Are there any wannabe amateur film critics out there who think their writing could one day be the equivalent of such opinionated and popular film critics as Vincent Canby, Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, Gene Siskel and Bruce Williamson?
It's a question I have been asking myself now more than ever, given the recent firing in March of top film critic Todd McCarthy by the editors of Varietymagazine. McCarthy had been with the publication since 1979 and was among several employees the publication laid off as a cost-cutting measure, according to a March 8 article on www.thewrap.com.
"We are not changing our review policy," said Variety's Group Editor Tim Gray. "Last year we ran more than 1,200 film reviews. No other news outlet comes even close, and we will continue to be the leader in numbers and quality. It doesn't make economic sense to have full-time reviewers but Todd, Derek (Elley), and David (Rooney} have been asked to continue as freelancers."
The larger blow to fans of film criticism, however, came late March with news that after 24 seasons, "At the Movies"(1986-2010), the popular show that started with Chicago film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, was canceled. Its roots date back to 1975 when the show was called "Sneak Previews" on PBS. The program's final broadcast with current critics, A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, will air Aug. 14.
I know there are a lot of movie-goers out there who apparently can't make up their mind and don't feel like wasting two hours of their time sitting through a movie they may not like. They need guidance when it comes to movies, or anything else for that matter. So, they rely on the likes of Ebert, Rolling Stone's Peter Travers and reviewers in their local city paper, or they ask some underpaid, overworked customer service representative in a blue shirt at their neighborhood Blockbuster Video if a certain new release on the shelves is worth their money.
Back when I lived in Chicago in the '70s and early '80s, I made it a weekly Friday and Sunday ritual to go through the entertainment sections of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times to see what Siskel and Ebert said about the week's latest releases. It wasn't that I was hoping they would like a movie that I liked.
God knows they've endorsed movies I loathed, like "Howard's End" (1992), "The English Patient"(1996), and "The Last Temptation of Christ"(1988), all of which I should keep on my shelf as a means to cure insomnia.
I looked to their reviews, whether they were positive or negative. It's the only reason why today, I still sometimes download their review segments on www.youtube.com and www.atthemoviestv.com. I want to hear them argue passionately why one disagrees on a title the other likes, such as "Benji the Hunted" (1987), "Full Metal Jacket" (1987), and "The Doors"(1991).
Back then, my reason for referring to such reviews that Pauline Kael wrote or Bruce Williamson of Playboy wrote is because I was interested in what they had to say. [Yes perverts -- there was more than one reason to read Playboy, and it wasn't just for the X-rated pictorials].
Today, that's not the case. Movie reviews today read like press releases. Every time I read someone's review that says, "for a good date movie," or "for a good action-adventure movie," I cringe, because the writer has no idea what I like. I don't want to know if they claim I am going to like it. I want to know what they thought about it.
There is a wealth of information on the Internet and in magazines now that I can go to for information and reviews on the latest movies from Film Comment and Empire magazine to Entertainment Weekly and even Variety, which says despite McCarthy's departure, the publication is still going to run reviews from other writers. They just won't be by the ones readers have come to know over the past three decades.
Despite "At the Movies" cancellation, Ebert has said on his blog that he is working on a new film review program to feature two new critics. The thumbs will return he has said. The question is, who he gets? I doubt they will have the same cultural impact as he and Siskel, who passed away in 1999, or Siskel's replacement, Richard Roeper, did.
Whoever is in the balcony, I don't think we will see their likenesses parodied in Mad magazine, in a Batman comic book, in an animated cartoon called "The Critic"(1994-1995) or in movies like "Summer School" (1987) and "Godzilla" (1998). Nor do I see them making appearances with Jay Leno and David Letterman.
There will always be film critics, probably more, now that anyone can do a blog, just not the notably famous writers I enjoyed reading on a regular basis. For me personally, the balcony closed a long time ago.
Cast & Credits: Aaron Johnson (Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Chris D’Amico/Red Mist), Mark Strong (Frank D’Amico), Chloe Grace Moretz (Mindy Macready/Hit Girl), Nicolas Cage (Damon Macready/Big Daddy), Omari Hardwick (Sergeant Marcus Williams), Xander Berkeley (Detective Gigante). Screenplay by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman based on source material from the comic book: Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John S. Romita. Directed by Matthew Vaughn.
There is a scene from "The Losers", out in theaters April 23, I caught a few days ago where a guy gets blown off his motorcycle and flies right into a moving turbine jet engine, which in turn explodes. I laughed watching that clip as I know such a stunt probably wouldn’t happen in real life. At least I don’t think it’s been covered on Spike TV’s "1000 Ways to Die" yet. I could be wrong.
"The Losers", however, doesn’t feature nerdy high school kids dressed in superhero garb that includes an 11-year-old girl delivering deadly vigilante style justice to the bad guys the way the characters do in "Kick-Ass." I expect this kind of behavior to come from adult characters in violent R rated movies like "The Losers", or anything Quentin Tarantino has churned out over the years. When I see an 11-year-old girl dressed in a purple leather outfit with a mask named Hit Girl (Chloe Grace Moritz) use some double-edged sword to single handedly wipe out a few henchmen and leave them for dead, I don’t see anything funny about it. I find it kind of disturbing.
As is the scene between Hit Girl and her father, code named “Big Daddy” (Nicolas Cage) who when asked what she wants for her birthday, it’s not a dog but a bench made model 42 butterfly knife. I have no idea what that is. I am sure she uses it to slaughter the bad guys in one scene. Come to think of it, I have no idea what half the arsenal of automatic weapons are called that Big Daddy has adorning the walls of his little studio, which also doubles as his office drawing comic pictorials of New York City’s mob boss Frank D’Amico (Mark Strong) and his hit men. It turns out Big Daddy was a former decorated police officer who was framed by D’Amico and sent to prison. With the help of his daughter, he has plans for revenge.
All this is mixed in with the main story surrounding high school student Dave Livewski (Aaron Johnson), an avid comic book reader with few friends who is inspired to become a green suited superhero named Kick-Ass. While attempting to retrieve someone’s lost cat, Kick-Ass stumbles upon a group of thugs beating up on another guy one night and does to the group exactly what his name suggests, so much so, he becomes an overnight sensation on youtube.com where the number of hits reaches over 1 million.
It’s the result of Kick-Ass’ sudden popularity that Hit Girl and Big Daddy are born. So too is another superhero/anti-hero named Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who in real life is the son of mobster Frank D’Amico named Chris. Frank assumes it is Kick-Ass who’s been knocking off his henchmen and wants him dead. Chris hatches a plan to create a new superhero as a means to find Kick-Ass and perhaps even nab Big Daddy and Hit Girl at the same time.
Kick-Ass boasts less than a handful of humorous scenes with mock references to Batman and Superman as Dave’s friends, who have no idea he is actually Kick-Ass, asking each other if Kick-Ass and Red Mist were in a fight, who would win? It’s like listening to die-hard Star Wars geeks ask each other if Darth Vader went up against Darth Maul, who would be victorious, or to be more precise, Batman versus Superman.
If only the film offered more of these kinds of clever mock tributes to movies and superheroes past. In the tradition of Superman’s Lois Lane asking herself how every time the Man of Steel appears, Clark Kent is never around, there is a scene where Dave’s friends ponder the same thing as video of Kick-Ass and Big Daddy being captured by the gangsters is played out on network television and on the internet and ask themselves how strange it is that Dave is not around.
The trouble with "Kick-Ass" is fantasy and reality don’t mix. For every memorable sequence that comes up like that, the mood is quickly ruined, for example, by a shot of Dave’s superhero getting knifed by a bully. What starts out as fun with the sound of triumphant pulse pounding music as a means to get viewers excited, ends with Dave almost dying in the hospital after being hit by a car. It’s like getting punched in the stomach. The film is no longer fun.
I know some people reading this, in particular fans of violent comic books, will say I need to lighten up and that I am the reason why no one listens to movie critics anymore. I have no doubt they probably already compare film critics to Congress in that they are about as out of touch with what moviegoers like as the government is working for the American people.
I don’t mind mindless cartoonish R rated violence. As I said in the opening paragraph, I laughed watching that clip from "The Losers." I liked Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies with Uma Thurman from 2003 and 2004. Tarantino made those movies as a homage to the ultra-violent and bloody martial arts films. The Star Wars movies represent cartoonish violence, even Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), which got a PG-13 because of what graphically happens to Anakin Skywalker near the end.
There is something wrong though when we see high school kids, and in particular, an 11-year-old girl acting out the same kind of blood thirsty violence that adult characters do, like as though seeing someone crushed to death inside a trash compactor will have no effect on someone that young.
I suppose I should be thankful that characters like Kick-Ass and Hit Girl killed off only the ones who had it coming to them. Their desire to become superheroes came from the comic books, if not from Big Daddy. At least they weren’t playing Doom and watching "Natural Born Killers" (1994) like the two young killers did as inspiration to murder fellow classmates at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado back in 1999 for no good reason.
That is a lyric from a song by the Rolling Stones. It's also what I felt like telling members of the gay community heckling President Obama recently at a fundraiser for U. S. Sen., Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), in Los Angeles.
The April 19 protests at the Natural History Museum reportedly came from members of GetEQUAL, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group.
"Repeal 'Don't ask, don't tell," shouted one member.
"It's time for equality for all Americans," said another.
"We're going to do that," Obama responded.
I may not be for a lot of what Obama has done to the country during his time in office but believe it or not, there are a couple things I am actually for in terms of helping the gay community.
The most recent decision the president passed that I am for regards same-sex couples. All hospitals must now allow patients to say who has visitation rights and who can make medical decisions, which includes gay and lesbian partners.
"Every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their side -- whether in a sudden medical emergency or a prolonged hospital stay. Often, a widow or widower with no children is denied the support and comfort of a good friend," the president said in a statement. "Also uniquely affected are gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives - unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated."
When it comes to alternative lifestyles, I am not for it, but that doesn't mean same-sex couples should be penalized and not given the same rights during hospital visits that immediate family members receive.
On that same note, I am also for the president pushing to repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy the military has held since the 1990s.
It's a decision Defense Secretary Robert Gates supports, as does Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was quoted saying in a Feb. 2 article from FOXNews.com that changing the policy is "the right thing to do."
"I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy that forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens," Mullen said. "For me, personally, it comes down to integrity -- theirs as individuals and ours as an institution."
People should not be penalized based upon their alternative lifestyle -- banned from defending their country. There is something wrong when a person joins the Air Force with aspirations of one day flying a fighter plane and then gets kicked out of the military all because protocol was violated. What do their personal lives have to do with them wanting to serve their country?
There is nothing I can't stand more than to hear some right-wing, pro-Christian, Bible-quoting advocate tell me the reason they don't want gays in the military is because they are afraid of what might happen if a gay and a straight person are in a foxhole together. They are afraid the straight person will get jumped on late at night from behind. Sad to say, I actually know people who think this. That idea is about as ridiculous as someone saying God created AIDS to punish the gay community for their immorality.
Just because people are against someone else's lifestyle doesn't give one the right to pass judgment on them and say, "The life you lead is not how God wants you to live, so you are damned to Hell." How does anyone know that upon death, depending on one's religious beliefs, that one will go to Hell because he/she lived an "alternative" lifestyle frowned upon by society?
I know that getting "Don't ask, don't tell" repealed faces as much of an uphill battle as nationalized health care did but it is a step in the right direction.
I suspect even if Congress does get it repealed, the gay community still won't be happy. They will still argue that the president is not doing enough for gay rights, which goes back to the title of that Rolling Stones song.
"Let me say this -- when you've got an ally like Barbara Boxer and you've got an ally like me who are standing for the same thing, then you don't know exactly why you've got to holler because we already hear you," Obama said. "I mean, it would have made more sense to holler that at the people who oppose it."
I am not a member of the gay community, however, if I were, I wouldn't be out heckling the president at a rally. I'd just be happy that there is someone in Washington who is trying to get things passed for those who lead alternative lifestyles and hope that he/she will live up to the promises they made during their campaign.
"So, this is how liberty dies…with thunderous applause."
Such were the words spoken in "Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" (2005) when galactic senators applauded Emperor Palpatine's order to create the Imperial Empire, in what was clearly seen in that "galaxy far, far away" as a socialist dictatorship.
I thought about that after watching Democratic Senators on the House floor cheer March 21 when national health care passed in a 219-212 vote, with no regard for what American thought.
A good number of films and one current science-fiction television show came to mind as I thought about how this 2,000-plus page, $90 billion monstrosity called health care legislation was passed.
It was us, conservative Americans, better known as "The Rebellion," from that "galaxy far, far away," who lost March 21. The Democratic Party was impenetrable against the Tea Party movement. We might as well have been on that ice planet, Hoth, in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) going up against those metallic four-legged Imperial Walkers.
When it comes to how bad things are getting in this country, I am reminded of the comments Peter Finch's unstable newscaster Howard Beale uttered in "Network" (1976) shortly before he told viewers to yell, "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
"It's a depression," Beale says. "Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be."
I find it sad that in the 34 years since that film came out, the same still applies today in this country. Is this what referred to in the movies as "timeless?"
When Captain Kirk in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (1991) refuses to trust his sworn enemies, the Klingons, and says, "I have never trusted Klingons and I never will. I can never forgive them for the death of my boy," I came up with my own line applying my utter contempt for the Democratic Party.
"I have never trusted Democrats and I never will. I can never forgive them for passing health care legislation without so much as a thought to what the American people want."
I have made it no secret how much I have been against President Obama's administration and his radical socialist agenda. I, for one, stand proud I did not drink from the Obama Kool-Aid that Hollywood and the liberal drive-by media have been feeding the gullible public over the past year and a half.
I was as skeptical of this young African American Democratic presidential candidate from Chicago from the get-go as FBI Agent Erica Evans, the character Elizabeth Mitchell plays on ABC's V (2009-2011) who doesn't trust Anna, the attractive high-heeled slender leader of The Visitors who've come from another "galaxy far, far away" to provide the people of Earth universal health care.
Many Americans are either skeptical on whether this health care package will benefit the country as a whole or want the entire bill scrapped. Many are furious at how Democrats are trying to change, ignore and rewrite the constitution.
When are these free-loading liberals, all of whom stupidly think they are entitled to get something for nothing and that the government's No. 1 job is to take care of their lazy, sorry asses, going to get it through their thick skulls the reason we don't want this billion-dollar joke is not because we don't feel the nation's health care system needs to be overhauled. Everyone agrees that something has to be done. It's because we don't want the government mandating that we all have to have health insurance, whether we want it or not.
You liberals might get off paying high taxes, and thrive on being told what to do, how to think, what to say, what to watch, what to eat, what to read, what to buy, who to vote for as though you were still living under your parents' roof following their rules, but I sure don't.
It's no secret a lot of Democrats are scared they could be voted out of office this November as a result of the health care legislation passing and they very well should be.
When it comes to how conservative Americans feel about how this health care bill was passed, to quote the promotional line from "V," "It's US versus THEM." Or to quote a character from the recent box office hit, "Clash of the Titans" (2010), "One day, somebody's got to make a stand. One day, somebody's got to say: Enough.”
Obama's radical socialist Empire might have struck back March 21 against the American people. Come November 2010, if conservatives, libertarians and maybe even Democrats who voted for him and are now refusing to drink the liberal Kool-Aid have their say, the election results for Republicans might not be so much a case of "Return" as it is "Revenge of the Jedi."
If you go to CNN, people.com, or any entertainment news outlet on the Internet reporting about Best Actress Oscar winner Sandra Bullock's marital troubles, there's a good chance you will see more than a dozen posted comments. Some span over 20 pages.
A lot of the comments written, not surprisingly, offer support for Bullock. As for her bad boy, motorcycle riding, cheating husband Jesse James, who had an 11-month affair with Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, a San Diego tattoo and fetish model, fans offered everything negative, short of suggesting he be castrated.
I can't say James doesn't deserve the backlash.
"There is only one person to blame for this whole situation, and that is me," James said in a statement to the press. "It's because of my poor judgment that I deserve everything bad that is coming my way."
I have gotten to the point I no longer care, much less be shocked, when the tabloids report the latest gossip that another Hollywood star's marriage is in trouble, whether it's the result of infidelity or a severe case of irreconcilable differences.
Putting marriage and Hollywood together is like combining gasoline with alcohol and consuming it. It adds up to a deadly, if not combustible combination. Marriage in Hollywood has always been taboo. Despite the blockbuster movies and television shows "a star" churns out, you are a nobody in Hollywood unless you've been married and divorced at least once. I'm convinced of that.
People have gotten so transfixed by the Hollywood elite that they can probably name a dozen actors, actresses and directors who've filed for the ever popular "d" word. Yet if you asked them what celebrities have managed to stay together "til death do us part," I'd be surprised if they can name even one. I can name maybe 10; but a few of those people are dead, so I am not sure they count.
Hence the reason I was not the least bit surprised after hearing actress Kate Winslet and director Sam Mendes were separating after seven years of marriage. The entertainment media didn't seem too phased by it either.
Then came the news that Sandra Bullock's fairy tale marriage was in trouble and suddenly, everyone's rallying behind the cheated starlet. It's almost as if people were debating the nation's health care issue posting comments online. The entertainment media started asking if a curse comes with winning the best actress Oscar, citing examples of other best actress academy award winners as Halle Berry, Helen Hunt, Julia Roberts, Hillary Swank and Charlize Theron, all stars who divorced their significant other years later.
So why all of a sudden do fans care? Is it because women who've been cheated on by their husbands can identify the pain of betrayal Bullock is feeling? Do some men identify with James in that they have a hard time staying faithful and often think with what's between their legs rather than with their brain?
Perhaps it has to do with the huge lack of bad press, if any, Bullock has received from the tabloids over the years. The worst press she has ever gotten was what the critics have said about some of her movies. Even then, the best actress winner of "The Blind Side" has showed us she knows how to be a good sport. Bullock graciously accepted her Worst Actress and Worst Screen Couple wins at this year's Razzies for her performance in 2009's "All About Steve."
"She's never done a sex tape, there's nothing scandalous, and she plays these sweet roles in movies -- there's nothing negative to say about her," said Cooper Lawrence, a relationship expert and author of "The Cult of Celebrity" who was quoted in a 3/19/10 CNN article by Breeanna Hare.
Then there is how Bullock paid tribute to her husband upon winning the Oscar March 7. Even I thought it was touching. It's seeing that kind of emotional joy play out on network television one moment only to learn days later the relationship is on the skids that gets people talking.
The fact is what goes on behind closed doors is no one's business. I believed that after hearing about former senator John Edwards' affair. I believe that now in the case of Tiger Woods. The same goes for Bullock.
There are far more important things for people to concern their lives with than being consumed by the latest Hollywood tabloid scandal.
Sandra Bullock is not the first, nor will she be the last, celebrity icon to have her name dragged through the mud when word gets out her marriage is on the rocks.
There is nothing surprising about this latest scandal. What is surprising is no one expected to see it happen to Sandra Bullock.
