Crazy from the Heat

Today, Cinematical posted an item that someone claimed to have a list of leaked Oscar winners. I won't post that link here, but you can get to it through Cinematical. The list could be real, it could be fake. But it brings to mind memories from February 2000, when Harry Knowles "broke" Oscar news when he published a list of potential nominees that he said he was given by a person who hacked into an Academy Awards server or some such nonsense. When Knowles did that, the burgeoning world on online film journalism went bonkers. Indeed, it was a watershed moment that highlighted how irresponsible and uncontrolled people on the Internet could be.

But that was then and this is now. While Cinematical posted this item about potential Oscar winners just a short time ago, it's inconceivable that it will warrant any more than a shrug and a "could-be-real-might-be-fake" reaction. People online are just conditioned, now, to accept that these kinds of leaks -- real or contrived -- will happen. Cinematical, for its part, is just reporting something newsworthy and cautioning readers that the winner list might be fake, far different than what Knowles did in 2000.

Still, an interesting moment of online cyclicatliy.

Labels: awards, Blogs, Journalism, Media, Movies, Oscars, Pop Culture

As if there were any question!

Labels: Football, Media, nfl, Pittsburgh, Sports, steelers, super bowl

...America wins!

The Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl tonight, defeating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 in Super Bowl XLIII, one of the best Super Bowls in the history of Super Bowls.

Here is my Super Bowl XLIII story written for Scholastic News Online.

Photo: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Labels: Football, nfl, Pittsburgh, Sports, steelers, super bowl

via MediaBistro

Labels: Journalism, Media, Video

For American audiences, Made in U.S.A is gaping hole in the filmography of director Jean-Luc Godard. With the exception of a screening at the 1967 New York Film Festival, Made in U.S.A has never had an official US release.

Godard based the 1966 film on the novel The Jugger by Richard Stark, nom de guerre of mystery writer Donald Westlake. The film and the book both concern themselves with the main character searching for someone and finding out they’re dead. But that’s where the similarities end. In Westlake’s book, the protagonist is a man; in Made in U.S.A, it’s a woman. In the book, the man is a crook named Parker looking for a stool pigeon; in the movie, the woman is a journalist named Paula looking for a former lover. In the book, Westlake returned to an often-used character (Parker); Godard called on an often-used ex-wife (Anna Karina). The book is a hard-boiled crime pulp; the movie is a politically-infused Pop critique of the Americanization of France.


The two creations would seem different enough, at least aesthetically, to stand together, separately. But Godard never paid for the rights to the book, and Westlake blocked American distribution of the film.

Near the end of his life, though, Westlake, who died of a heart attack at the age of 75 on New Year’s Eve 2008, decided to let up on Made in U.S.A. and gave his blessing for its release. Film Forum in New York presented the film in a two-week run in early January 2009, and from there it will continue in smaller theaters around the country.

This long overdue American debut of Made in the U.S.A. is a cinematic event, akin to the 2006 US premiere of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 film Army of Shadows. These kinds of delayed American releases provide an experience in cinema from another era. We’re getting films first-run that were withheld for decades, available only as bootlegs or references in film histories and biographies.

But while this geek-out was met with an extraordinary and confidently made film in Army of Shadows, there is a far more uneven and transitional film to be found in Made in U.S.A.


Godard shot Made in U.S.A. concurrently with Two or Three Things I know About Her. At the time, he was emerging from his visionary moment—a span of six years that began with Breathless in 1960, continued through A Woman is a Woman, Contempt, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, and Pierrot le fou, and culminated with Masculine-Feminine in 1966—and entering his deconstructionist period. In this second life of his career, cinema became politicized and Godard played even faster and looser with film form than he had in the early 1960s. He reduced the medium down to its foundational elements—sound and image—and weaponized them by assaulting the audience with a barrage of almost disparate soundtracks, dialogue, and series of images with little regard to narrative. So complete was Godard in his destruction of cinematic norms that he declared at the end of his 1967 film Weekend: “End of Cinema.”

Made in U.S.A. is the beginning of that end, and watching it is to witness the pangs of Godard’s transformation from populist filmmaker to solitary artist.


At the start of the film, a title card dedicates it to “Sam and Nick, who educated me in the use of sound and image.” (That would be Samuel Fuller and Nicholas Ray.) But then over the 81-minute runtime of the film, Godard breaks every rule when it comes to sound and image. Sounds repeat for no reason. Sound effects obscure the full name of the man Paula is looking for. The image skips and repeats numerous times, as if it were a turntable needle caught in a scratch. Godard withholds images of people speaking so that he can present narratively unmotivated close-ups of Karina. And in a nod to Roy Lichtenstein, frames of comic books with onomatopoeia sound effects overtake moving images of the things causing the sounds.

All the while, Godard sets out to follow a rather conventional hard-boiled detective narrative done up in mod colors. The storytelling is done in a fairly straightforward way—Made in U.S.A. begins with Paula looking for her lover in a backwater town called Atlantic City and ends with her returning to the big city of Paris after she’s found her answers. Some characters get double-crossed, others get killed, and in the end Paula is no better off than when she started.


With Made in U.S.A., Godard tries to look forward as a director while wistfully looking backward. The cinematic deconstruction that permeates Made in U.S.A. portents his work that would follow, while his choice of subject matter (the American detective story) recalls Breathless and Band of Outsiders. He is also creating a sense of finality to his relationship with Karina while embracing his inextinguishable flame for her. This was their last collaboration, but he obsessively frames her in close-ups as if knowing that through the lens of the camera is the only way they will ever be so close again.

This mish-mash of styles and approaches and obsessions presents an interesting portrait of a director remaking himself. But Made in U.S.A. is a sloppy film. Godard never commits to one way of doing things, leading to weird tonal changes, stilted characters, and unclear motivations. And unlike his later films where we might be simultaneously perplexed and engaged, we’re shuttled between the two in Made in U.S.A.: engaged one minute, baffled the next. The result is a work that tries interesting things with form but that is narratively unmemorable.

In an interview given while making Made in U.S.A., Godard said, “I started off intending to make a simple film, and for the first time I tried to tell a story. But it isn’t my way of doing things.” This is obvious when watching the film—Godard is an unsure filmmaker from start to finish.


Made in U.S.A. is severely lacking as a narrative experience, but from a connoisseur point of view it’s vital. It’s cinema withheld from America for 40-plus years. But more importantly it’s a portrait of an artist at a creative crossroads. It provides a context for Godard’s later work while revealing some of his opinions on his earlier films.

Godard's lost-to-Americans film has problems—a lot of them, in fact—but all serious film lovers owe it to themselves to seek it out.

Read an edited version of this review here.

Labels: criticism, french cinema, godard, History, Journalism, Movies, new wave, Pop Culture, Published Work, Reviews

...that Bruce Springsteen was NOT nominated for his song "The Wrestler" from "The Wrestler." Are you kidding me?! Last year, there were five original song nominees and this year there are three. Last year, most of the songs nominated were from that "Enchanted" movie; this year, two of the three are from "Slumdog Millionaire." The third is Peter Gabriel's song from "Wall-E."

What the hell is that? For all its failings, the Golden Globes were able to find five original songs to nominate. The Academy can't muster the energy for two more? What, Bruce Springsteen won once so know it's Peter Gabriel's turn?

The Oscars don't mean anything, and it's ridiculous to get worked up over them. But they are such a complete affront to taste and quality that they are offensive.

Labels: 2008 movies, awards, Movies, Music, Oscars, Pop Culture

I know Hollywood is creatively bankrupt and everything, but so the Academy Awards have to be the most transparently bankrupt cog in the machine? I mean, look at this list -- you can virtually smell the acrid residue of Oscar campaigns all over it...

Best motion picture of the year

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production,Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
• “Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer

Achievement in directing

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Ron Howard
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Performance by an actor in a leading role

• Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
• Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
• Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

• Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
• Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

• Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
• Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
• Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

• Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
• Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
• Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
• Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Best animated feature film of the year

• “Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
• “Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

Best documentary feature

• “The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
• “Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
• “The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
• “Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
• “Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Achievement in cinematography

• “Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
• “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Best foreign language film of the year

• “The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production, Germany
• “The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
• “Departures” (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
• “Revanche” (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
• “Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
• “Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

• “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
• “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
• “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam
  

Adapted screenplay

• “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
• “Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
• “Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
• “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
• “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

• “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
• “Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
• “In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
• “Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
• “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

The complete list of nominees is available on the Oscar Web site. The awards are handed out on February 22.

Labels: 2008 movies, awards, Movies, Opinions, Oscars, Pop Culture

A piece I wrote about Barack Obama (that began as a blog post and morphed into something denser) for a start-up web-zine called The South Wing: http://thesouthwing.com/a/?p=98

My first review for a film criticism site run by a man named Emanuel Levy. The film reviewed is Germany's entry into the Best Foreign Film Oscar race called Der Baader Meinhof Komplex: http://emanuellevy.com/reviews/details.cfm?id=12088

Enjoy.

Labels: 2008 movies, criticism, Journalism, Magazines, Movies, Pop Culture, Published Work

Any surprises? Not really. Unless you count getting mildly excited over the release of the Golden Globes nomination list a surprise...

Best Motion Picture - Drama

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
THE READER
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Anne Hathaway – RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie – CHANGELING
Meryl Streep – DOUBT
Kristin Scott Thomas – I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME)
Kate Winslet – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -Drama

Leonardo Dicaprio – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Frank Langella – FROST/NIXON
Sean Penn – MILK
Brad Pitt – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke – THE WRESTLER

Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

BURN AFTER READING
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
MAMMA MIA!
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical

Rebecca Hall – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Sally Hawkins – HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Frances McDormand – BURN AFTER READING
Meryl Streep – MAMMA MIA!
Emma Thompson – LAST CHANCE HARVEY

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture -Comedy or Musical

Javier Bardem – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Colin Farrell – IN BRUGES
James Franco – PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
Brendan Gleeson – IN BRUGES
Dustin Hoffman – LAST CHANCE HARVEY

Best Animated Film

BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
WALL-E

Best Foreign Language Film

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (DER BADDER MEINHOF KOMPLEX) [GERMANY]
EVERLASTING MOMENTS (MARIA LARSSONS EVIGA ÖGONBLICK) [SWEDEN/DENMARK]
GOMORRAH (GOMORRA) [ITALY]
I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME) [FRANCE]
WALTZ WITH BASHIR [ISRAEL]

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Amy Adams – DOUBT
Penelope Cruz – VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Viola Davis –DOUBT
Marisa Tomei – THE WRESTLER
Kate Winslet – THE READER

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Tom Cruise – TROPIC THUNDER
Robert Downey Jr. –TROPIC THUNDER
Ralph Fiennes – THE DUCHESS
Philip Seymour Hoffman – DOUBT
Heath Ledger – THE DARK KNIGHT

Best Director - Motion Picture

Danny Boyle – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Stephen Daldry – THE READER
David Fincher – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Ron Howard – FROST/NIXON
Sam Mendes – REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

Simon Beaufoy – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
David Hare – THE READER
Peter Morgan – FROST/NIXON
Eric Roth – THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN
John Patrick Shanley – DOUBT

Best Original Score - Motion Picture

Alexandre Desplat –THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Clint Eastwood – CHANGELING
James Nwton Howard – DEFIANCE
A. R. Rahman – SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Hans Zimmer – FROST/NIXON

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

“Down to Earth” — WALL-E
Music by: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman
Lyrics by: Peter Gabriel

“Gran Torino” — GRAN TORINO
Music by: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
Lyrics by: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens

“I Thought I Lost You” — BOLT
Music & Lyrics by: Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele

“Once In a Lifetime” — CADILLAC RECORDS
Music & Lyrics by: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street

“The Wrestler” — THE WRESTLER
Music & Lyrics by: Bruce Springsteen

The complete list of nominees can be found on the Golden Globes website. The awards will be handed out January 11, 2009. So get those polls ready....

Labels: 2008 movies, awards, golden globes, Movies

Imagine using the Wii-mote as a proton pack! How awesome will it be to get that close to being in the world of Ghostbusters?!

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is the defacto third movie in the Ghostbusters series. You're able to play the first two movies, but the "real" adventure is this new story. Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson all voiced their characters from the movies, which adds so much to the game in terms of authenticity and honest to God connection with the movies. The game was supposed to come out in October, but when video game publishers Activision and Vivendi merged, it left Ghostbusters developer Sierra out in the cold and the status of the game in limbo. But now it's back on track! The game will hit shelves June 2009, which means I'll be buying a Wii May 2009.

Ghostbusters is one of the best movies of all time, and this game could possibly be the coolest video game experience of all time. The Wii is an incredible system because of how interactive it is -- you're not just sitting on a couch with a controller in your hand; you're actually up, moving your body, and participating in the gameplay experience. Ghostbusters looks like it not only takes advantage of what the Wii is capable of in this regard but also takes that experience to another level. You're fighting and trapping ghosts for crying out loud! And you get to run around with Venkman, Spengler, Stantz, and Zeddemore! What else can you possibly ask for??

Labels: Commercials, ghostbusters, Movies, nintendo, trailers, Video, video games, wii

With Quantum of Solace, released in the US on November 14, Daniel Craig has solidified his position as the James Bond for the post-9/11 world and the best on-screen Bond since Sean Connery.

In this sequel to 2006’s Casino Royale, which picks up literally minutes after the last film, Bond tracks the leadership apparatus of a nefarious global syndicate bent on world domination. But he’s also figuring out how to be a double-O while working out his tangled feelings for Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) who was his lover but also a traitor but also someone who sacrificed herself for him. Bond is placed in a position of emotional vulnerability not seen in any of the previous films, and Quantum of Solace benefits from this sense of humanity that had been wedged into the Pierce Brosnan films and all but absent from the franchise as a whole.

The action is a little convoluted, one of the downsides of Bond moving towards the Bourne model, and the plot sometimes meandering, but what is of far greater interest is how Craig’s Bond fits into the 007 canon. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are supposed to be prequels in the sense that we’re seeing the beginning of Bond. But they’re not prequels in the sense that The Phantom Menace comes before A New Hope. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace don’t take place in the 1950s, before the events of Dr. No, for example. They exist firmly in the now, and with Judi Dench returning to portray M, as she did in Brosnan’s four films, there is an established connection to previous adventures while occurring after them, chronologically.

Craig’s Bond isn’t a precursor to Connery’s or anybody else. He’s a new Bond, the sixth one we’ve seen cinematically. James Bond isn’t a person, he’s a fabrication. “James Bond” and “007” are covers that six people, who we’ve seen, have carried. How else to explain that over the course of 46 years, since Dr. No, the world changed, M changed, gadget-master Q changed, but Bond didn’t? And, really, what kind of spy goes jetting around the world for nearly 50 years using his real name to bed women and confront enemies? It’s the elephant in the room when discussing the Bond franchise, and it’s something that fans seem hesitant to embrace and the producers reject almost out-of-hand. But in the two Craig Bond films, it seems as if the latter’s position is thawing.

In Casino Royale there are hints that Craig’s Bond is, indeed, a different James Bond. He playfully throws his name around, for example, having fun with calling himself James Bond as in the scene when he checks into the hotel before the big card game. But it’s Dench’s M that opens the door the widest for this speculation.


Near the beginning of the movie, a woman that is tied to a bad guy and who had a dalliance with Bond turns up dead. As M and Bond watch the body being put on a stretcher, M says to Bond, “I would ask you if you could remain emotionally detached, but that’s not your problem, is it, Bond?” He replies, “No.” To Craig’s Bond, there is only the mission. Women will come and go over the course of that mission, but they aren’t the objective. And neither is cracking wise. Craig’s Bond is deathly serious, a far cry from the entangled in emotional attachment of the Bond portrayed by Roger Moore and, to a lesser degree, Brosnan.

Later on in the movie, M says to Bond something along the lines of she knew she could trust him when she “knew you were you.” At the end, she says the same thing, that Vesper knew how to save Bond because, “She knew you were you.” As opposed to that guy, her, that thing over there, it. Who else would he be if not himself? The only logical conclusion is that Craig’s Bond is being compared to the lineage of Bonds and what they stood for. Despite the manifestation differences between Connery, George Lazenby, Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Brosan, their James Bonds all stand for more or less the same things: honor, justice, Queen and country, loyalty, honesty. Craig is just the next person in that line.

There is a precedent for considering Bond in this way, as less a person named James Bond and more as a cover that multiple people have used. In Lazenby’s only outing as Bond, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the pre-title sequence of Bond rescuing some woman from the clutches of bad guys on a beach only to see her rush off and drive away is punctuated by Lazenby, as Bond, looking into the camera and saying, “This never happened to the other fella.” At the time, this was meant to placate an audience that was used to Connery and now, all of a sudden, being confronted by a new guy being called “James Bond.” So the producers took the unbelievable step of actually calling attention to the difference. This was the only such overt moment in the Bond canon, and when looked at through the prism of the history of the franchise it takes on a different meaning than breaking down the fourth wall with some pithy comment. Today, this concession that there was a Bond before the one you’re currently watching establishes that there are, in the cinematic world of James Bond, physically different people carrying that mantle.


That brings us to Quantum of Solace, which all but begs the audience to address this question. Near the middle of the picture, Bond is in Bolivia trying to get to the bottom of an eco-terrorist plot. The corrupt police pull him over, ask him to open his trunk, and in it is the body of Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini). The police demand Bond remove the body, and when he does Mathis moves, the police go to shoot Bond, and instead end up killing Mathis. Bond then dispatches the cops in short order. He cradles Mathis’ body and, as Mathis is dying, Bond asks, “Is Mathis your cover name?” Mathis answers that it is.

In both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Mathis is called Mathis by everyone. He is Rene Mathis, yet he isn’t. Rene Mathis doesn’t exist—there is a person carrying around that name, a spy, and as a spy is using this fake name, Rene Mathis. And as this Rene Mathis dies, the cover might dies with him but he might be replaced with another “Rene Mathis.”

So if this is the approach to Mathis, a spy, we must confront Bond, a spy, the same way. He’s a character, yes, but that character isn’t a person as much as a code name. When considering Bond in this light, the Bond universe becomes much more interesting. There would be at least five other former Bonds running around in that world, not to mention the others we might not have seen that were given the 007 designation between, say, Connery and Moore or Dalton and Brosnan. And this would go a ways to explaining discrepancies in the Bond series, like Connery stepping aside before On Her Majesty’s Secret Service then returning to it again after that movie. Perhaps Lazenby’s Bond retired or worse and MI6 drafted Connery’s Bond back into service. (In 1967, the Bond spoof Casino Royale posited just this theory in a madcap mod caper that was less than inspired.)


As the producers of the Bond films proceed making Bond more and more human and somewhat believable, an approach that has made Bond relevant again by stripping away the nonsense that older fans can’t seem to let go of, they need to address this question of the Bond lineage outright. They’ve already made great strides in remaking the character and pulling him into the 21st century. The last hurdle is to just come out and say it: This really is a new James Bond, and he’s in no way like any of the other James Bonds. And not just because he’s blond.

Labels: 2008 movies, casino royale, james bond, Movies, Opinions, quantum of solace, Reviews

Is the media coverage of Sarah Palin sexist? Even if it is, who cares, right Spinal Tap?

Labels: Media, Movies, Politics, Pop Culture, spinal tap, Video

Labels: daily show, jon stewart, Journalism, Media, Politics, Pop Culture, Television, Video

The name Don LaFontaine might not mean much to you, but his voice certainly will.

The raspy, deep voice intoning that a cop has one last mission before he retires, or warning you of the consequences of your life no longer being your own, or ominously setting the stage for some horror/sci-fi/thriller, or, yes, preparing you for a world slightly askew from the everyday belonged to Don LaFontaine. The Guy from the Trailers. The Master of Voice Over. Or, simply, The Voice.

Don LaFontaine died yesterday. He was 68.

In his passing left a gaping hole in American movie culture. It's one that is going to be impossible to fill. Not only did he record over 5,000 trailer voiceovers, Don LaFontaine's voiceover work in movie trailers is so synonymous with movie trailers that when you see one and don't hear his from-the-chest delivery you immediately think something is wrong. If such a thing is possible, he is an auteur -- the auteur -- of the movie trailer voiceover.

Like any auteur, Don LaFontaine had to hone and refine his voice -- literally, in this case. Listen to how his voice and approach change from the time of Terminator in 1984 to Terminator 2 just over a decade later:





In the Terminator trailer, you can hear the beginnings of something -- "In this city, under cover of darkness..." -- but his deliver is so... pedestrian. Ominous, yes, but this is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller from a teetering-on-the-edge-of-apocalypse decade. Ominous rules the day. But in the T2 trailer, you get the phrasing -- "Same make. Same model. New Mission." -- and you get the slightly nasally, mostly otherwordly delivery that was Don LaFontaine's trademark. In cinema terms, this is like John Ford discovering that his storytelling style should be centered on the male-dominated unit. It's not a stretch to compare Don LaFontaine and a John Ford. They both left an indelible mark on a genre -- the voiceover, the Western -- and after them most other entries into that genre will feel like mere emulation.

More than his iconic delivery, what made Don LaFontaine an icon was his ability to poke fun at himself. This Geico commercial is an example of how much fun Don LaFontaine has with his persona:



Don LaFontaine was a legend. After all, how often do people get worked up over the passing of a voiceover artist? (To be fair, the Micro Machines guy will be a major loss.) On his Web site, there is a quote about Don LaFontaine from Ashton Smith: "When you die, the voice you hear in Heaven is not Don's. It's God trying to sound like he's Don." Hyperbole? Maybe. But as of yesterday, there are sure to be some interesting voice-offs upstairs.

For more on Don LaFontaine, check out this autobiographical video:

Labels: don lafontaine, Movies, Opinions, Pop Culture, trailers, Video

In response to James' comment about preferring The Simpsons' version of evil, I present these screen caps of the Republican party, as viewed by The Simpsons:


The illustrious Republican war room scheming how to convince Ralph Wiggum to run for President as a Republican (as seen in the episode E. Pluribus Wiggum) is made up of: C. Montgomery Burns, Rush Limbaugh, Rainer Wolfcastle, Dr. Hibbert, Fat Tony, a couple of other Simsons regulars, and, yes Dracula:


Blood-sucking demon spawn? Confirmed.

Labels: Media, Politics, Pop Culture, simpsons, Television