Category Archives: Cinema

January 28, 2007 · 2:16 am

Talkin’ SAG: And the Winners will be…

It is another year, and another chance for the various guilds to start awarding their own members in lavish ceremonies. While most of these are quite limited, what with their small number of awards, the Screen Actors Guild has the benefits of numerous awards, big names to parade down red carpets, and enough clout when it comes to Oscar predictions to be of importance. Plus, like the Golden Globes, it encapsulates both cinema and television, providing a great deal of variety for viewers. In short, of the various guild presentations, the SAG Awards are the only ones worth televising (8pm EST, TNT).

As a result, let’s take a look at the various nominees on both the Television and Cinema side of things. Also, yes, I just got Photoshop, and find it ever so much fun.

TELEVISION

First things first, let’s get it out of the way. Due to, I guess, wanting to avoid weighing either TV or Cinema over the other, there are no Supporting Categories for the SAG Awards in Television. There is still a binary between comedy and drama, however, which makes for four awards total, but it makes it very hard for actors and actresses in supporting roles. I’m going to skip the TV Movie-Miniseries Awards, only because I find them slightly boring. Oh, also, because how can one go against Helen Mirren grabbing a SAG Award to sit next to her recent Golden Globe win for Elizabeth I? And, I can’t argue against comedy sensation Jeremy Irons for his work in the same film.

Best Actor in a Drama Series

James Gandolfini – THE SOPRANOS
Michael C. Hall – DEXTER
Hugh Laurie – HOUSE
James Spader – BOSTON LEGAL
Kiefer Sutherland – 24

This is a category that is probably the most difficult to predict, mainly because there is a great deal of precedent for each individual. Gandolfini is a perpetual nominee, Laurie just won the Globe, Kiefer just won the Emmy, and despite being snubbed by the Academy in September Spader won the Emmy the previous year. Which, really, just leaves Michael C. Hall without any sort of awards recognition. In fact, for all of his year’s on HBO’s Six Feet Under, he was never once nominated for his work.

Well, Dexter IS Michael C. Hall, perhaps even moreso than Kiefer Sutherland has become synonymous with 24. While Kiefer perhaps had his most hard-working supporting cast to date in Season 5 (Although sadly neither Gregory Itzin or Jean Smart are nominated here), Michael C. Hall has no such foil to work from, and Dexter works entirely because of his fantastically nuanced performance. Dexter is a killer who operates by his own code, independent from that of the world in which he lives. His performance is absolutely stunning, and I believe that he has a great shot at winning this award.

But, can I argue against Kiefer? I’ve got him as my selection to win, but he just own his Emmy, so people might feel he has enough awards. Perhaps, then, it would be time to bestow a SAG award on Mr. Laurie? I’m predicting they’ll stay clear of the good doctor, but you never know.

Myles’ Pick: Kiefer Sutherland (24)

Dark Horse: Michael C. Hall (Dexter)

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January 27, 2007 · 3:42 pm

Cultural News Bytes – January 27th

Where Dreams Come True – Disney Parks

It’s another year, another lack of a trip to Disney World. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am no longer expecting such a thing to happen, but it still pains me. It’s now been almost 10 years since I was last in Florida, and every year I think back to what’s there that wasn’t before. There’s two new coasters, the entirety of Animal Kingdom, and I can’t help but feel that there is something I am missing. I think I almost have more appreciation for Disney in my early 20s nostalgia than I did in my early teens strangely long-lasting fascination, so something continues to call me South pretty much every year.

But, I’m an easy sell, due to my life-long enjoyment of all things Disney. Disney is selling their parks to families, potential tourists who are looking for a way to be sucked into the magic. And, as a result, a new marketing campaign has been announced that is rather strange in its focus. It’s a delightful cross between the nostalgic and the recent.

These three photos are the first in a series, and cover a broad range of interests. We’ve got Beyoncé for the “hip” kids, Lyle Lovett for the older folks, Oliver Platt for the…hmmm, David Beckham for his cross-continental appeal, and Scarlett Johansson for her appeal with the twentysomethings.

But what is there for the kids, really? The references to Cinderella/Sleeping Beauty/Alice in Wonderland are certainly somewhat relevant, but not to an incredibly great degree, and Beyonce is the only star I can see young kids recognizing. Are parents really looking to have their dreams come true? I’m not sure, but I’m so there. Eventually. Give it time.

Friday Box Office Estimates

Well, it appears that I was a little bit low on the new releases, and a little bit high on the holdovers. Very simply, it appears that people are sick and tired of hearing about old movies, and instead wanted to find something new. This is perhaps unsurprisingly, but specifically a film like Dreamgirls was expected to do better. And, with teens and adult males the major targets of the two big openers, family favourite Night at the Museum held stronger than expected, and will see a big weekend bump into possibly third place.

Friday Box Office Estimates (c/o www.the-numbers.com)

1. Epic Movie – $6.8 Million

2. Smokin’ Aces – $4.7 Million

3. Catch and Release – $2.5 Million

4. Stomp the Yard – $2.3 Million

5. Night At The Museum – $2.2 Million

 

(Other Notables)

8. Pan’s Labyrinth – $1.2 Million

13. Blood and Chocolate – $790,000

So, it looks like my estimates will be pretty good again this week. Yay me! Enjoy the weekend, everyone. And seriously, go see Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth.

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January 26, 2007 · 4:09 pm

Cultural News Bytes – January 26th

Television

Now, I’m not usually one to pay any attention to Soap Operas by my own volition, but it was impossible to not catch a few minutes of General Hospital during my childhood. I would come home from school and it would always be on the TV, my mother watching along. And, honestly, it was a nice little distraction. The melodrama, the hostage takings, the train crashes, the hotel fires, and just about everything in between; I can’t argue with this kind of insanity. Check out the Wikipedia link and have a good laugh as you delve into the sheer madness of it all.

However, within that link, there is an interesting little blurb that I want to highlight:

“In February 2007, General Hospital will embark on yet another ground-breaking storyline for Sweeps as the entire cast will once again find themselves in a central storyline as a hostage situation takes place at the Metro Court hotel. The storyline which is set to take place over the 16 episodes of Sweeps will be set in “real time” much like the Fox drama, 24. According to the scribes at GH, an explosion will be set off at the Metro Court hotel on Friday, January 26th and then the show will fade to black as viewers are taken 16 hours back in time. Each episode will then represent one hour of the events that lead up to the explosion at the Metro Court hotel.”

Now, when I read a story about this over at PopWatch, I was kind of intrigued by this crossover between my mother’s favourite soap opera and everyone’s favourite Jack Bauer Power Hour, but I’ve started to think about it a bit more. And, I think that it’s an interesting example of the further influence of “serialized” television and its quick demise earlier this season.

For, you see, this season alone has seen the deaths of Smith, Kidnapped, Vanished, Runaway, and even the yet to debut Traveler had its episode order cut from 13 to 8. And yet, here General Hospital is turning to a basic theme that 24 made famous. It was the rise of 24’s ratings, as well as the success of shows like Prison Break, that led networks to produce so many serial dramas, and they struggled to find an audience.

And yet, really, Soap Operas are a perfect example of how to make a serial drama work. They have a plot that strings throughout, but yet they have characters so typical, so defined, that you can figure things out quite quickly. If I have my TV turned onto CTV and General Hospital comes on, I might not have seen a second of it for weeks and yet I can pretty much figure out what’s going on because I know enough about the archetypes at play.

And really, that was what made the first season of Prison Break so watchable, not the bullshit conspiracy stuff. And that’s what made Desperate Housewives work, and not its dumb plots (Which dragged the 2nd season into the doldrums of television). Even 24’s plots can sometimes let it down, but we keep watching because we idolize Jack Bauer. Without a hook like this, no show survives.

As a result, as much as General Hospital claims they’re going into a “ground breaking” exercise, the plots will be just as thing and just as silly as before. And yet, really, that’s what the people want. Maybe networks should see this as an example for making compelling serialized television.

 

Cinema

Box Office Predictions

Movies Opening This Weekend

Epic Movie

Smokin’ Aces

Catch and Release

Blood & Chocolate

We’ve got a farcical comedy based on fantasy/adventure films ala “Date Movie,” a bounty hunter film starring Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”), Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck and…Alicia Keys? Okay. And then we have a Romantic comedy starring Jennifer Garner and…Kevin Smith? Sure thing. And then some crappy horror movie with one of the worst titles imaginable.

Holdovers from Last Week

Stomp the Yard

Night at the Museum

Each should drop a bit, and a few spots each with the new releases in play, but their holdovers have been solid recently.

Oscar Movers/Shakers

Dreamgirls

The Queen

Pan’s Labyrinth

The Departed

Despite a lack of a Best Picture nod, Dreamgirls is currently leading the American Box Office, and will perform well into the weekend. The Queen, sitting in 3rd, also continues to perform strongly with weekday audiences, and expands slightly further along with Babel (Which has a little less audience appeal). The Departed launches itself a 2nd time with a major influx of screens, and Pan’s Labyrinth continues to expand further in its initial run. I would hope that Children of Men would see an increase, but Editing/Cinematography nods only do so much for a film.

For my Box Office Predictions and Viewing Suggestions, Continue reading →

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January 23, 2007 · 8:16 pm

Talkin’ Oscar with the Elder: And the Winner is…ME!

Well folks, I didn’t know how things were going to work out. A Crossblog extravaganza was a lot of pressure for me, and I wasn’t sure if my predictions were going to be on the mark or not. The Oscars are a fickle mistress, but it appears that I have tamed her wild ways, because I AM VICTORIOUS! WOOO!

Ahem. Anyways, I’ll put the full nominations after the jump for those interested, and here’s a link to the Elder’s concession. While he decided to judge one’s success on their general ability to call specific surprise nominees, I like numbers. As a result, out of 43 possible nominations, I scored 36.5 to the Elder’s 32.5 (The ½ point being for the surprising nomination of Leo for Blood Diamond as opposed to The Departed). The Elder has full commentary over at McNutt Against the Music, and besides: Analyzing is for the losers, anyways, we winners just need to bask in all its glory.

And, for those interested, the full nominations list. Continue reading →

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January 22, 2007 · 9:26 pm

Talkin’ Oscar with the Elder: And the Nominees Are…

In a tradition that was established in August, and has now grown to the point of being a dual blog event, I bring you Talkin’ Oscar with the Elder. The Elder in question is my brother Ryan, whose own blog McNutt Against the Music has been running strong since last summer, and between us we know a bit too much about Award shows. While I may have the edge in TV, we’re about even in terms of cinema, so it makes for an interesting battle.

In preparation for Tuesday morning’s Academy Awards Nominations (To be read @ 9:38am), we decided to chat about who we think will make the cut, and who will find themselves crying into their pillow tomorrow morning.

And now, in a brilliant piece of Crossblog Manipulation, here are the predictions. In order to see what Ryan predicted, head to his post in order to get the full details. Similarly, in order to see mine, you’ve got to be here on Cultural Learnings. It’s manipulativve, and I love it.

Without further ado, let’s Talk Oscar.

Ryan says:

Alright, so before we get to the categories, any thoughts on the “Oscar Race” in general this year?

Myles says:

Mostly from reading the buzz, and from following the various precursor awards, the story has been the inability of any film to rise above the others, and the striking ability for this to occur within the acting races.

Ryan says:

For me, I always find it weird how time and time again I get so easily caught up in the politics of it all. It’s really quite depressing when you look at it from a distance: it’s journalists not talking about whether or not a film is good, but whether or not it can win. While artistic quality matters somewhat, it’s held at an arbirary distance. It’s almost depressingly cynical at times….

Myles says:

There’s no question that this is the case, especially when it comes to the guilds and the critics, and their apparent differences in terms of logical thought patterns. And really, the biggest political aspect of the awards this year was the reality of the deadline. It resulted in films like “Children of Men” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” being too late in the season to be seen by enough voters.

Myles says:

Oh, and stop being so idealist. Pfft, quality? The Oscars have never quite been about quality, as much as we might consider them in that context purely for being superior to the Golden Globes. You’re dreaming.

Myles says:

It’s a nice dream, though.

Ryan says:

I’m not saying that I expect quality from the Oscars…but when so much of the campaign is influenced by journalists and writers, I wish more of them would take the opportunity they have and champion films that need/deserve the attention…i mean, how many “The Academy is going to LOVE Dreamgirls” articles do we need?

Myles says:

17, clearly.

Ryan says:

I guess it just bothers me that people like you and me, who haven’t even SEEN all of the movies in contention, can make damn good educated guesses as to how things are going to turn out on Oscar nomination morning

Myles says:

Meryl Streep hit on this in her Golden Globes speech, about a variety of foreign films that people deserve to see because they’re good. But, in the end, the people voting haven’t seen them. And, the people with this information, the educated “Oscar experts”, are indeed then in charge of making those educated guesses. And we as consumers of those experts can therefore make our own.

Animated Feature Film

Ryan says:

So let’s start at the bottom and work our way off. Unfortunately for everyone, due to Arthur and the Invisibles being disqualified, there wasn’t enough animated films in 2006 to allow for five nominees for Best Animated Feature.

Ryan says:

So since Cars and Happy Feet are a given, who’s the third?

Myles says:

Damn you, Freddie Highmore, for being human and not animated. You ruin everything yet again. And really, in terms of the third film, it’s a three-way race between Flushed Away, Monster House and Over the Hedge. All three received average reviews, with Monster House perhaps receiving the best, but Over the Hedge was a clear box office leader.

Ryan says:

Funny, because I actually am going with Flushed Away for my third choice, based purely on residual Wallace & Gromit love. It’s much more likely to be one of your choices (Monster House is my alternate), but hey, go big or go home.

Myles says:

I think it’s really an issue of what people are looking for in an animated film. Do they follow the pedigree (Aardman, creators of Flushed Away), the big business (Dreamworks’ Over the Hedge) or the ever-present title of Monster House’s “Executive Producer Steven Spielberg”? I’ve got Monster House, personally, they’ve got to get Spielberg in there somehow.

Ryan says:

that’s true, with Eastwood’s films falling out of the picture a bit (but we’ll get to that later). Onto Screenplays!

Myles’ Predictions for: Best Animated Feature Film

Cars

Happy Feet

Monster House

Alt. Over the Hedge

 

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January 22, 2007 · 2:03 pm

Cultural News Bytes – January 22nd

Television

Perhaps as the column on the right suggests, tonight is an interesting night for TV. NBC has created quite the phenomenon in Heroes this season, and they’ve done quite a good job of establishing it as event programming. However, for better or for worse, they’ve decided to leave it in its timeslot. The result? A one-on-one confrontation with Jack Bauer.

This is ballsy stuff from NBC, really. From what I’ve been witnessing on message boards, Heroes is going to have a tough time maintaining their entire audience with 24 in its timeslot. Regardless of Heroes’ success, the reality is that 24 is both riding momentum from last week’s four-hour extravaganza and offers a consistently large amount of drama. Although Heroes is returning from a lengthy hiatus, its “cliffhanger” was more of a prognostication of the future than an actual cliffhanger, and I don’t think it will be enough to defeat the realities of nuclear holocaust.

Let’s look at each side’s advantages

24

– Riding success of last week’s premiere.

– Recent media coverage has been supportive of its storyline.

– Provides a bit more weekly drama, less slow episodes.

Heroes

– Returning from hiatus with strong marketing.

– Has the better lead-in (Deal or No Deal w/ Heroes preview vs. Prison Break)

My prediction: 24 takes the ratings win by a slim margin. I think that, though, any sign of a weakening storyline on 24 could reverse this trend. Either way, it’s a big story to watch for tomorrow. Us Canadians, however, don’t have to worry about it, as Global is airing both shows. Huzzah for the 49th Parallel!

Cinema

Just a quick note and link for the purposes of saving something for tomorrow’s major piece. Newsweek, every year, puts together a roundtable of people related to the Academy Awards in order to look back at the past year in film and understand who its major players were. Last year was a feature on a series of directors (Spielberg, Haggis, Ang Lee, etc.) whose films were all very dark and full of depth. Coincidentally, their films were all nominated for Best Picture. This year, they decided instead to look at some of the actors and actresses (including a good number of the front runners).

The Lineup: Brad Pitt (“Babel”), Forest Whitaker (“The Last King of Scotland”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Departed”, “Blood Diamond”), Cate Blanchett (“Babel”, “Notes on a Scandal”), Penelope Cruz (“Volver”) and Dame Helen Mirren (“The Queen”)

The result is a fascinating and humorous conversation that maintains a light hearted feel while really getting into some interesting discussions with these actors. Brad Pitt is in particular quite funny, as we could perhaps expect, and I think that it’s really interesting to note that they put them in front of an audience. Really, this is just one giant “Inside the Actor’s Studio” done for Oscar season, which I think serves its purpose well. In Awards season, these people become names on a ballot, not really allowing them to establish themselves as anything more. While someone like Pitt or DeCaprio might not feel this, someone like Forest Whitaker isn’t a celebrity to most people, and I think interviews like this one rightly balance the star hungry populace and those who want to learn more about the people who are being awarded by their peers.

Give it a read, it’s worth your time. And, tomorrow, myself and the elder McNutt will be previewing the Oscar Nominations in Cross-Blog Extravaganza, so stay tuned for that early tomorrow before the nominations go out.

Video Games

So, here’s a short story. The new Nintendo Wii connects to the internet, where you can surf the web and download classic Nintendo games…oh, and check the weather! It’s a really neat feature that I tried out while home for the holidays, and one my brother continues to enjoy. There’s just one problem, you see: I can’t access it here at Acadia.

It’s really quite tragic. We’re not allowed wireless routers in residence, and my little USB Dongle thing that Nintendo released has a neat habit of crashing my computer into a blue screen of death. As a result, I am without a connection to the internet. Why do I lament this today? Because, sadly, today one of the classic games I would most definitely purchase has been released onto the Virtual Console.

Alas, it is true! The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of those games that I never got to really play, and one that while I started in emulator form (Evil, I know) I never finished it. As a result, I want it quite badly, and sadly have no internet connection with which to acquire it. Curses!

To help soothe my pain, and everyone else’s, here’s a YouTube “video” clip. Really, it’s just the game’s logo, but it contains perhaps my single favourite piece of video game music of all time, the theme to the game’s Dark World, in all its MIDI glory.

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January 20, 2007 · 10:27 pm

Cultural News Bytes

A Look at the news of Today in Short Form

Television

A little memo to the CW: I appreciate you renewing Veronica Mars, but I really wish you’d stop piling on the obstacles to the show getting a fourth season.

“Reality series Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll, in which nine women compete for a spot on the hit singing group, will air for eight weeks starting March 6, Tuesdays at 9 ET/PT. Veronica Mars, which now airs in that spot, will take a breather then return for five non-serialized episodes — a first for that series — to finish out the season.”

Now, we knew the hiatus would be happening, but the “non-serialized” part scares me. I think the show can work without a serial plot, but I’m going to look in the direction of Alias on this one. Its fourth season was designed to be less serial, and it suffered greatly for it. I really hope that they at least apply enough personal drama to make the episodes work individually, and it should be an interesting challenge, but it’s clear that the network is not entirely behind the show. They already cut the episode order to 20 from 22, and now they’re testing out to see if it’s the serial nature of the show that’s the problem. Let’s hope, whatever happens, it survives.

(Also of note: Worst. Reality. Show. Ever. And I have no idea how they think it’s going to survive out of the Gilmore Girls lead-in,)

Box Office Update

Wooo! Man, my first weekend taking a stab at box office predictions and I don’t do half bad.

Friday Box Office Estimates (c/o BoxOfficeMojo.com)

  1. 1. Stomp the Yard – $3.75 Million
  2. 2. Night at the Museum – $3.050 Million
  3. 3. The Hitcher – $2.8 Million
  4. 4. Dreamgirls – $2.25 Million
  5. 5. The Pursuit of Happyness – $1.93 Million

None of the major box officer predictors were putting Stomp the Yard in the #1 spot, so go me! The Hitcher just wasn’t resonating with audiences in my mind, and I felt that Stomp the Yard would follow the lead of films like ‘Step Up’ and continue to perform well over multiple weekends. My predictions will likely be a tad bit too high for The Hitcher, but my placement should be fine.

As far as limited releases go, Pan’s Labyrinth performed extremely well in limited release with $1.3 Million. I really need to get out and see that, especially since Meryl Streep liked it.

Video Games

Quick note on Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (Wii) that just came out this week. I spent some time with Lucas’ copy on Wednesday, and “beat” the game in about 4 hours.

I’m glad I didn’t buy it, in the end. I think it’s a whole lot of fun, contains some moments of brilliant game design, but there just isn’t enough here. I am hideously disappointed in multiplayer, also. They killed Survival: One miss and you’re out? What the hell is that? It kills any chance of casuals getting into the game any further, and even the Lifeline mode that allows everyone to play never gets as hectic and the “winner” is quite random.

Speaking of which, where the frack are my stats? Does Nintendo have something against competition here, if they’re seriously not letting us keep our stats of how often we win in multiplayer?

The single player was solid, definitely quiet ingenious (The Dancing is every bit as amazing as YouTube promised), but nothing that got my overly excited. But really, compared to MegaParty Games, there isn’t enough depth to multiplayer (Although Bungie Buddies is a lot of fun). You have to have people of comparable skill level for Bomb/Balloon/Survival to work, and that just isn’t possible in a party game.

A little underwhelmed overall, but it’s definitely something I’ll go back to for multiplayer when people are around and Lucas is willing to part with it. It represents a solid step towards solid Wiimote functions, and I think it is therefore a solid addition to the Wii Lineup.

However, to get back to that dancing video, let’s head to YouTube to check it out. You play as the dancer in the back, and you have to follow all of the dance moves involved. Yes, all of them. It is insanely fun. And totally ridiculous.

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January 20, 2007 · 5:55 am

A Night at the Cinema: ‘Brick’

Four hours. From the time I left my residence to the time I returned, four hours passed by. In that four hours, a rainy spring day turned into an icy winter wonderland. We survived two projector unspoolings, resulting in a good hour and a half of no film. A refund was offered, but myself and a fair few others didn’t mind waiting and stuck it out. This wonderful experience was the conditions in which I saw ‘Brick’ at the Al Whittle Theatre on Friday evening.

I was asked to attend as part of my Politics of Mass Media class, but I had been intrigued by the film before that point. I knew that it was an attempt at recapturing the film noir stylings of the mid-20th century, and I knew from my brother’s experience with the film that it was a lesson in style over substance. And in the end, both of these things are what make Brick a film to watch and experience, and also ones that make it very interesting to engage at a level of mass media analysis.

Because really, as much as there exists power relationships and human nature, this is purely visual filmmaking. The plot is straight-forward and blunt: characters enter and exit without anything even close to a story, and even when the plot is summed up in about a minute at the end of the film it contains no deep answers, only surface ones. We get a sense of a narrative loosely running through the film, but this is not a film about its substance. Where we might in a mob film get an indepth view of The Pin’s thugs we get to see only one in any great detail. We hear about drug deals, about gangs, about family trees of hatred, and yet we see almost none of it. No one ever seems to be entirely in control, and no one is without their vulnerabilities.

There are a few things I want to focus on in terms of the film’s style that make it resonate with the viewer in a way that is quite profound and interesting. I want to look at the film’s depiction of violence, its use of lighting, as well as its reliance on its film noir construct. It is through these means that it manipulates the viewer, and eventually gets its message (whatever it is) across. And, they are what make the film compelling. Continue reading →

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