Thursday, August 09, 2007

The Summer is Almost Over...

And that means the fall is almost here. That means Oscar season is right around the corner. You know what that means? There are tons of great movies that will be passed over for recognition in favor a bunch of Hollywood's favorites that have the big marketing budget. But those great films will be there by the end of the year. You just have to look for them.

Some of them have already come out. In the comedy realm, there have been two great ones. The one everyone knows about and has seen is Knocked Up. The second one got a good marketing push and the great reviews but didn't seem to get the people with all the other was Hot Fuzz. This Brit comedy form the makers of Shaun of the Dead pulls off a tough pair of tasks, the first half as a balls out cop parody while still maintaining an interesting plot but never forgetting about the film's true purpose, primo comedy. Even if you didn't enjoy Shaun, I'd highly recommend Hot Fuzz, it's about to come out on DVD and will definitely make you chuckle if you enjoy making fun of over-the-top Micheal Bay police action sequences like in Bad Boys. The film gives plenty of homage to Michael Bay's epic buddy cop comedy series. Speaking of Micheal Bay...

There have been the big budget messes like Pirates: Curse of the Bullshit and Spiderman 3 as well as the big budget surprises of awesomeness. Live Free or Die Hard and Transformers (which Michael Bay managed not to fuck up like Miami Vice , Pearl Harbor, and The Island) were surprisingly awesome in the mold of the mid 90s over the top action movies that were engaging, blow it up, destruction of all pieces of awesomeness. I think there is soft spot in my and all men's hearts (AKA balls) for completely ridiculous cop movies like Robocop, The Die Hard Series and Bad Boys. You know what Bruce Willis, even though you're 63 years old, you can go and make another Die Hard I don't mind. Just do me two favors, kill the Mac kid and don't ever make another Whole Nine Yards sequel.

Yet the genre that has probably had most excellent yet overlooked films has to be the Suspense/Dramas with Zodiac and the Lookout. Zodiac had a weird winter release date. It had David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) directing and Jake Gyllenhaal starring. Add to that some great reviews, a serial killer story, and a large collection of superb supporting performances and you'd think this movie would be a slam dunk. Maybe it was a mistake to release it in the winter but that's what people have been begging for, to release some quality films during the year and not just release them all in December. There were some qualms with Zodiac though. It really does drag. Some of the murders are a bit poorly represented and the movie does drag at points but so does any 2 1/2 hour plus film. But unlike the $300 Summer shit twins (Pirates and Spiderman) manages to justify its length and grip you more than not that you are really fascinated by the story.



The Lookout had the same glowing reviews and a decent amount of marketing, but it too was lost somewhere on the March calendar. Joseph Gordon Levitt (the kid from"3rd Rock From The Sun") is really growing into an excellent actor in recent years especially with the movie he picks to be in. Last year, it was in the criminally under-seen modernized pulp crime Raymond Chandler-esque Brick. The Lookout is the story of a high school jock who goes through a horrible car accident and suffers permanent damage to his long term who gets wrapped up in a plotto rob that bank that he works at. No, it's not Memento. It is so simple and restrained, yet subtle and meaningful at the same time. It is a great character study of a young man trying to regain his power and his identity conflicting with the guilt of like long instilled morality. The beauty of The Lookout film is in the character's dialogue and especially in the execution. Hopefully, it will get remembered during Oscar time, especially Jeff Daniels in a supporting role and hopefully you will check it out on DVD.



The two headed comedy of sports is coming our way very soon and let's just say cream dreams are coming true left in right. From the writer of Old School come Semi-Pro starring Will Ferrell and Andre "3000" Benjamin. I feel the movie trailer voiceover guy. Here is your plot from IMDB: "Jackie Moon, the owner-coach-player of the American Basketball Association's Flint Michigan Tropics, rallies his teammates to make their NBA dreams come true." Semi-Pro is the movie Will Ferrel has been letting those locks getting a little long. Long enough to pick into a lustrous afro. Click the image below to get a bit more zoomed to its beauty. Count me in.

The second part of the two headed monster is Balls of Fury with a cast of thousands including Christopher Walken. Think Beerfest with ping pong.



There's finally a trailer for possibly my most anticipated movie of the next 6 months, the latest film matching Jack Black and Mos Def with the director of The Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in a film entitled Be Kind Rewind. Watch and love.



In work related news, I'm looking for this as a perk in my next one man negotiation. Ohhhhhh, give me the Energypod. I didn't used to be one that was much for naps but now I'm all for them. (Found that one in this weekends.

This one is a bit outdated but the Bruno AKA the gay fashionista character from Da Ali G Show movie may be trying to film under the radar, otherwise it wouldn't be able to film at all looking at the piling of lawsuits trying to cash in on that Borat action. (via Cinematical)

More Lollzapalooza thoughts this weekend. Needed to distance myself and let the thoughts simmer. C'mon back.

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