Louis Armstrong vs. Super Mario

Ghost Town (2008)

One part Extras. One part Ghost. Four parts Heart and Souls.

SPOILERS BELOW
Angry at the World Dentist gets his butt operated on.
Angry at the World Dentist temporarily dies.
Now Angry at the World Dentist can see ghosts.
The ghosts want Angry at the World Dentist's help.
He's angry at the ghosts for this.
One ghost is persuasive.
Angry at the World Dentist falls for Ghost's Widow.
Angry at the World Dentist becomes less angry.
Ghost's widow gets angry at Not So Angry at the World Dentist.
Now So Angry at the World Dentist helps ghosts after all.
Now that he's helped them, they can go to heaven.
Not So Angry at the World Dentist and Ghost's Widow make up.
SPOILERS ABOVE

WARNING: Fans of Robert Downey Jr., Elizabeth Shue, Alfre Woodard, Charles Grodin, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Sizemore, and David "The Man" Paymer might experience deja vu while watching Ghost Town.

All of that aside, the film's worth watching. It might rip off one of my favorite childhood movies from famed director Ron Underwood, best known for his blockbuster megahits Tremors, City Slickers, Mighty Joe Young, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash, but the film still comes off as an endearing romcom that deals with the idea of ghosts much more effectively than some other I'm in Love with a Ghost movies. *cough*JustLikeHeaven*cough*

First, there are no scenes of Ricky Gervais talking to the invisible ghosts with people looking at him strange. Every scene where he's talking to a ghost, we can see the ghost. You have no idea how great that is until you watch the film and realize that the filmmakers refused to go for the easy joke. After realizing that, your respect for the film quadruples. That means times four!

Second, there are some really talented comedians on the cast. Ricky Gervais, you know, the guy who made The Office, gets a lot of scenes to just be funny. Then he get paired with one of my favorite funny ladies and SNL mainstay, Kristen Wiig. Between her spray tan and her constant mumbling, Wiig cracked up the audience even with her limited screentime. After seeing Daily Show regular Aasif Mandvi show up as a fellow dentite, it was a little disappointing to watch him play the straight man to Gervais' comedy. Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, and the rest of the actors in non-comedic roles perform solidly with what they're given.

The entire film sets itself up for a corny third act. All the signs are there and they're all point the film in the wrong direction. The manipulative strings begins to play and the sappiness is poured on pretty generously. This might be enough for some people to dismiss the movie which would be a shame because there are a lot of truely funny scenes and enough touching scenes to keep the movie afloat.

Alphabet Movie Meme

The Alphabet Movie Meme
Started by Fletch at Blog Cabins
Choose your favorite movie
beginning with A, B, C, etc.
Tag five of your friends.

I tag: The Film Fiend,
Marty at Johnny LaRue's Crane Shot,
Jason at The Cooler,
Ms☆Go at D.C. Girl @ The Movies,
Nayana at The Center Seat

Assault on Precinct 13

Born in East L.A.
El Crimen Del Padre Amaro
Dangerous Minds
Escape to Witch Mountain
Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme
The Gauntlet
High Fidelity
Imitation of Life
Jurassic Park
The Karate Kid Part II
Lean on Me
Marathon Man
Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad
The Orphanage
People Under the Stairs
The Quest
Rad
Scratch
The Truman Show
Unfaithful
Volver
The Warriors
X-Men 2
You've Got Mail
Zoolander

OH HELL YES!

It's an Easy Choice

Equal rights for everyone.

Armand and Albert Goldman love each other.
They want to get married.
"Non-marital relationship contracts" are bullshit.
It's an easy choice.
Please, vote NO on Prop. 8.

Three Scenes I Love: The Naked Gun Series

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

The first two scenes were pretty self-explanatory but the third deserves a little history lesson. While the 33 1/3 scene is parodying Brian De Palma's The Untouchables, some of you might know that De Palma's scene was an homage to an older film. Every film student (except for my friend Laura) has seen Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkim (1925).

When a sailor is killed by his superiors, the citizens of Odessa revolt. A mob starts running around doin' mob stuff which includes shooting people in the eye and knocking a baby down a staircase. The scene has been referenced in The Untouchables, Batman Returns, and The Hidden Fortress. Here's a link to the original scene, watch it so that you can know what to look for. Battleship Potemkin - Odessa Steps Sequence

That's Enough, Mr. Bond

I don't understand all the love for James Bond movies. Apart from a few in the middle, I've seen most of the Bond franchise. Each of the movies have their scenes. The New Orleans funeral ceremony that opens Live and Let Die is worth buying the DVD. Some of the movies have their memorable characters. Oddjob's my personal favorite. From Connery to Craig, the lead role has successfully been passed numerous times over the past fourty-six years. There's gadgets, beautiful women, action scenes, cool cars, espionage, and tons of other stuff that's supposedly been tailor-made for people like me.

A middle-class white male, age 17-25, is supposed to love these movies.

But I don't. The Goldeneye 007 game did steal many, many hours from my high school years. Goldfinger was a fun movie when I was twelve. Every time a new Bond theme gets released, I listen to it. But honestly, most of them are as boring as the movies they're made for.

I understand the love for the idea of Bond. He's a spy that travels all around the world saving humanity from the super evil bad guys with increasingly outlandish plots from world domination. He meets women named Dr. Holly Goodhead and Pussy Galore (I wish I was making those up) and wears jet packs and Rolex watches equipped with lasers. It makes sense that a lot of people would want to watch this guy's movies. It makes sense that a lot of people would want to star in this guy's movies.

I understand the love of the idea of Bond but it's the execution that refuses to entertain me.

James Bond is about as captivating as Superman, in my opinion. An unbeatable hero, completely able to handle every situation thrown at him, with weaknesses coming in at slim-to-none. What makes a hero interesting are his weaknesses and how he deals with those shortcomings. Luke has daddy issues. Indy was afraid of snakes. Hell, even Jesus had food allergies. What? You think he just ate bread and fish for fun?

Movie after movie, decade after decade, audiences have packed theatre screenings to watch how Mr. Bond beat the odds. I guess the excitement can be found in the how. Happy endings are nothing new but is it too much to ask for an inkling of doubt? Strapping our hero to a table with a slow-moving laser creeping up his thigh hardly calls for face covering and nail-biting. That being said,

Casino Royale made a lot of needed changes to the Bond series.

A darker, more serious installment, Royale attempted to update the James Bond image. The film's opening action scene followed our hero scaling walls, climbing high structures, and jumping around like it was District B13 day on the set. The violence is more graphic, the action definitely holds its own against the other Ian Flemming adaptations, and the card table scenes are...just as boring as ever.

Who decided that these action films need live coverage of the World Championship of Poker tournaments? Remember Goldfinger? Oh, remember that one hand-shocking video game Bond had to play? Every inkling of pace and flow are pushed aside for these scenes. Why? Maybe it's just a weak attempt to keep Bond classy.

Other action series such as the Bourne films grab a hold on my interest and the next thing I know, the end credits are rolling. Like I said, the idea of a Super Spy taking out two thousand henchmen with a bunch of awesome gadgets sounds great to me. But between the invincibility of the Bond character and the repeated slowing down of the narratives, I'm continually left with a bad taste in my mouth. After twenty-plus movies, this stuff gets a little old.

Am I the only one who doesn't really understand why the Bond movies get so much love?
Am I completely wrong for not loving them myself?
Let me know what you think.