The Best Job In America?

I just read Roeper's latest column (see link to the right) and realized that he beat me to the hazing story. Which reminds me about a blog entry that I've had percolating for a while. Richard Roeper has one of the greatest jobs you could possibly imagine. All he has to do is write a relatively short column four days a week. That column is a pop culture/general musings column, kinda like a blog. His homework for this job involves paying attention to the news and listening to Howard Stern each morning. The actual columns will never win Roeper a Pulitzer, but they are often very entertaining and perceptive. Undoubtedly Roeper makes a tidy sum writing the column, despite the fact that it obviously takes little effort. He is worth it though, as there are not many writers capable of writing that column as effectively as Roeper.

Which brings me to something I alluded to in the previous paragraph. Roeper cribs about 25% of the ideas for his columns from Howard Stern. Time after time I have read a Roeper column that dealt with the same subject that was featured on Stern the day before. Coincidence? Well, Roeper is a regular on the show, has defended Stern in his column, has frequently directly referenced the show, and he was recently a judge for Stern's film festival. In today's column he refers to hatemonger Shirley Phelps-Roeper, who has been on Stern's show multiple times, though I didn't recall that her last name was Roeper. Ok, maybe the word "cribs" is too strong, but there is no doubt that he owes a debt of gratitude to Stern's show for originating some, make that many, interesting topics.

Despite a shaky start, Roeper has developed into quite the film reviewer. This seems to be where his real talent lies, as he always has a comeback for Ebert's sometimes inexplicable views. A film reviewer is a great job, but there are not many great reviewers. Roeper is one, though it remains to be seen how good his print reviews would be.

Hazing Ain't What It Used To Be

From hearing the stories about the Northwestern women's soccer team hazing I was expecting something shocking when I scanned the pictures of that night. What a letdown. Talk about overblown. This kind of thing gives hazing a good name.

Da Bomb

It sounded very suspicious when I heard that there have been no screenings of The Da Vinci Code prior to Wednesday's premier at the Cannes Film Festival. As if that was not enough of an indicator, pre-release screenings of the film are extremely limited, with presumably only the reviewers in the biggest cities having access to the film. So, unless your local reviewer is at Canne or works in New York, L.A., or Chicago, you can count on there being no advance reviews. What all this means is that The Da Vinci Code stinks, and Columbia is trying to hide that fact long enough for a big opening weekend to result. The problem is that the film skews older. It's the teenagers that usually pile into the theaters on opening weekend. So word might get around well before Code passes 100 million. With a huge budget and a lot of hype (you have to wonder how much they had to pay for the book rights), the movie will be a big disappointment if it doesn't come close to 200 million.

But with Ron Howard as the director, is this a surprise? He has made some bad, bad movies, and a convincing argument can be made that A Beautiful Mind is the worst film to win Best Picture in the last 30 years. Being attached to screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (Batman and Robin, Lost in Space) only lessens Howard's chances of coming up with a good movie from one of the biggest selling novels of all time.

Survivor Jumps The Shark

We already know that Survivor manipulates the outcome, but tonight was ridiculous. It featured the worst last challenge in the history of survivor (or at least of the ones I have seen). Basically, if a thin woman was in the challenge, she would win it. No ifs, ands, or buts. The challenge was extremely prejudiced against body weight, with the inevitable outcome that the heaviest would be out first. Terry was lucky to maintain his balance for five seconds. The total challenge lasted 30 minutes, when it typically turns into a marathon event as exhaustion sets in. Even worst, they decided to have a reward challenge before that, with the winner getting a good meal--allegedly to help with the final challenge. Terry (or any other male over 150 pounds) could have eaten like a king for the previous thirty days and it would have made absolutely no difference. Because Terry dominated too much during the challenges, the producers decided to throw a wrench in the works, and Terry lost without the chance to compete. One less show for me to watch this fall.

Day 4

It was necessary to stand in line for 1 and a half to 2 hours each day before the doors opened in order to obtain good seats with plenty of leg room. It sounds worse than it was, as good weather prevailed each day except for day 4, and it was nice to be outside. Of course, they were late opening the doors on day 4, which figures since it meant more time standing in cold, rainy conditions.

Director Danny Boyle is building a very impressive oeuvre, with the kind of flexibility that could eventually rank him with the likes of Howard Hawks. Millions is the second film of what might develop into Boyle's "money" trilogy. Shallow Grave was a lesson in how money corrupts. Millions looks at how money should be valued and debates social responsibity. And it does so in a fun way that kids would like. I do wonder about the selection of Millions as the free for kids matinee. The intensity level is raised quite a bit in the second half of the movie, and it might be too much for kids under 10, though the movie is rated PG.

The first reel of the film was not sent, so the DVD was projected for the first ten minutes or so. The DVD did not look half bad at a 250+ inch size, though the letterboxing was a bit disconcerting. I am sensing a pattern since this is the second time that a Fox film has not been sent to the festival in proper form.

Claire Dolan set a record for the number of sex scenes for an Eberfest entry. There was something incredibly unglamorous about those scenes, as the chores of prostitution became a trial in Lodge Kerrigan's somber film. For some people they were a trial to watch, considering the lukewarm applause at the end of the film. That, combined with the light applause for Kerrigan, really made me wonder about the festival audience. I can respect a filmmaker's work without necessarily liking it. Others evidently cannot. This was all the more noticeable when compared to the warm reception for the creator of Somebodies. Kerrigan's discussion with Ebert made it obvious that he is a director to be reckoned with, and I look forward to viewing Kerrigan's Keane and any future endeavors.

Junebug was almost saved by the performance of Amy Adams. It did not quite click for me, and I was bothered by the Huck Finn scene in the kitchen. The movie was interesting nonetheless. It is too bad that Amy Adams was unable to show, though I do not know how much she would have added to the conversation.

Director Terry Zwigoff put one over on Ebert. I think that Ebert thought that Zwigoff was bringing a cut of Bad Santa quite different from the theatrical or DVD version. Instead the differences were quite subtle. The major difference is apparently the ending, though the "happy" ending remains. The "new" ending was a few seconds showing the kid cleaning the blood spot on the sidewalk (left by Bad Santa when he fell after being shot) with a toilet brush.

In fact, I think that the version we saw is shorter than the DVD version. Weird, though the movie seemed better this time than when I watched the unrated version last Christmas Eve. The pacing certainly seemed better. Zwigoff hinted that this version would be released on DVD later this year.

There were two movies at the festival this year that were digitally projected: the horrible Somebodies, which looked like crap (it fit well with the movie), and Bad Santa, which looked incredible. I now have no doubt that every theater will eventually adopt digital projection, though cheapness on the part of the theater owners will make this slow to happen.

Blog This

This is the third year that the film festival has had an "official blogger." I do have to say, that Nate Kohn (or whoever makes the decision) has done a godawful job of selecting the blogger. How about selecting someone who can write and convey information? This year's blogger also has horrible taste in movies. She had bad words for Spartan but she loved Kohn's Somebodies? It suddenly occurs to me that the people who would like Somebodies are those who do not watch any television---where that type of comedy has been done to death.

Back to the blogger...as of this moment she has written almost nothing about the last three days of the festival...and a lot of what she has written about the festival could have been written before the festival even started. What a waste.