Cinematical Seven: Job Hunting for Evil Movie Corporations
Filed under: Action, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Cinematical Seven, Michael Moore, George Clooney
This week, you're going to have your choice of brand spanking new DVDs about the corporate world. In one corner, you have Up in The Air, an introspective story about a man evaluating his life and his work, and in the other corner, Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore's latest documentary about how corporate America is screwing you. Now while Jason Reitman centered his story on the personal side of downsizing and financial ruin, Moore, as a documentary filmmaker and social activist, is all about the facts (or as much about the facts as Moore can ever be) and his film is about grand scale financial collapse, bank bailouts and a general indictment of capitalism in the Western world. In fact, the two flicks could even make for a fun (and I use the term loosely) double bill for a cause and effect movie night.
Now, if that sounds a little heavy for a night on the couch, that's alright, because for today's Cinematical Seven, I thought we might want to take a step back from reality and into the world of fantasy. Besides, some of you might be reading this from a beige and gray locale as I speak, and it might do us all some good to engage in a little daydreaming. Now, in most movies, big corporations are usually pretty evil, and I'm not talking bad corporate citizen evil, I'm talking big time, capitalistic future run amok evil (see what happens when you don't listen to Michael Moore?). So today, let's play a game and see if you have what it takes to work for an evil movie corporation.
After the jump: 7 recruiting tips to help you land your dream job at an evil corporation from the movies...
The Geek Beat: Will Costumed Vigilantes Ever Get Oscar Gold?
Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Oscar Watch, The Geek Beat
The last thing anyone wants to read on this glorious Tuesday is another Oscar retrospective. But I just now thought of it, and it's cool to be fashionably late even to a discussion, right? Don't answer that.
One of my biggest disappointments about the 2010 nominations was seeing Watchmen shut out of anything to do with costume or art design, particularly the former. I'm a fan of Michael Wilkinson's work, and I think he's done an amazing job bringing the outlandish costumes of books such as 300 and Watchmen to life. But while Sandy Powell offended everyone else with her bored win for The Young Victoria, I actually appreciated that she dedicated it to "the costume designers that don't do movies about dead monarchs or glittery musicals" because I thought well, hey, she means men and women like Wilkinson. Because not only do costume designers on, in Powell's words, "the contemporary films and the low budget ones" rarely get enough recognition, the costume designers of sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book movies never do.
And I do mean never. While I wasn't surprised to see Wilkinson shut out, I had this vague idea that the Oscars of the deep dark past had recognized geek genre movies such as Batman or Star Wars, and that all those costumes worshiped by cosplayers and costumers had been admired and rewarded by industry professionals too. Shockingly, that's not the case. The further I dug, the more snubs I uncovered. I even widened my criteria to more mainstream fantasy such as the Harry Potter series. The Oscar gold is very, very scarce.
How Important is an Actor's Age When Casting?
Filed under: Casting
At Cinematical, we like to ponder casting choices. Actors and actresses are, after all, the face of the movie – their names and performances usually acting as the main draw to a film. (Unless we're talking about James Cameron, of course, whose grandiose action often distracts viewers sufficiently away from bad acting.) But when we ask you, our beloved readers, for casting picks, age rarely comes into play with your choices. Do you believe that age is nothing but a number when it comes to casting?Sometimes it's essential to fudge aging. Times have changed, and the masses won't embrace, for example, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet if her ripe age of 13 remains intact. Adolescence has been stretched, and modern audiences don't take kindly to the old days of barely post-adolescent matrimony. Match that with practical concerns -- the lack of range in young actors, the child labor restrictions in place -- and it just makes sense to bump up the base age a bit.
But what about the other scenarios?
Shelf Life: The Running Man
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment, Shelf Life
Although I'd never argue that what I get to watch for work is anything less than enjoyable, sometimes I want to see movies just for the sake of some fun. Occasionally this means trudging out to a theater, plunking down a few hard-earned dollars and immersing myself in some imaginary world that is probably ridiculous, but really engaging, at least for a couple of hours. But more often than not, "fun" means digging back through some of my old favorites on DVD ir Blu-ray and finding out what made them so memorable when I seemed so much easier to impress.
Enter The Running Man. I mentioned this film a few weeks ago when I covered the Blu-ray release of Last Action Hero, but as coincidence would have it, both Arnold Schwarzenegger films were somehow released within a matter of weeks. As such, it seemed like a good palate-cleanser after the hubbub of the awards season, not to mention a good old-fashioned slice of stupid escapism before I immerse myself in the independent spirit of South By Southwest in the weeks to come.
Great Flicks Playing in This Week's Movie Clubs
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment
Did the Academy Awards sap your movie love? Reduce you to bitter rantings? Make you want to bask in old, beloved favorites? While Hollywood was getting their glitz on, our movie clubs are still going strong.Over at SciFi Squad, Peter Hall has picked Right at Your Door -- a film that delves into a post-bombed Los Angeles, without the usual disaster wasteland. Chris Gorak's 2006 film stars Mary McCormack and Rory Cochrane as a "dirty bomb" goes off in the city, releasing a toxic cloud. Check out the discussion right here.
Meanwhile, Horror Squad's Brad McHargue dug into Ils (Them), "pure, unbridled tension" surrounding a couple terrorized in their isolated country house. It's one McHargue feels was "overshadowed by what I felt was the utterly predictable The Strangers." You can read his commentary on the film right here.
Finally, I dug into the lascivious interludes between Benjamin Braddock and Mrs. Robinson in Mike Nichols' classic, The Graduate, choosing to focus on the unseemly story made epic and classic by its stars, music, and look. You can join in on the discussion right here.
The Squads will offer their next picks this Friday, and meanwhile, you can join me and watch Cinematical's next pick, The Deer Hunter, as I livetweet it this Wednesday, 10 P.M. Eastern time. You can follow me @MBartyzel, and join in on the discussion using both #cinemovieclub and #thedeerhunter.
Pitch of the Day: Could There Be a 'Hurt Locker 2'?
Filed under: Remakes and Sequels, War
Now that The Hurt Locker has won Best Picture, I keep hearing both jokes and straight-faced inquiry about a Hurt Locker 2. But could it ever really happen? Should it ever really happen? Let's forget that it's not really common for Best Picture winners to spawn sequels -- even those that make more than $1 billion. And let's forget that The Hurt Locker is in fact the lowest grossing Best Picture of all time and therefore does not economically warrant a follow-up. Pretend The Hurt Locker earned as much as its biggest competitor, Avatar. What would the sequel look like?Due to the way The Hurt Locker ends -- and who is in that ending -- I have trouble imagining anything other than the plot of Lost since the Season 3 finale (and no, I haven't spoiled anything on either end there). Also, I unfortunately can't think of any titles more clever than The Hurt Locker 2: Electric Boogaloo due to the Oscars making me associate the film with breakdancing. So I'm putting this out to readers to pitch their ideas for The Hurt Locker 2. Some more things to forget: never mind that sequels to war films are about as likely as sequels to romantic comedies; never mind that Jeremy Renner's response to the idea is, "go fuck yourself. You couldn't pay me enough money. Even if I wanted to, I just couldn't - literally couldn't - do it."
Really we're more likely to get The Cove 2 -- based on this news story about sea lion euthanization -- than The Hurt Locker 2, but you never know what people in the film industry will do next.
Viggo Mortensen Will Take David Cronenberg's 'Talking Cure'
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Romance, Casting, DIY/Filmmaking
When an actor wins an Oscar, all bets are off, including the ones he's made with David Cronenberg. Last December, Cronenberg revived The Talking Cure and had recruited Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley, and Christoph Waltz to psychoanalyze one another in the name of love and medicine. But Waltz has been buried in offers, and Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that he's dropped out of the project in favor of Water For Elephants. Luckily, Cronenberg has a very good actor and friend in his contacts, and he just called him up. The result is that Viggo Mortensen has now joined The Talking Cure as Sigmund Freud.Cure centers on a young Carl Jung who uses Sigmund Freud's "talking cure" on a young and troubled Russian woman. In the process of psychoanalyzing her, he falls in love with her. Freud comes along, marvels at his success, and anoints him his psychiatric successor. When Jung starts to develop his own ideas about therapy, Freud isn't too happy, and their professional relationship sours. DHD says that the producers have promised "lots of spirited sex" which Cronenberg has always filmed rather well, so no surprise there.
Mortensen and Cronenberg have two excellent films under their belt, and there's no reason to sneer at a third. (Or a fourth if they ever make that Eastern Promises sequel.) I'm eager to see Mortensen work with Fassbender and Knightley (who both rank among my favorites) and the two method men should really fire up the screen. It's going to be good.
Could Plastic Surgery Kill Dramatic Performances?
Filed under: Casting, Celebrities and Controversy
As hordes of actors attempt to stave off aging, we watch on, amused. It's hard not to laugh or snicker when a person who has clearly had plastic surgery claims that their face is natural. They might as well claim to be a relative of Stretch Armstrong, trying to feed us bull that their skin doesn't fall and change no matter how old they get, that their chin was always that shape, their lips always that puffy, their eyebrows always that arched.It's also inspired many of us to complain about the lack of emotion these actors can offer, how it affects performances and ruins a role -- emotions desperately trying to escape from the clutches of Botox and injected fat. But It's more than just a threat to random roles. We must ask: could this rampant love of plastic surgery effect or essentially change how cinema is made and performed? New York Magazine recently looked into the issue, inspired by the unmoving faces in the television show Damages.
The most telling piece of the article deals with emotion as a sort of compromise, actors figuring out what facial movements are necessary for their careers. Plastic surgeon Stephen Pincus told the magazine: "I ask them, what expressions, what emotions, are you concerned about losing? They'll say, 'I have to be mad, or surprised, or I'm worried about my eyebrows, I don't want to be a blank stare.' I say, 'I can paralyze your forehead from this point up, but you're not going to be able to wrinkle a good part of the forehead. Is that an issue for you? If it is, we shouldn't do it.' They're more concerned about wrinkles than about the five seconds of emotion people might not notice anyway."
'HappyThankYouMorePlease' to Open 2010 Gen Art Fest!
Filed under: Fandom, Exhibition, Gen Art
One of my favorite films from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival will kick off one of my favorite film festivals of the year, as Gen Art has just unveiled the lineup for their 15th annual film festival, which will run in New York City from April 7th-13th. Sundance fav (and audience award winner) HappyThankYouMorePlease will open this year's festival, which is looking to make a big splash in the Big Apple in honor of its 15th anniversary.
Also screening the fest this year -- which boasts a pretty enticing (from a festgoer's perspective) lineup of 7 film premieres and 7 parties in 7 days -- Adrian Grenier's (Entourage) excellent doc Teenage Paparazzo (which was another buzzed-about Sundance title), Sebastian Gutierrez's Elektra Luxx, Tanner Hall, Waiting for Forever, Scott Caan's Mercy and the Slamdance audience award winner, The Wild Hunt. All seven of these films will be enjoying their New York premieres at the festival, and all of them are completely worthy of a night out on the town.
The one thing I love about the Gen Art fest (and I say this every year) is that the price of a ticket ($25-35) not only gets you in to see the film (all features are also accompanied by a short), but you also get access to the film's after party at some way-hotter-than-you NYC hot spot, which comes complete with open bar, celebrity appearances and a chance to meet yours truly (I'll be the guy making an ass of himself on the dance floor as onlookers point and laugh continuously).
For more information, tickets and schedule, please visit Gen Art's website at or call(212) 255-7300. So ... I'll be seeing you there, right?
Right Now on Sci-Fi Squad
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Site Announcements, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek
A science-fiction film may not have walked away with the Best Picture Oscar on Sunday night, but it hasn't stopped people from continuing to talk about science-fiction. From Avatar to District 9 to Star Trek, and the arrival late last night of the amazing Tron Legacy trailer, sci-fi is on everyone's minds. Of course, we're always keeping the conversation going over on Sci-Fi Squad. You should join us!- Shiny Firefly-alum Jewel Staite joins the cast of Warehouse 13.
- Step out of that suicide booth! New Futurama episodes are coming at last!
- Max Brooks, the author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, proves he's a Real American Hero by writing G.I. Joe comics for IDW.
- We take a look at eight sci-fi films that don't begin like your typical sci-fi films.
- Beastie Boys + Battlestar Galactica = Awesome.
- How can Avatar, a film shot almost entirely on a green screen, win a cinematography award? Jacob Hall tries to figure it out.
- Also, enjoy these links now because we're all doomed.
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