finnegan’s film blog

I know this movie’s been out for a while, but it didn’t strike me as a “go to the theater and see it now” kind of flick.

It’s crass, rude, immature, juvenile, and not suitable for children, but I liked it. It wasn’t as good as 40 Year Old Virgin, or even Knocked Up, but it rang true for me. Show me the American male who turns up his nose at this film, and I’ll show you a hypocrite who has lost touch with this youth, or a guy who didn’t have very much fun in high school. Watching Superbad, I recall the old days, and thank the Lord that I’m not that age anymore.

Covered in gooey layers of Bruckheimer cheese, this stink bomb is enough to make a Mason blush with embarrassment.

Perfect fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000: So remarkably terrible that it’s actually worth watching.

In a word; brilliant.

In a few more words; Once is a diamond in the rough.

It’s equal parts movie and music, effectively blurring the lines between the two. I didn’t know whether I was watching a romantic fiction, a documentary, or a music video. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much. I don’t remember feeling this way about a film since Almost Famous. It’s refreshingly unpolished, uplifting, sentimental, and bittersweet (though ultimately more sweet than bitter).

It’s a perfect slice of life. Watch it. Listen to it. Experience it.

Last week, I watched Syriana for the fourth or fifth time. I first saw it in the theater in December, 2005. Here’s what I wrote about it then:

It’s not quite as good as Traffic (which is easily in my top 20) but I feel that it’s one of those rare films that doesn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence. There are no bathroom break scenes in Syriana. You actually have to pay attention to every minute of the story. Comparisons to Traffic — Stephen Gaghan’s other epic, directed by Stephen Soderbergh — are unavoidable: characters trying to make a difference in a power struggle that is infinitely bigger than they are, family tragedies, class struggles, etc. But I would argue that the power struggle over oil is more important and relevant than the “war on drugs.” It affects more people, and has a greater sense of urgency.

One complaint nay-saying critics have made about Syriana is that the scope is too large, and there are too many characters. But the subject is large. I don’t know how else one would tell this story. He couldn’t have made this film with just one main character. Although, I suppose one could argue that the oil industry is the main character in this movie, in which case the movie is about one character. There are just so many aspects to cover, and I feel that director Stephen Gaghan did a wonderful job tying everything together without making it too chiche. The feeling I got while watching Syriana was one of hopelessness. The moral of the story seems to be: When people interfere with the money machine, they are eliminated.

My opinion of the film hasn’t changed much since the first time I saw it. Between then and now, I’ve read Craig Unger’s book, House of Bush, House of Saud, and it makes a lot more sense today than it did in 2005.

I highly recommend Syriana to anyone interested in learning more about U.S. - Middle East relations. But I would advise anyone watching the film to approach it they way you would a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. It’s not an feel-good popcorn movie.

Interesting side note: the real-life Bob Baer, the former CIA operative who inspired George’s Clooney’s character, has been featured in a number of documentary films in recent years.

Last night I watched Venus, starring Peter O’Toole.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was that O’Toole was nominated for an Oscar for his performance.

O’Toole was great — it’s the sort of role that makes you believe that the man is truly going to keel over dead at any moment. My thoughts were, “Wow. This guy was Lawrence of freaking Arabia. I can’t believe O’Toole is not dead. He’s really old, and it looks like he’s in a lot of pain.”

But the story was bizarre. Not wonderfully bizarre like a Terry Gilliam film, but bizarre in the sense that the relationship between the O’Toole’s character and the young woman was unrealistic. It simply didn’t work — not even as an unhealthy relationship, which is what I assume it was supposed to be. I never connected or sympathized or cared about any of the characters on screen, so ultimately, I ended up not liking the film very much.

I give this film a “Meh.”

Hello.

This is finnegan (of hburgnews.com fame). I’m helping Mason alpha test harrisonburgblogs.com

I’ll do my best to update this blog with a very pithy review or reaction any time I see a movie (either on DVD or in the theater).

Enjoy.

Netflix just announced that they now offer unlimited “Watch Instantly” hours to customers online. If you’re a Netflix customer — with the exception of the $4.99 2 per month plan — you can watch as many movies as you want online. Of course, not all their selections are available online. But most of the popular and semi-popular titles are.

This is expected to give Apple and their iTunes movies a run for their money… And now you know why the writers are on strike.

The Golden Globes will still be handed out this year, but there’s a strike on, and this year’s televised show won’t be much of an awards show. At least, not in the traditional sense.

As a filmmaker, a television producer, and a screenwriter — I’m not a Writer’s Guild member yet — I’ve been following the WGA strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) with great interest. I’ve had friends ask me when their favorite shows will return. All I can do is shrug, and tell them to take up another hobby, like reading, because I don’t see the WGA strike ending anytime soon.

So, what’s it all about, and why now?

It’s about money, of course. Money from DVDs and the Internet. When the WGA last signed their three year agreement with the AMPTP, there weren’t nearly as many TV shows on DVD. Today, all of my friends watch shows online, and own at least one TV show season on DVD. With the advent of the iTunes/YouTube revolution, network and cable channels scrambled to keep up, selling ads on their websites, alongside embedded video of their programs. These advances in technology and new sources of revenue led the WGA to believe that they are no longer (or never had been) getting their fair slice of the pie. And by “slice,” I mean four cents per DVD sold.

What’s fair? The WGA says eight cents per DVD would be a good start. But DVD sales account for almost three times what Hollywood studios make at the box office, and they’re not about to let go of those four extra pennies. Also, the AMPTP balked at giving the writers 2.5 percent of the distributor’s gross profit for online media.

Unfortunately for everyone involved — including the viewing audience — the renegotiation process has devolved into a Israel-Palestine situation. And I’m not saying that because there are a lot of Jewish executives in the AMPTP. This is a no-win situation.

NPR’s Kim Masters summed it up best when she said:

“I think at this point, the networks would rather undergo extreme torture than give the Writers Guild any kind of deal,” Masters says. “In all of these things, there is always an element of emotion. I think the networks are really mad at the writers and they don’t want to give the writers a deal. Period.”

Adding to the dark cloud accumulating over Hollywood is the pending Screen Actors Guild strike. Contracts between the AMPTP and SAG, as well as the Directors Guild, expire in July. SAG is expected to demand the same sorts of residuals from DVDs and Internet revenue that the WGA is demanding. In other words, the sky is falling in Hollywood.

Right now it’s affecting television viewers. If no settlement can be reached with SAG and the WGA, it will have a drastic impact not only on next year’s season, but on the big screens as well. Nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards will be slim pickins.