars. He was even kind enough to give an Unfavored Five as well; that post can be seen here. Today, I give you his Favoreds.For some of Gay's previous work, check out this post.-------------------------------------Gaylord's Favored Five SNL Movie Stars5. Bill Murray – Murray is a polarizing character - most people love or hate him and his movies. For me, he sneaks into the Top 5 because of Groundhog Day (and of course the fact 99% of SNL alums suck doesn’t hurt either). I love Groundhog Day; Murray killed that movie, and if you can carry a great flick you’re a decent actor and you’ve got my respect. On top of ...
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| Fletch's Film Review: Roman de Gare |
| 2008-06-11 16:21:00 |
It's Sunday night. Outside of The Fall, for which I have yet to write a review, Mrs. Fletch and I hadn't been to the theater much lately at all, both of us unimpressed by the output at the theaters in recent weeks. But we love going (and we love that Harkins popcorn), so I browse through the paper, scouring the ads to see what's playing and when. Unfortunately, we had no interest in seeing the latest releases (Zohan, Panda, SATC, etc.), and many of the indies out we had either already seen or weren't interested in. Three choices remained - movies that we had either not heard of or were painfully unaware of: Jellyfish, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, and Roman de Gare. We read the synopses, checked out the ratings the paper gave them (all about the sam...
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| TGITDNMAR (6/6/08) |
| 2008-06-06 15:40:00 |
It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.I've decided to open a theater. I'm going to call it "NY/LA." Why, you might ask? Well, as you may know, when smaller films get a theatrical release, many of them are pushed out to the theaters of North America slowly, hoping to gain word of mouth buzz and hype from large per-screen averages. In general, they will hit New York and Los Angeles first. Should they have a decent run there, other major cities like Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago are added.Notice that Phoenix is not on that list. Phoenix, the 5th most populated city in the United States (and 13th most populated metro area), is rarely, if ever, on the "second run" list of cities for non-wide rele...
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| Outlandish Statements #2 |
| 2008-06-05 16:34:00 |
It's time for more outlandish statements. Feel free to disagree, call me crazy, or call me genius. Just don't call me Shirley. Here's the last installment of this feature."David Lynch's Lost Highway is intellectual masturbatory nonsense, full of images and plots that don't tell a story, but rather beat you into submission, leaving you begging for any sense of clarity.""As good a movie as it is, Terminator 2: Judgement Day is only Arnold Schwarzenegger's third best film, trailing both Total Recall and Predator.""Ocean's Twelve is a fine addition to the franchise and rewards repeat viewings.""As much as I think him a loonbag nutjob and don't want to support his movies (financially), I miss Mel Gibson the actor.""The guy that played Biff Tannen (Tom Wilson) in the Back to the Future movies is...
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| Not "Very Funny" at all |
| 2008-06-04 12:41:00 |
A revolution is coming. There are only slight grumblings of it currently, but the noise is getting louder. To use the phrase from the bottom rung of the Fletch Film Rating System, people are mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore.Perhaps you're one of the lucky ones that hasn't noticed the problem. You're sitting there blissfully unaware of something pure evil that is festering in the world somewhere. Perhaps you never watch TBS. I can't say that it's a regular habit of mine, but they do show Seinfeld and Family Guy re-runs after all, and who can complain about that?Well, I can now, and so can many others around North America. The Turner networks have always been horrible when it came to commercials, and I can only assume they were the innovators for such annoyances as Kyra Sedg...
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| Familiar Face - Unknown Name #6 - Harve Presnell |
| 2008-06-03 13:48:00 |
Call them what you want - character actors, "That Guy(s)," scene stealers - I don't care. This is a regular feature where I spotlight one performer, whether they be longtime veterans like J.K. Simmons or Barry Corbin, or a fresher face just making their way up the stardom ranks. For previous FF-UNs, click here.Today's Familiar Face-Unknown Name:Harve PresnellWhere You've Seen Him (high profile): In what is no doubt his most famous role (at least in the last 40 years) as Wade Gustafson in Fargo, playing the rich father-in-law to Bill Macy's pathetic used-car salesman. "No Jean, no money!" He's also been featured in Face/Off, Saving Private Ryan, and Flags of Our Fathers.Where You've Seen Him (not-so-high profile): I was reminded of him after seeing him in two movies I saw parts of in the sa...
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| A spoiler-heavy rumination on why Kingdom of the Crystal Skull failed |
| 2008-06-02 09:54:00 |
One of the main themes in my review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was that this installment, unlike its predecessors, lacked any sense of danger or importance. While I maintain that that holds true, I think there might be another angle at play that might have saved the film notwithstanding the missing danger: the lack of drama altogether.But they were driving on cliffs and pouring off waterfalls in an amphibious car, you might say. Well, this goes beyond that. Even in the first two sequels, the creators managed to take the characters and the audience to places and put into situations that surprised us upon their arrival. Characters turned up and double-twisted not only the heroes but the audience ...
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