reality television Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Well, leave it to the comedy duo of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay to remind me of one of the better B-movie curios sitting on my shelf, a film that even combines their own site's merits of 'funny' and 'die' into one sharp satire that's already gone overlooked and underappreciated since its 2001 release (into a whopping ten theaters, it seems).

Series 7: The Contenders plays like a 90-minute marathon of a supposed TV show in which contestants are chosen at random and tasked with killing the competition. Everyday citizens have to take out other everyday citizens while the cameras are rolling, and the last man or woman standing wins, plain and simple.

It's funny in the ways it dead-on skewers the manipulations and absurdity of reality programming, and it's funny in more bleakly matter-of-fact ways as we grow slowly but surely engaged by the characters, just as the show itself would intend to. Besides, in what other movie would you see Paul Giamatti's mom from Sideways and the girl from the well in The Silence of the Lambs duke it out, with Will Arnett narrating throughout? Now that's something I would watch...

I admit it, I have never, ever liked Jennifer Lopez. Part of this stems from that old Movieline interview where she rags on everyone with a shocking amount of overcharged ego. But the rest stems from the fact that I haven't liked her in anything I have seen her in. At least if I could appreciate the performances, the ego would have had some merit.

And I'm not the only anti-J-Lo moviegoer out there. You know you've got to reexamine your career when you get killed off in Jersey Girl and everyone applauds (a move reminiscent of Segal's clap-inducing demise in Executive Decision). But she still trucks on with movie roles, trying to make her cred meet her big tabloid name. But now Lopez, Marc Anthony, and her kids are heading for reality television, in a move I can only see as desperate.

Look, I really enjoyed the Project Greenlight series. While I will agree that IFC's Film School was a more educational show to watch for those of you out there dying to jump right into filmmaking (do keep in mind NYU did provide them with a lot of equipment), Greenlight really showed what it's like to do battle with a studio. Of course, in the "real world," all of those contest winners would have been immediately replaced by seasoned veterans.

That being said, Steven Spielberg is looking to bring a little bit of Greenlight to his next big project -- a reality television show. Seriously? Spielberg? Reality TV? If I were joking, you would know by now. Seriously, the director wants to create a show in which aspiring Spielbergs compete to direct a movie that he will produce. Right now, it's being pitched as Project Greenlight meets The Apprentice meets another show only us movie geeks will watch.

Honestly, it sounds like a fun idea ... even though I'm sure Spielberg himself will only appear in a couple episodes. However, you know a ton of folks will jump at the chance to be involved in one of his projects, so casting the film might get interesting. I'm also curious to see if Tom Hanks becomes involved, and to what capacity, seeing as the two have been imaginary lovers for some time now. Oh yeah, I just went there! What do you think about that?

[via Movie Blog]