ben lyons Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Ben & Ben No Longer 'At the Movies'
I can't say that I got as much of a chance to grow up on "Siskel & Ebert" as much as most of my colleagues -- and not a whole lot of "Ebert & Roeper" either, for that matter -- but I recognize and appreciate the value of two film critics trying to encourage a more popular dialogue about movies. However, ratings and quality both took a dive once Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper took their leave and were promptly replaced by Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz.
Well, since that pairing wasn't exactly cutting it, the show's producers have (wisely) opted to swap out the duo for the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips and the New York Times' A.O. Scott, who both have previously appeared in lieu of Ebert when he had taken ill and proved their own considerable intelligence and mutual respect for one another, the medium, and their audience.
How many of you still tuned in for the show's latest incarnation? And how many of you are as considerably relieved as many of us that things should take a turn for the better with proper print critics in the seats again come September 5th?
Radically Recut 'Wolverine' to Be Released
Filed under: Action », RumorMonger », Fandom », 20th Century Fox », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels », Summer Movies »
20th Century Fox has issued a press release stating that it plans to drastically "re-calibrate" the narrative of Gavin Hood's Tsotsi follow-up, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, while still maintaining its scheduled opening in theaters everywhere on May 1st."Look," said CEO Tom Rothman in a prepared statement, "[expletive] those weaselly little mother[expletive]ers that couldn't hold onto their [expletive]ing horses to see this film and pay to do so. This is our way of sticking it to the so-called 'fans' who managed to show up for three of these flicks and purported to be willing to show up for this one, even though the last one was a total piece of [expletive]."
Directing duties on the new footage have been split between three helmers: actor Liev Schreiber has reportedly filmed a nineteen-minute tracking shot that has each and every member of the project's cast and crew extending their middle fingers towards the camera (save for Ryan Reynolds, already occupied by preparations on Julie Taymor's The Proposal: The Musical).
Watchmen: Inspiring Idiocy Across the Country
Filed under: Action », New Releases », Warner Brothers », Fandom », Newsstand », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Fan Rant »
I know, I know -- we're on Watchmen overload this week, and the last thing you probably want to do is read anything else about the film. But I can't resist. You see, I finally discovered the reason Watchmen should never have been filmed, and left on bookshelves to be discovered by generations upon generations of readers ... the film reviews.
Or specifically, the really idiotic reviews. Like Anthony Lane's piece in The New Yorker, which has had fandom all riled up since yesterday. I think Lane has been waiting a long time for this moment, sharpening his knife in slow, delicious pleasure in order to plunge it into the heart of geekdom. Lane is proud of the fact that he didn't get it; in fact he relishes it. He "never quite worked out" whether the costumed heroes had superpowers or not, and he's puzzled as to why the film is serious when it's based on a comic book. " "Incoherent, overblown, and grimy with misogyny, Watchmen marks the final demolition of the comic strip, and it leaves you wondering: where did the comedy go?"
So what the book was one of Time Magazine's 100 Best Novels? Poo to that! It's a geek thing, worse because it's a smart geek thing, and only the most pathetic of individuals could enjoy it: "Watchmen, like V for Vendetta, harbors ambitions of political satire, and, to be fair, it should meet the needs of any leering nineteen-year-old who believes that America is ruled by the military-industrial complex, and whose deepest fear-deeper even than that of meeting a woman who requests intelligent conversation-is that the Warren Commission may have been right all along."
I'm not sure which is more amusing -- the thought of The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and Time Magazine* being staffed entirely by anxious virgins or that implication Mr. Lane would like us to know he doesn't fear women of intelligence.
Or specifically, the really idiotic reviews. Like Anthony Lane's piece in The New Yorker, which has had fandom all riled up since yesterday. I think Lane has been waiting a long time for this moment, sharpening his knife in slow, delicious pleasure in order to plunge it into the heart of geekdom. Lane is proud of the fact that he didn't get it; in fact he relishes it. He "never quite worked out" whether the costumed heroes had superpowers or not, and he's puzzled as to why the film is serious when it's based on a comic book. " "Incoherent, overblown, and grimy with misogyny, Watchmen marks the final demolition of the comic strip, and it leaves you wondering: where did the comedy go?"
So what the book was one of Time Magazine's 100 Best Novels? Poo to that! It's a geek thing, worse because it's a smart geek thing, and only the most pathetic of individuals could enjoy it: "Watchmen, like V for Vendetta, harbors ambitions of political satire, and, to be fair, it should meet the needs of any leering nineteen-year-old who believes that America is ruled by the military-industrial complex, and whose deepest fear-deeper even than that of meeting a woman who requests intelligent conversation-is that the Warren Commission may have been right all along."
I'm not sure which is more amusing -- the thought of The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and Time Magazine* being staffed entirely by anxious virgins or that implication Mr. Lane would like us to know he doesn't fear women of intelligence.
Beat Ben Lyons, If Only On the Xbox 360
Filed under: Fandom », Home Entertainment »
Want to become heir apparent to the throne of Lyons and Mankiewicz (which is no Ebert and Roeper, which was no Siskel and Ebert)? Then pick up your Xbox 360 controller and gird your loins, because according to The Daily Beast, "smart people" like "Ben Lyons" recommend Scene It? Box Office Smash for Xbox, and he wants to challenge you in "The Lyons Den." Growl!Lyons endorses the game, welcoming opponents and daring them to beat the oft-updated trivia and puzzles more than he, Watcher of 300-ish Flicks Per Annum, can -- that is, when not already playing with his "homies" (word!). Yes, the man who thought I Am Legend was "one of the greatest movies ever made" and wanted to hear the young boy's side of the story after watching Doubt is putting up his virtual dukes, and I'm tempted to bring home an Xbox 360 and a copy of the game just to put up a fight with The Wizard here.
Maybe that's the idea, though: More people would be willing to pick up this game to beat him rather than to beat it. A smart plan, perhaps, but I think I'll abstain. After all, Ebert beat him without pushing a button, and I'd just rather not risk tossing my controller through the screen at the mere sight of the L word (no, not the hot one, the other one, the one in the "Den" with all his "homies").
Sound Off: Who's Watching the New 'At The Movies'?
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », Home Entertainment »
Truth be told, I sort of skimmed through one episode of the new youth-skewed At The Movies, featuring Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz -- and since there wasn't a segment in which viewers were allowed to throw hard, pointy objects at NY Post critic Lou Lumenick, I turned my attention elsewhere. In her blog today, Variety's Anne Thompson points out a fact we all saw coming from two thumbs away: That, well, no one seems to like the new show. Thompson looks to the many evil emails she's received since this new version of At The Movies aired, and she's not alone. In our post announcing the critic switch, Cinematical readers have been rather harsh. Here are a few comments:
Debbie: "Two thumbs down for the new replacements, they have much to learn and very large shoes to fill"
Orlando: "Horrible! The quality and style one could expect from the crap you see in a supermarket checkstand line."
Johnny: "And the new guys are basically pathetic imitations of what actual critics are."
Yikes! [He says as he scrambles to cancel the new Cinematical video podcast featuring Rocchi and Weinberg discussing movies whilst drinking Coors Light with their shirts off.]
On my end, I guess it's worth giving another shot ... even though the younger Lyons feels like a cross between Ryan Reynolds and the kid who stole your girlfriend in high school and then spammed your Facebook page with pictures of them in bed together, naked. But what about you? Have you watched the new show? Does it need to change? What would you like to see happen?
Goodbye, Ebert and Roeper -- Hello, Lyons and Mankiewicz!
Filed under: Casting », Home Entertainment »
Yesterday, we learned that At the Movies was changing in a big way. Richard Roeper had decided to leave the show to pursue a new reviewing program, while Roger Ebert sent out a statement saying that he was out as well, that other projects were in the works, and that Disney was taking the show in a new direction. Banking on the buzz whipped up by both of their exits, Variety reports that Disney has announced Roeper and Ebert's replacements -- the much younger Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz. If you happen to follow any other on-screen critics, Lyons (on the right) has been a big part of E!, while also popping up in shows like MSNBC at the Movies and Access Hollywood, while Mankiewicz has been the host for Turner Classic Movies, and has an alt pop culture show on Sirius called "The Young Turks."
Of course, new, young blood also means an update to the format, and Disney says that the show will get a new look and new segments when the new incarnation kicks off on September 6. These changes will include a "Critics Round-Up" that will have the two Bens discussing films with other critics via satellite. I dig the simplicity of the past, so hopefully this whole deal won't get too flashy.
What say you, Cinematical readers? Can Ben and Ben fill the big shoes left by Siskel, Ebert, and Roeper, and do you want to see At the Movies get updated?
eFilmCritic's Critic Quote Whores of 2007
Filed under: Critical Thought », Lists »
Our own Scott Weinberg recently told you about the canning of quote whore Pete Hammond from the pages of Maxim Magazine, and brought you many of Hammond's incredible quotes, culled all year long by the indefatigable Erik Childress at efilmcritic.com. Now Childress has announced his annual Criticwatch "Whores of the Year" list, saving his "2007 Michael Medved Bag of Douche Memorial Award" for Hammond. Jeffrey Lyons and Earl Dittman made the top ten this year, along with young E! Online critic Ben Lyons -- son of Jeffrey -- for calling I Am Legend "one of the greatest films ever made." Says Childress: "If he were 12 and had only seen 50 movies in his lifetime it would STILL be one of the dumbest god damn statements ever made by a human being named Lyons." Apparently Childress has taken on the superhuman effort of combing through every blurb on every movie ad for the entire year and cataloging them in such a way as to reveal their hidden hypocrisies. How many films in 2007 were called "masterpiece"? At least 20, and that's including Dittman's assessment of Halloween. Even more films were called "spellbinding" and "a must-see!" I personally escaped this year, but several of my critic friends did not. Even Cinematical's James Rocchi is mentioned, for having used the phrase "raw sexuality and fever-pitched emotion" in his review of Red Road. A big thanks to Erik for keeping score.
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