Movie Quotes Monday

Today's quote comes to us courtesy of Peter Falk as Joy Boy in Frank Capra's 1961 Pocketful of Miracles starring Bette Davis and Glenn Ford:

"I got a wife that's very fussy. She don't like for me to go around marryin' people! Now, I know that might sound very selfish to you, but she's very funny that way!"

Six Degrees Saturday

You know the drill: Connect Kevin Bacon to the selected actor in six degrees or less. Each movie in-between is one degree. Today is:

Chris Rock-3 moves

Last week's solution: Brendan Fraser- The Mummy- Rachel Weisz- Enemy at the Gates- Ed Harris- Apollo 13- Kevin Bacon

The DUFF: A Great High School Comedy

     Whatever this cinematic year will bring, The DUFF will most likely go down in infamy. Not because it is a bad movie(because it isn't), but because it goes against what the critics like to call good, although for me, this is a comforting fact and a selling point in and of itself. This movie is far from good, it is great, and as a teen comedy, it is probably the best one since Ten Things I Hate About You. The DUFF actually has the makings of a cult classic, and should it is successful, it will be because of word of mouth and social media, not because of critics' reviews, and for that, I can only say "long live the internet!" At long last, here is a movie about teenagers acting like teenagers and having teenager problems, not just trying to send some kind of social message that only applies to a few. At its core, this is a movie about bullying, but not the kind of bullying that moves people to tears at school assemblies or the nightly news, but the kind of everyday bullying that few people actually know or care about. Nothing as extreme as Carrie, but within the realms of realism. This story applies to just about everyone in the world and only a cynic will fail to take this movie to heart or fail to find anything about it appealing, yet there will be many.
 
     The DUFF, on its surface, offers very little in terms of something new. The High School genre is one that has been covered very extensively in cinema going all the way back to Grease, with the classics such as The Breakfast Club, and Clueless filling in the gap. What The DUFF does offer us however, is a fresh film, one that does not totally conform to the formula of high school movies, but still feeling like one. Whenever you think something is going to happen exactly the way it always has, they dispense with it. for example (spoilers ahead), the scene when she is trying on clothes and talking about her crush while one of the school bullies secretly films her, we begin to think that this will ultimately be the climax of the film, but that notion is quickly dismissed, and the film moves on. There is a certain flow to this film that is rarely found in comedies, much less teen comedies, and The DUFF breaks the mold of teen high school flicks.

     The movie follows Bianca, played by Mae Whitman, a high school student who is intelligent and not into to much of a social life. She has two very good friends, both of whom are fairly popular and very pretty. One day, her neighbor points out to her that in every group of friends, there is a DUFF, the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, and that in her case, it is her. She doesn't take this very well, and at first dismisses the notion. But as she thinks about it, the more she sees that it is true, and it infuriates her to the point of severing ties with the only two friends she has. She then sets out on a mission of reinventing herself, employing her popular jock neighbor to help transform her into someone the boy she has a crush on would date, in exchange for helping him pass his classes. While a few cliches ensue, the movie itself retains its freshness and feels like a tribute to all high school movies while being something totally new.

     The cast is seasoned, but is not very known, and the producers of the movie heavily depended on each actor's individual abilities. The only actors audiences in general will recognize are Bella Thorne, coming out of movies such as Adam Sandler's Blended as well as Disney's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (from which she basically reprises her role, albeit with much more detail), and the ever hilarious Ken Jeong of The Hangover trilogy and TV's Community, cast perfectly as Bianca's teacher and head of the school paper. What makes the movie work with such a cast is the screenplay, written to be hilarious, but surprisingly well grounded and realistic. Nothing seems forced and the students actually seem like high-schoolers, a refreshing notion in a time when everyone wants to cast teenagers as adults.

     All in all, The DUFF is is a funny, entertaining, heartfelt outing. Bordered on cliche? Maybe. Been there done that? Without a doubt. But it still manages to put a smile on your face and remember what high school was all about. If there is one movie you  should watch because of word of mouth, it's this one. The DUFF is sure to go down as the high school cult classic of this generation and you will thank yourself for watching it while in its theatrical run. I saw it for free at a critics' screening and loved it so much, I felt bad about not paying for the ticket, so I went and saw it again, something I rarely do while a film is in its theatrical run, but it is worth every penny of the ticket price. If you need a little convincing, here is the trailer for your enjoyment and persuasion.

Movie Quotes Monday

Today's quote is an exchange about a Honda Insight between Martin Weir and Chili Palmer, plated by Danny Devito and John Travolta, Respectively, in 2005's Be Cool:

Chili Palmer: It's the Cadillac of hybrids.

Martin Weir: But what about speed?

Chili Palmer: If you're important, people will wait.

Six Degrees Saturday

You know the drill: Connect Kevin Bacon to the selected actor in six degrees or less. Each movie in-between is one degree. Today is:

Brendan Fraser- 3 moves



Last week's solution: Gerard Butler- Shattered- Pierce Brosnan- Mamma Mia!- Meryl Streep- The River Wild- Kevin Bacon

Most Disappointing Omissions from Movies That We Saw in Their Trailers

Let's face it, not everything can make it into the final cut of a movie. There must be a hundred things that need to be taken out for various reason, be it because of change of story, publicity concerns, or the fact that some things were never meant to be included at all, but used as a teaser instead. For better or worse, things change from the time the trailers are first released and we see the film on the big screen. Here are five that were clearly for the worse.

Big Hero 6- My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark

     We'll start off with a more recent entry, Big Hero 6, which everyone (myself included) loved. The soundtrack to this movie is pretty good, as most all Disney films are, but I think everyone felt a little cheated when Baymax finally took to the skies without us hearing "So light em' up, up, up! Light em' up, up, up! Light em' up, up, up!(I'm on Fire!!!)" Not a big deal story wise, and the score they came up with fits nicely also for their first flight, but in an age where we watch trailers over and over again on the internet, I think we all felt a little deceived.



A Bug's Life- Baba O' Reilly

     Like Big Hero 6, this song was featured prominently in the trailer, and you could hear the words "out here in the fields" as you saw Dot on top of a flower waving to Flick. While not relevant to the film, it still made the trailer that much better, and i really wanted to have heard it played in the final cut of the movie.


Home Alone- "You still are, Marv."

     I didn't watch the trailer for Home Alone in theaters, instead, I saw it on the home video release of its sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and man, when I saw all they omitted from the final cut, it was almost a different movie. While not terribly important or missed, this other cheap shot at Marv's intelligence would have been a nice addition to the final cut of the movie. I'll never quite understand the benefit of cutting this out, I mean, it is literally two lines, like three seconds long, but they felt it necessary. I still think it would have been funny to see.




Hitch- "You see someone you know, I don't want none of this."

     This scene, is truly the most baffling of all, because it is but a split second, and it's removal served ZERO purposes! The face Will Smith makes as he's teaching his student how to dance cool is priceless and when i first saw the movie, I thought I had just missed it for some reason, because it was funny, and yes, seeing it in the trailer was a huge selling point for me.


Spiderman- World Trade Center spider web

     Riding off the success of the original X-Men 15 years ago (yeah, it's been that long), Fox released Spiderman, arguably one of the most well known superheroes, and all in all, a very good movie. From the time the trailer hit theaters (that's right kids, we didn't always have YouTube), everyone was pumped to see the web-slinger in action, and no scene sold the movie better than the one where Spiderman spun a web between the two towers of the World Trade Center. We can debate all we want about the practicality of the web or how he knew the bank robbers would fly through there, but the fact remains, it was an AWESOME scene! For obvious reasons of sensitivity, the entire scene was cut from the movie, and I don't think anyone will argue that at the time it was the right thing to do. But those of us who remember the excitement of going to the movies and arriving early enough for seating and catching the latest trailers will remember the excitement of the Spiderman trailer, as well as our ultimate disappointment at not having that scene play out in the movie.

Movie Quotes Monday

Today's quote is brought to us by John Travolta, from 1996's Broken Arrow.

" I said DAMN what a rush!"

Six Degrees Saturday

You know the drill: Connect Kevin Bacon to the selected actor in six degrees or less. Each movie in-between is one degree. Today is

Gerard Butler- 3 moves


Last week's solution: Rick Moranis-Spaceballs- Bill Pullman- Sleepless in Seattle- Tom Hanks- Apollo 13- Kevin Bacon

He Who Laughs Last Laughs Harder

For some time now, DC comics has been criticized and laughed at for taking so long to start their Justice League franchise. Many were saying that they were fools for just standing by and watching marvel capitalize on their indisputably successful avengers franchise. Well, in all honesty, from a business perspective, they couldn't have done better. As soon as Ironman, the first film in the franchise, hit theaters, Marvel was unstoppable. Had DC started their Justice League then it would have been a disaster. We would have had both companies competing and trying to outdo the other. Phase One of the Marvel films enjoyed so much success because they had nothing to worry about but telling the story and making it good, trying to outdo no one but themselves. Now Phase One is over. DC knows this. They also know the obvious, that we will never view the new phase of Marvel with its new line up the way we do Phase One. Think of it like Star Wars. We who grew up with the original will never like the new ones as much. Granted, I don't think Marvel will screw up phase two the way Lucas did with the prequels but you get the general idea. Now it's DC's turn. Part of the interest that came to Marvel's Phase One from the perspective of the comic book illiterate (myself included) is that they took the well known characters to tackle first. This generated the interest needed to fuel their multi-billion dollar success. While I couldn't be more excited about Phase Two, I must confess I don't know anything about these new heroes. I do on the other know very well about the characters involved in the Justice  League. Batman, Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, these are the top of their universe much like Phase One was the top of Marvel's. Top of the universe at least from the perspective of the average moviegoer, those of us who don't read the comics. At the end of the day the Justice League franchise will be just as successful as Phase One and I believe will surpass the current Phase Two and coming Phase Three. The average moviegoer doesn't know the more obscure characters that will inevitably need to be brought in to future Marvel phases but they are very familiar with the ones in the first phase of Justice League. The DC characters have the advantage of being more traditionally present on the big screen albeit not as successful as Marvel has been the last few years. We all grew up with Christopher Reeve's Superman and Michael Keaton's Batman. Marvel has had a great run bringing their favorites to the big screen and have enjoyed a healthy paycheck for it. But now it's DC's turn, and they may have just what they need to come out on top when all is said and done. They let Marvel make their splash and make everyone love superhero movies again and now they're just gonna ride the waves all the way to box office success.

Movie Quotes Monday

Today's quote is brought to us by Baymax from Big Hero 6, and it will, undoubtedly, forever change fist-bumps (or we can hope):

Baymax: "Baladaladalada."

Six Degrees Saturday

You know the drill: Connect Kevin Bacon to the selected actor in six degrees or less. Each movie in-between is one degree. Today is

Rick Moranis- Three moves

Last week's solution:
Danny Glover- Witness- Harrison Ford- The Fugitive- Juliane Moore- Crazy Stupid Love- Kevin Bacon

The 80s: When Movies Were Simpler, More Grounded, and Just Plain Old Fun

     I find that the 80's is an era that often gets cast aside and ignored for its quality of entertainment. Yes, some of it is dated, irrelevant, and by today's standards, extremely offensive. But it seemed like you could relate to characters in 80's movies. There was something about them that made them feel like they were us, and we in turn felt like we could be in that story. We all related to Ferris Bueller as he went about his escapades and fought the battle of ditching school without getting caught. We all felt like we could steal a jet from the Air Force and fly to the Middle East to save our father if he was being held captive, and today, more than ever, we would go through all the trouble to hack into a system just to play a game. The movies in the 80's, much like the music, reflected life, or at least our perception of life. This was brought through the characters, and their stories and conflicts.

     The 80's was all about life, even if we were never destined to have those specific experiences, we could still relate. Let's take, for example, a classic like Footloose. It is true, that in this day and age we would most likely never find ourselves in the position of being forced to move to a town and have that town ban music and dancing. But that's not what the movie is really about, is it? It's about a cause, a worthy cause in the eyes of our hero. Sure, Rock was all about rebellion, but the movie is more about sticking to your guns despite the poplar opinion, and even authority, and ultimately, letting it go. (and this scene with Kevin Bacon does it much more effectively than Frozen)

     This is just one of many examples from the 80's. Another often overlooked gem of the eighties that demonstrates how grounded its films were in general is Little Nikita starring Sydney Poitier and River Phoenix. This movie follows the story of a sleeper family from USSR raising their son in america and who come under the FBI's radar when their son, played by River Phoenix applies to the Air Force academy. Sydney Poitier plays the agent reviewing his file who is also, on the side, trying to find the Russian operative who killed his partner years earlier. It is one of those films that seems to rely heavily on coincidences to work, but it does work. the cast is brilliant, from Poitier to Phoenix, to the supporting cast, including Richard Jenkins as his father. It's not an action packed movie, nor is it much of a spy thriller, but it is realistic and raw, and you really feel the characters coming through the actors, and mind you, not all these actors are those great dramatic actors that every time we see them we get completely lost in their roles. They come across as your everyday parents raising their son.

     Little Nikita is just one of many grounded movies in the eighties that aside from being realistic, also managed to bridge the genre gap, in the sense that it can be categorized as multiple genres. This was common back then. I actually don't even know what you would classify Little Nikita as. Is it a drama? A thriller? It could be either, and that's what made movies back then so fun, but there are other examples of this phenomenon. Examples would be Short Circuit, War Games, Cloak and Dagger, and Beverly Hills Cop. It's hard to pinpoint just what the exact formula is for achieving this state in a movie, but it is there, and the movies in the eighties are living proof that it is possible.

     While we're on the subject, I would like to talk briefly about War Games. I fully intend on going into greater depth with this movie at a later date, but I think it is important to look at it now, as a product of its time. War Games is one of those perfect movies we all love to watch over and over again for different reasons. The acting, the casting, the script, and even the modernism of the whole film is appealing due to its realism. Mathew Broderick plays the perfect "nerd" high-school student who constantly gets into trouble but knows how to get around those barriers. Dabney Coleman and John Wood also do a great job as computer pioneers whose systems are now being used for national defense and the foil they provide to each other through their differing points of view and approach only adds to the films realism.

     I find that Hollywood has really had trouble giving us realistic cinema. I really am a firm believer of the alternate world that movies create and the escape they provide, but movies like the ones I've discussed prove that a balance between realism and the fantasy world of movies can be achieved. Eighties films are dated in so many ways, yet they endure. It is true that all films based on modernism become dated eventually, but it is a film's ability to maintain realism and sincerity that allows it to live on. Movies today seem to have lost that touch with its viewers, and for some reason, the viewers don't seem to care. I for one, would like to a return to eighties-style film-making, and hopefully, I'm not the only one.

Movie Quote Mondays

Today's quote is in honor of the late Leonard Nimoy, and his immortal phrase will always be with us:

"Live Long and Prosper."