Blog Archives

the simpsons moves to hd

Posted on by
Reply

February 15th will be a historic day.  It’s the first time that The Simpsons airs a TV episode in high-definition.

According to Fox’s release from today, the plot of the landmark episode will see Homer wonder about what would have happened if he were elected class president back in high school.

The Simpsons, which is arguably the most influential and simply best TV show over the last 20 years, made its debut on December 17, 1989.  It’s been on the air ever since, and is still immensely popular in both reruns and new shows.

Here’s the interesting thing, to me, though.

When people look around Hollywood and try to figure out who’s making the most money per year, they usually come up with names like: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler.

But do you know who actually makes the most money in Hollywood?

It’s the people who have been involved withThe Simpsons since day one.  Creator Matt Groening, producer Sam Simon and the cast are absolutely loaded from this show.  Groening especially.

“Why?” you ask.

Because of a little thing we call syndication.

What Movie Character’s Life Do You Want?

Posted on by
Reply

EW.com, amidst the hoard of Academy Award coverage they’re doing today, put together an interesting gallery.

It is called: “Trading Places: 24 Movie Characters Whose Lives You Want”

It’s a pretty interesting list, which mostly contains rich billionaires who fight bad guys, and who are able to (mostly) feel good about themselves at the end of the day.  On this list are Robert Downey Jr’s role in Iron Man, Bruce Wayne in the Batman films.

And then there’s the odder selections of Alicia Silverstone’s character in Clueless, and Kate Winslet’s character in The Holiday (which I’ve seen, and actually kind of enjoyed).

But what character would you like to be?

Personally, I’d like to be Saul in Pineapple Express, and Brad Pitt’s character in True Romance.

Not really.  I don’t do drugs.

But I think I’d rather take an oddball-type of role than fight crime like Bruce Wayne.  Or maybe I’d just like to be Jason Bourne and crack some heads 24/7.  That would be fun.

So who’s your choice?

Two Guys, A Girl and A Movie review “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Posted on by
2

K = one boy          E = another boy       S = the girl

S:  GUYS, I’m so excited.  It’s the beginning of OSCAR season and we’ll be watching both OSCAR buzz worthy and good popcorn flicks the next few weeks.  One year E and I saw THREE OSCAR NOMS in one day!  I’m so pumped!  And we will try to be getting you more reviews during this time since it is the awards season.  (Yes, I will be discussing dresses, etc. at the awards shows in some of the ensuing reviews).  We start our OSCAR watch with Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

E:  I’ve been looking forward for this movie for a long time, having remembered that I read the F. Scott Fitzgerald story a few years ago.  However, once I realized I HADN’T read the same story (I read the Confessions of Max Tivoli – recommended, by the way), it didn’t matter.  The movie was captivating, magical and engaging.

K:  Director David Fincher’s Zodiac was an underrated masterpiece in film making so I naturally had high expectations for this much buzzed about holiday movie. Benjamin Button is very watchable for just under 3 hours, has innovative special effects, good acting with very good direction (looking forward to the director’s cut DVD).

E:  It didn’t feel like 3 hours, though.  The storytelling keeps you engaged.

K:  However this movie falls short when compared Fincher classics of Zodiac, Se7en, and Fight Club.

S:  Dude, I still have nightmares about Se7en!  That movie FREAKS ME OUT.  GREAT movie but totally psychologically exhausting.  Zodiac was good and I’ve tried to watch Fight Club three times but each time something was wrong with the DVD so I’ve sort of given up.  All I know is rule 1 of Fight Club.  Back to the this review…

E:  I think Benji Buttons falls just short of ‘masterpiece’ because it felt like they were trying to manufacture the grandness of this movie.  They were going for a home run almost all the time.  Sometimes the movie has to grow organically.

K:  Will this movie get nominated for Best Picture Oscar?  Pretty good chance.

E:  Or maybe some acting nods?  Although I don’t think Brad Pitt’s performance was Oscar worthy.  Cate Blanchett or Taraji P. Henson (Shug from Hustle and Flow).  It is hard out here for a pimp.

K:  Does it deserve Best Picture? No. I prefer Slumdog Millionaire, The Dark Knight, and Wall-E. Benjamin Button felt like B-plus big budget Forest Gump revamp more than a Best Picture movie (written by the same dude who wrote Gump, BTW). 

S:  At the end of the movie I looked at E and said, “It’s Forest Gump with an H-O-T-T-I-E!”  Girls, I’m not a big Brad Pitt fan but he has a part of the movie where he looks like another James Dean.  YUMMY with a capital Y!  I think it’s worth full price to see him!  But I agree with K…

Brad Pitt Fanatics: Full Price    Everyone else: Matinee or Full Price

aniston & pitt reunite – kind of

Posted on by
Reply

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, as I’m sure you know, were split up by Angelina Jolie.  The media thinks.

I don’t think we know the particulars of the Aniston-Pitt relationship before they were divorced and Pitt left for Jolie, but for the sake of this story, let’s just say that they were split up by Jolie.

With that established, Aniston and Pitt were reunited on Christmas this year via the box office, when both of their films broke the record for top-Christmas day release.  Aniston’s Marley and Me mad $14.8 million Thursday, and was closely followed by Pitt’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which raked in $11.8 million.

According to Variety, both films exceeded their opening day expectations by 40-50%.

Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories also pulled in an impressive $10.5 million, which was followed by $8.5 million for Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie.

The other big release on Christmas day was Scarlett Johhanson and Samuel L. Jackson’s The Spirit – which dramatically underperformed by only making $4 million.

Recession?  The movie market doesn’t reflect a recession.

movies to see on dec. 25

Posted on by
Reply

As I’ve written in this space previously, I’m very excited for this season’s films to come out.  The big day is tomorrow, and that means I’ve been devouring pretty much every review out there.

Kate Winslet is in two very strong films, both of which she is expected to pick up an Oscar nomination for.  Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett star in a very unique film.  And we also have Leo DiCaprio and Winslet reuniting in a film directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), who is Winslet’s husband.

Here are the films you should be aware of, and for reviews of each you can either head over to Rolling Stone to read Peter Travers or visit RogerEbert.com.  Those are the two best critics, in my opinion.  But I’ll provide different reviews of each movie listed in the hyperlinked text.

Here are the films that you will hear a lot more about in the coming days and weeks…

- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Pitt ages backwards, and Blanchette ages forward. The beginning and end of the film should be especially interesting, given the age differential.  Roger Ebert only gave this two-and-a-half stars, though.

- Valkryie – This has got pretty good reviews.  I hope it does well because I’m one of the few that still thinks Tom Cruise is a pretty good actor.  He seems willing to take risks too, which I like.

- Revolutionary Road - Features DiCaprio and Winslet as an unhappy married couple in the 1950s.

- The Reader - Features Winslet as a German woman during the Holocaust.  She has an affair with a 15-year-old boy.  This film is supposed to be great.

- Bedtime Stories - Adam Sandler stars in this Disney film.

- The Wrestler - Quietly could be the best film this year. 

- Gran Torino – Clint Eastwood reportedly says his good-bye to acting in this role, which could win him an Academy Award.

- Marley and Me – Conan O’Brien said that this film almost made him cry, which is good enough for me.

- The Spirit - I’ve been seeing the trailers for a solid two months now, and I have no idea what this is about.  That’s not a good thing, according to Mr. Roger Ebert.

Enjoy the holidays and the snow they’ve brought, everyone.  And if you tire of being with family, come back and check out some of our archives.

sag nominations are out

Posted on by
Reply

There’s nothing I love than award shows, which is why I am stoked that the SAG Award nominations are out today.  Let’s get to the nominations for the movie side of the award show, shall we?

Leading the pack with five nominations was Doubt.  Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis all were nominated.

The fifth award Doubt was nominated for was Best Ensemble.  Also nominated is “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Richard Nixon interview-film “Frost/Nixon,” the Sean Penn-driven ”Milk” and a movie that I really want to see in “Slumdog Millionaire.”

As was expected, Heath Ledger earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the second biggest movie ever.  He is the clear favorite to win.

Kate Winslet will give it another go at a Best Actress Oscar in February, but a SAG win in either the Best Actress category for Revolutionary Road or Best Supporting Actress category for The Reader should give her a decent amount of momentum going into the Academy Awards.

Also up for the Best Actress Award is Angelina Jolie for Changeling, Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married and Melissa Leo for Frozen River.

Nominations for Best Actor are: Richard Jenkins, “The Visitor”; Frank Langella, “Frost/Nixon”; Sean Penn, “Milk”; Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”; and Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler.”

The award show will air on Jan. 15 on TNT and TBS.