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1/31/2006

ZONER AT THE MOVIES

Just got word that my guy PSH did not get nominated for Best Actor. That's OK because he is not yet 40 and I'm sure he will get one or more in the future. Only an actor like PSH could save the dreadful "Along Came Polly". Other standout roles: Love Liza, Owning Mahowny, Magnolia, Boogie Nights & Almost Famous. Of course there are many more.

The totally overrated "Crash" received many nominations. I found it to be a poor imitation of "Magnolia", and the absolute worst use of Don Cheadle in any movie. If this somehow wins Best Picture I will be upset. And I don't get upset at awards shows.

I was shocked that Roger Ebert wrote of "Crash": "...but Haggis writes with such directness and such a good ear for everyday speech that the characters seem real and plausible after only a few words." I think more appropriate was this review: "A grim, histrionic experiment in vehicular metaphor slaughter."-- Carina Chocano, L.A. Times.

But maybe I'm just contrarian. Because there are a lot of heralded movies that I have no desire to see. At all. For example:

  • Million Dollar Baby
  • Any of the LOTR
  • Any of the Harry Potter
  • King Kong
  • War of the Worlds
  • Ray
  • Collateral
  • Any 'Ocean's' film
  • Chicago
  • Seabiscuit

I did see 2 movies this weekend that I highly recommend. "Cinderella Man" with the great Russell Crowe and the equally great Paul Giamatti. Also "The Motorcycle Diaries" with Gael Garcia Bernal, which tells the story of Ernesto "Che" Guavera during his pre-revolutionary days. The film is beautiful and GGB and Rodrigo de la Serna both have masterful performances.

UPDATE: Um, so I got some bad information about PSH. He is indeed nominated.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think if you and me hung out at the ciniplex we would have to go to seperate movies. I saw and liked all the movies on your list except Ray and Chicago.

Anonymous said...

"War of the Worlds" hardly qualifies as 'heralded', as it didn't receive good reviews and didn't meet BO expectations. I don't think anyone considers the Ocean's movies as anything but stylish entertainment at best anyway, and "Collateral" was a bit of a bust (though most critics seemed to like it). Maybe this is just semantic quibbling over what's 'heralded', but the point is I don't think you're stepping out by saying you don't want to see these ones--a lot of people apparently agreed.

As for the others, I agree wholeheartedly on LOTR and Harry Potter. But you may be missing something with "Million Dollar Baby", moreso than the others, you might like that one--while I also personally really liked "King Kong", and "Seabiscuit" and "Ray" were pretty good, too, though can't blame ya for not being psyched about Hollywood biopics.

PV

Anonymous said...

It looks like PSH did indeed get nominated:
http://www.oscars.org/78academyawards/noms.html

The Zoner said...

Heralded perhaps should have read "popular". And you can add Brokeback Mountain to my list too. No desire to see it.

I've long said we need a moratorium on remakes. Did you know they even remade the Big Sleep in the 70's? What kind of blasphemy is that?

And apparently I was misinformed about PSH. I hope he wins even though I've yet to see his performance. He's my guy.

Anonymous said...

I've seen $1,000,000 Baby and Ocean's 11 on your list. I agree with you on the others -- no desire at all, except for maybe Ray. I didn't particularly care for Baby and O-11 was a throwaway.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry Zoner, but for good mindless fun, Ocean's 11 was solid. Ocean's 12, not so much. But the first one had a coolness factor to it that I really dug. :)

Anonymous said...

I couln't agree more with the Zoner "list." I just watched "Network" again last night and I love how it still is relevan as to what happens in media today.

Anonymous said...

I think that "Big Sleep" remake starred Elliot Gould as Marlowe. Seriously.

Really, you could have a whole blog dedicated to detailing the lack of new ideas in Hollywood--remakes, TV shows, sequels, thinly veiled rip-offs and derivations. "Brokeback Mountain" is a good example--and I agree, no desire to see it--from descriptions, isn't it just a formulaic love story that inverts the genders involved? Boring.

Now "Network"--that's a f@#%in movie! Someone else recently mentioned it in conversation, it's been a while since I've seen it, I need to check it out again.

PV

The Zoner said...

I have about 10-15 DVDs. Network is one of them. It has withstood the test of time to be sure. Did I just write 'to be sure'? I'm watching too much Jeopardy.

I think I got very riled when they decided to remake "The In-Laws". Falk and Arkin are just hilarious in that. They soiled it by remaking it.