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Newly Acquired DVDs for July

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In the midst of getting cuaght up on everything, I relaized that I have not updated you guys on my latest DVD acquisitions.

Around the end of June, I was frustrated with the game of poker — cards were good, players were not.  In any case, after leaving a venue, I went to Target to do some grocery shopping.  On sale was the following DVD and it had a bonus DVD.

  • The Grand — A structured improv-based movie by Cheryl Hines surrounding a poker tournament.  Supposedly the outcome of the cards dictated the storylines.
  • Poker for Dummies — Do I really need to make a joke?  As a matter of fact, I challenge you to post your best joke about this (and don’t worry if it makes me look bad)

Then we have the week that “The Dark Knight” came out, which led to a slew of Batman-related items at Best-Buy.

  • Batman Begins — a special box set for Best-Buy that included items from both movies and a cool Bat-logo USB key.
  • Birds of Prey — The complete TV series on DVD.  Aired originally on the WB, it lasted one season.
  • Batman: Gotham Knight — A collection of 6 animated stories relating to Batman’s early career.

To see more details on these acquisitions, check out my collection page by clicking the link in the right-hand column…

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Newly Acquired DVDs

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Under the Links area of this blog, I have added a link to my DVD collection housed online.  The program I use is called DVD Profiler and can be downloaded at www.dvdprofiler.com .  Because I paid the license fee, I do not have pop-up ads on my page.

Anyway, as I get new DVDs, I add them to the list.  I figured I might as well also give an update here in case anybody cared.

So, on Thursday, I found myself at Barnes & Noble where they were having a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” DVD sale.  They were even including TV box sets, but I could not afford those; here is what I got instead:

  • The Princess Bride: 20th Anniversary Edition — I had this originally, but accidentally sold it.  I had to get another copy because I owe one loyal reader a review of it.
  • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang — A fun movie and my third favorite Val Kilmer movie.
  • The Sting: Special Edition — A movie I have always wanted to see and the recent discussions about Paul Newman made it an obvious choice.

I look forward to hearing some of your comments and, if you visit the wishlist link, you now know what to get me for my birthday…

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AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition

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When you give 100 people a sheet of paper and ask them to create a Top 10 list on any topic, the only thing you will get for certain is 100 lists. I take that back — you also get another thing: everyone else hating the list created.

Over the past ten years, AFI has made itself visible to the movie-going public through the use of specials on TV. These specials are meant to celebrate film, but often cause discourse amongst those viewing the specials. In 1998, as part of the celebration of the invention of motion pictures, AFI released a list of what it deemed the “100 greatest movies of all time.” Each year saw a more specific list created, with more controversy.

For 2007, AFI chose to reevaluate its original list. I applaud the sentimentality, but again the list is flawed, as it was ten years ago.

Much has been made this week over the details of the list, so I am going to focus on broader subjects.

The voting body is made up of actors, directors, and some critics, same as it was ten years ago. But how much has this cadre actually changed in ten years? I would argue very little. So was it a surprise to me to see the same basic list as before? No. The same influences are there, just a bit of reshuffling to allow for a few new entries.

Much has been made of the lack of recognition within this list, as well as annual award ceremonies, of the comedy. Since they are meant for light entertainment, the comedy is dismissed due to its lack of impact on political or dramatic issues. Acting in a comedic way means accepting the reality around you and exploring its full potential. Very few actors can genuinely make people laugh; yet, in order to be recognized by their peers as great actors, they turn to dramtic pieces. If you question this, then examine the careers of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. Is it any wonder that Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell are looking towards dramatic pieces?

Two other genres seemed oddly lacking representation on the list: Horror and Sci-Fi.

Horror had three notable entries: Jaws, Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. I could argue that each is more suspense/thriller than horror; however Jaws is probably the closest to horror. Where are the entries of the classic monster films of the 30s that are still revered today? Where are the slasher films that opened the door for today’s Hostel and Saw? While I may not be a fan of this genre, I can certainly tell that it is underrepresented here.

Sci-Fi gave us the usual entries of ET: The Extra-Terrestial, Star Wars and 2001: A Space Oddessey. I can not believe that in 100 years we have not had more than 3 movies that would qualify for the list. Interestingly, Close Encounters of the Third Kind did appear on the list ten years ago. I can only assume that AFI felt the Lord of the Rings counted in this genre as well.

I was happy that I at least knew a majority of the movies on the list and could count a number of them as some of my favorites.  I have to say that the retrospective did not feel special.  Other than Morgan Freeman hosting, everything else was left over from 10 years ago.  To show those who died, they added a color filter lens.  All in all, a poor showcase for the finest of the finest.

My only advice to AFI’s voting group: do not feel guilty for picking comedies over dramas.

To see this list and the others, go to www.afi.com .

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On The Lot

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Since the summer of 2000 which brought us the debut of Survivor, many people have bemoaned the “descent” of television into “reality” shows.   The interesting thing is the wide range they cover.  There are some I can’t resist watching, no matter how bad I think they are.
Okay, Matt, you like watching reality shows — what does this have to do with movies?

Back in the fall of 2000, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon started an ambitious effort called Project Greenlight.  The idea originally was to have a writer come up with a script and then the prize would be to film that script.  HBO offered to air it as a series, with the premise being to show how a film was made.  Unfortunately, the first film did not do well and the series drew lukewarm support.

Over the next 3 years, PGL had two more contests, tweaking the formula each time.  Unfortunately, TV audiences did not care, which translated to poor box-office showings for the films produced.

So, if PGL did so poorly, why talk about it now?

Say what you will about Mark Burnett, but he is currently right more than he is wrong about what the American public want to see on TV.  So he pitched to Speilberg the idea of combining PGL with American Idol, pulling the best of each together.

There are three judges: Gary Marshall and Carrie Fisher are there every week, with a guest judge each week.  So far, only Michael Bay has come across as a real ass — but is anyone surprised?  Even Brett Ratner seemed more likable and credible than Michael Bay.  Matt Stone and Trey Parker got it right about Michael Bay in “Team America: World Police” — particularly on the soundtrack.   Enough about Michael Bay…

The judges whittled 50 directors down to 18.  At that point, America took over in the voting.  Each week, we are treated to 5 short films and we vote on what we like.  The lowest vote-getter (smallest box-office) is eliminated from the show.

At this point in the season, 15 are being whittled down to 12.  One is already gone, with another awaiting their fate in the next episode.  The show also has all of the films stored online.

My advice: It is better than most reality shows out there and some of the shorts have been very good.  Worth DVR’ing and watching in marathon form as I did with the episodes so far.

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2007 MTV Movie Awards

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The start of summer brings many things: some good and some bad.  One event that can never decide which it will be is the annual movies awards show put on by MTV.  One of the annoying things to me is that it has always been aired pre-taped.  I mean, really, can it being live be any worse than the live steaming piles they have graced us with over the years from some of the Video Awards shows they have aired?

Be careful of what you wish for — Karma is always listening…

For 2007, MTV decided to air it live — GREAT!!!!

For 2007, MTV got Sarah Silverman to host — AWWWWW, CRAP!!!!

My good pal, Spaldy, and I have never  understood the fascination that people seem to have for Sarah Silverman (SS for the rest of this review).  She is hardly ever funny and probably owes a good bit of her career to the fact that she has been sleeping with Jimmy Kimmel.

Of course, for the first live movie awards show, I do what many others did: DVR’ed it.

See, I was at a convention all week and would not see it.  “But, Matt, just watch one of the 10,000 repeats that MTV will air until September…”  I would, except MTV sometimes edits the live broadcasts after they air, so I always go for the first showing.

The show opens with an odd filmed piece of SS’s dog turning into a jet fighter and her flying beside Johnny Knoxville to do a penile joke.  Then cut to the stage andher live jokes are even wors.  At one point, she told the audience to Google the reference to then get her joke.  UGH…

First Award is for Best Villain and it went to Jack Nicholson for “The Departed”.  Great movie and great choice, but I think Jack may have started celebrating early.  After rambling some, he leaves and we move on…

At this point, SS introduces a naked fat guy (who makes me look anorexic) that will chase off those who speak too long.  Brilliant part of the show:  The fat guy then chases SS off of the stage — Good fat guy — go eat more pizza….

Bruce Willis and Mac Guy show up to give out Best Fight scene, which goes to Gerard Butler for 300.  300 was a good movie built totally on fights — as much as I would have loved to see Will and Jon win for Blades of Glory, 300 was the right choice.

Can the overall suckitude of this show get any greater? Karma says ask and I shall deliver.  Cut to Dane Cook who will be introducing the movie spoofs of the night.  First up is “Quentin Tarantino’s Little Miss Squirtgun” — very entertaining.

Posh Spice and Chris Tucker show up to intro the first musical guest: Rianna and Jay-Z.  Time to hit triple fast-forward on the DVR.

For Best Kiss, why not bring up the people who will probably win next year: the cast of “I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry”?  MTV does and they call out Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen as the winners for Talladega Nights.  The kiss is then recreated for 5 minutes, even rolling on the ground.

Dane Cook shows up again (Why does he have a career?) to introduce spoof #2: “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Rehab” — not good at all, much like if Dane and SS made a movie together.

The Breakthrough award goes to Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s son.  Video acceptance was “ehh” and overdone by Will…

Dane again!  WHY?!?!? What did I do this week to deserve this? He intros the final spoof: “United 300″  Entertaining…

The Orbit Gum girl shows up to give the Dirtiest Mouth award to Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith for Clerks II.  Was this really news to anyone who has seen a View Askew movie?

Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and John Krasinski come out to present the Best Comedic Performance.  Proving again that the world of comedy is very broad, it goes to Sacha Baron Cohen for Borat, a character I can not stand.  Oh well, MTV once thought Pauly Shore was funny….

To follow that award with the PSA about Boratits was the highlight of the show for me — well played, MTV, well played…

Cameron Diaz then walks out fresh from bed, based on her (lack of) dress — Lord knows I woke up at this point.  She is out presenting the Generations award to Mike Myers.  This is tough because he does good characters for a movie or two and then kills them by going one movie too far.  It was nice seeing clips form “So I Married An Axe Murderer”.

For Best Spoof, Samuel L. Jackson comes out and tells the winner that he/she better cast him in a movie.  Gotta love Sam.  The award goes to  “United 300″ — not a bad choice.

Bruce Willis comes back out to intro the other musical guest: Amy Whinehouse.  After 30 seconds, I hit triple fast-forward again.

Eva Mendes and Seth Rogen come out to give the Best Summer Movie That Hasn’t Been Seen Yet — out of the choices, are we surprised to hear “Transformers”?  Particularly after all of the subliminal stuff MTV has been doing all night?

The Transformers cast stays out to award the Best Performance to Johnny Depp for Pirates 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Finally, we reach the end of the show with one award left: Best Movie — the cast from Hairspray gives it to Pirates 2.  Not a bad choice, but not my first choice.

So, the show ends and I am left wondering if, like the Video Awards, the Movie Awards have become irrelevant in today’s MTV market?  Neither show can shock us anymore and both are showing their ages.  Or maybe it is simply another sign that I have long outgrown MTV…