I'm finally feeling human again after three days of being knocked on my ass by a wicked virus. I wish I could say I spent the entire time watching movies to review for you, but alas, with barely the capacity to keep my head up I chose an easier route - 60 episodes of 30 Rock. I feel shame. But I didn't take your response to last week's poll in vain. You voted last week, and I listened. As 33% of you noted that documentaries are your favorite movie genre, I carved some time out from watching TGS with Tracy Jordan to catch up on my high school politics with the documentary, Frontrunners.
Taped in 2008, during the infamous U.S. presidential election, Frontrunners explores the drama and competition of high school politics. The documentary focuses on a public high school in New York City that bills itself as the most competitive in the city, only accepting 3% of its 25,000 admission applications each year. You say school for the gifted, I say school for early heart attacks. This is a real deal, take no prisoners election. Candidates for Prez and VP run as one ticket, they have a primary season, a televised debate...hell, even the school paper endorses a candidate. This is like the playground for the next generation of Washington elites. Breed 'em young I guess.
As I'm wrapping up reading the 2008 presidential election tell all Game Change, I think I had politics on the brain when selecting this movie. However, you don't need to be a political junkie to enjoy it - maybe you're just a fan of high school entertainment like GLee or High School Musical...I don't judge. But I will say what made this documentary most interesting was the connection to how our presidential elections have become very much like a high school election. There are some scary similarities, such as the personality, popularity and race factors - in fact, the high schoolers were pretty much in agreement that race did play a significant factor in their elections. I found that particularly telling - we are our parents' children after all.
Throughout the movie I kept telling myself that despite the similarities this was just high school after all, and therefore the priorities of these candidates were certainly not the same as real life political candidates. Right? I mean it's not like McCain was worried about making it to ROTC before the bell rang. Obama didn't have to stay up all night cramming for the SATs and Hillary didn't have to worry about her boyfriend checking out the cheerleaders. Well...maybe it was more like real life than I gave it credit for.
One thing's for sure, Frontrunners will provide you with some flashbacks to your teens - otherwise known as my awkward years. It's really not fair that flannel was popular during the 90s - I look like a gay lumberjack in every damn yearbook photo. Oh memories, how I wish I could erase you. So when a teen would pop up on camera and say something awkward, I cringed every time. Needless to say this movie has a lot of those moments, so I spent the majority of it watching through my fingers like a horror movie. This is why I can't watch MTV anymore.
All in all, Frontrunners was fun and interesting at times, but did seem to lack any real excitement or drama. It ended up far less dramatic than the actual presidential election - gifted teenagers are fairly boring after all, go figure. No one outspoke with an open mic on, no one cussed, no one impregnated their mistress, and no one really went for the smear campaigning. In fact, maybe they should start making Washington politicians watch this documentary to show how an election should be managed. I waited until the televised debate before I passed judgment on Frontrunners, but ultimately I decided on giving it a BREW & VIEW IT!
Before heading into this year's mid-term elections, check out the trailer.
Sorry movie fans - for the second time in two weeks I'm feverish with the plague. Sorry to be a buzzkill, but I'm taking to bed and watching Misery. Hopefully Kathy Bates will take good care of me. If you don't see a post on TMMC tomorrow, send help.
While you're here though, why don't you vote in this week's poll? Consider it contributing to my well being - it's like chicken soup for my soul.
Thanks to all you TMMC readers who voted in last week's poll, asking what's your favorite movie genre? I really appreciate the guidance in offering reviews of movies you're most interested in. I'll definitely keep this info in mind, moving forward. And what an intellectual bunch of movie watchers you are - I'm so impressed. Here were the results. A sizable 50% of readers said your favorite movies are...
DRAMAS!
That one took me by surprise a bit - I didn't realized you like your movies depressing. Let me guess, if I looked in your closet I would find used tissues in your sweaters and empty ice cream cartons under your couch. We'll discuss an intervention at a later date. 33% of you responded that documentaries are your top faves and a sad 16% said you prefer action/adventures. Geez gang - buzzkill much?! Not one person replied with comedy as their favorite!? So I've got to spend my summer watching Amy Tam movies about immigrant Chinese families and more documentaries about the Bush administration? How depressing. Well thank you to those who chose action/adventure - at least I can squeeze some summer blockbusters in there.
All kidding aside, I really do appreciate the feedback and I'll take it into consideration when I'm selecting movies to review on TMMC.
Up at bat in this week's poll - Jackass the movie. Obviously from the genres you selected I'm guessing this isn't top of your list, but this news still blew me away. With the Tribeca Flim Festival in full swing, Johnny Knoxville and director Jeff Tremaine took some time from promoting their latest movie Birth of Big Air to discuss Jackass 3 in development. The biggest news in my book - it's going to be in 3-D. Just the latest movie to cash in on the craze, Tremaine says that Jackass 3-D will feature “poo-poo, pee-pee, throw up” galore. So I have to ask - can you handle that? Are you ready to see someone defecate in 3-D? Is it time to push this new movie medium to the extreme? And even scarier, what will Sacha Baron Cohen do to us if he gets hold of a 3-D film camera!?
Inquiring minds want to know - so vote!
To catch more of Knoxville's interview at Tribeca, click here!
Pat yourself on the back on making it through another chilly week! Now celebrate it by getting your drink on or joining me while I take in a movie over what's supposed to be a rainy weekend. Boo. If you haven't, please vote in this week's poll and help TMMC better cater to your movie needs. Do it for your country!
It's Friday, so that means it's the Weekly Round Up - Your Place For All The Fair and Balanced Movie News That's Fit to Print. So, round it up...
- A few weeks ago TMMC shared with you the news that Hangover 2 is almost ready for production. Now it seems another Hangover-like movie may enter the race to the box office, with Jack Nicholson reportedly being offered a lead role in a movie only described as "The Hangover meets Grumpy Old Men." Hmm...that's odd. I thought they already filmed Sex and the City 2. Read more.
- With Angelina Jolie officially out for Wanted 2, producers are scrambling to find a replacement raven haired, pouty sex symbol. And their eyes have locked on Twilight star Kristen Stewart...God help us all. Well at least she knows how to pout her lips - it's about the only expression she knows how to pull off. Now she can make that constipated teen angst face with a gun in her hand....great. Read more.
- We have some good news and bad news on the 3-D trend sweeping Hollywood and their piggy banks. The sad news first, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are reuniting for Men in Black 3D. Yes, this will exclusively come out in 3-D and surely help fan the fire of this capitalistic, cheap thrills trend raping audiences at the box office. The good news, Batman 3 will not buy into the fad. Dark Knight cinematographer Wally Pfister eluded to it while slamming the medium as good for amusement parks, but says he's a "devotee of film." Score one for the little guys! Read more.
- From the Oddly Random News Desk: Sheila Callaghan, writer of the Showtime hit The United States of Tara, has been hired to write the script for a movie based on the 60s t.v. show I Dream of Jeannie. Poor Major Nelson! Now that NASA ending their space missions, what will he do for a living!? How will Jeannie pay for all those drapes and pillows in her bottle!? Read more.
- For weeks now TMMC has been following the saga of the proposed Hollywood Stock Exchange, where everyday people will gamble their retirement accounts buying stock in movies. Because obviously Americans have the attention span of flies and learned nothing in the last two years. Wait, wait, not so fast. The Senate has thrown a big wrench into the plans, tacking language banning such ventures into the latest financial reform bill. Thanks goodness we have Washington to save us for ourselves. Read more.
That's all folks! Have a great weekend!
If you're headed out to the movies lately, you'll likely be disappointed at the selection. It's obvious the movie studios are stockpiling their big guns for Memorial Day weekend, because there's nothing out there to watch. If you're looking for big actors in swashbuckling films, you're out of luck cause they're all on vacation. Now what I should've done was take this blockbuster downtime as an opportunity to catch up on some smaller, indy films. But no, stupid me decided to see the remake of the 2007 British cult classic Death at a Funeral. And quite frankly, I've had more fun at a funeral. I literally laughed more at my grandmother's funeral than I did at this movie - particularly at that pink, taffeta gown they buried her in, rest her soul. Poor thing looked like a puff of cotton candy on a stick.
But as an avid fan of the original version, my curiosity got the better of me and drew me into the theater like a moth to a bug light. I too got zapped. Death at a Funeral is a movie about the wackiest funeral you've ever attended, full of gay midgets, tripping guests on hallucinogenics and crotchety old relatives. The original is one of those movies that makes you roll on the floor laughing throughout and ties everything up in a nice, poignant bow at the end. The remake makes you weep at the fact that an all star cast can't pull off a decent joke and ends just as boring as it began.
First of all, even seeing this movie breaks my cardinal rule of "big all star cast = big fat flop." What was I thinking? They lined up every big actor they could, like the boarding of Noah's Ark - Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Danny Glover, Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, James Marsden, Zoe Saldana - and all that combined acting power could do nothing with a lousy script. Chris Rock is just boring, Tracy Morgan tries too hard, Luke Wilson has no idea what he's supposed to be doing and Martin Lawrence looks like he just showed up for a pay check. In this type of farce, the comedy is all about timing and over-exaggeration, obviously neither of which was explained to the cast before filming.
James Marsden provides the only breakout performance of the lot, but that's cause he gets to play the guy hocked up on drugs the entire time. If you can't make people laugh while supposedly tripping, you really should find another industry to work in. As an aside, if you're a fan of James Marsden, chances are you'll enjoy this movie, as he's naked throughout half of it.
In truth, it's not really the actors' fault that this movie is so bad - it's the writers who obviously spent a few hours updating the British script and called it a day. The plot remains so literally lifted from the original and brings nothing new except some awful and outdated comedic writing. They even took potshots on people like the Bee Gees and Amy Winehouse. How topical of you, way to stay edgy. Not to mention how inconsistent and flaw-filled it was. For example, the family lives in an obviously multi-million dollar home and has more money than I'll ever see, but they scoff at being blackmailed for $30,000. Puuullease - that's like your property taxes. No wealthy person would scoff at a $30,000 blackmail before paying it - that's practically a bargain! Tiger Woods wished it came that cheap!
Moving onward, the pace of the movie is bogged down to a near crawl and the actors seem utterly confused about what the hell is going on. Ah yes, directing at its worst. The hardest part of watching this movie, for me, was how much I really did want to enjoy it. I love the original and the actors they assembled for the remake. I wanted to like the characters, but I just couldn't connect with them on any level. Their relationships and back stories are so sloppily explained to the audience that I ended up not even caring who or why they're even at the funeral. While there may be a few funny parts to this movie, mostly chuckles but some legit belly laughs, they're so few and far between and hardly worth the effort.
I don't love going to funerals, who does, but this was the most painful one I've ever had to sit through - and I didn't even know the deceased! I beg you Hollywood, when will you learn to stop cherry-picking ideas from the British. If it's been done, move on and get your own original thought. Stop trying to take a great British product, run it through the American meat grinder and churn out some nasty sausages. Seriously. For the first time ever in TMMC history, I am giving both movies reviewed in one week my lowest rating possible. Death at a Funeral was just plain dead on arrival, rotting before it even made it to the screen, and so therefore WAIT FOR VHS!
