Ocean's Thirteen
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I could easily lose count of these films.

So, is the third time the charm? I'm not one who'll watch the same film for the third time, because I like all the characters. It has to be fun too.

I really liked "Ocean's Thirteen." Then again, I am easy to please. Love me some serious male eye candy: George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon (I don't know what he's doing, but he's acquiring that "hotness factor" as he gets older). Even Casey Affleck was cute. Bernie Mac is a darling, no matter how fat he gets. (Please lose a few pounds, BM. It doesn't look good on you.)

Clooney has such gorgeous eyes: love a man with long eyelashes.

Okay, I'll briefly summarize: everyone (except Julia Roberts and Kathryn Zeta Jones) from all the prior flicks is in this film, facing off against a new enemy. The bad guy is the one and only Al Pacino! While Pacino was rather low key in this film, he was still entertaining (when is he not ever? Gotta do "Scent of a Woman" review someday).

Clooney channels a Clark Gable and Cary Grant vibe. He makes you realize how rare a film like this is. A slick, hip, dare-I-say suave flick for adults that isn't pornographic, mean, vile, vicious, profane, and gratuitously violent. A mouthful, but it needed to be said.

They pull off every caper (earthquake, a half billion dollar loss for the casino and diamond heist) fabulously.

It's a funny, enjoyable film, just don't think too deeply about how they pulled if off.

Labels: Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Brad Pitt, Cary Grant, Casey Affleck, Clark Gable, Don Cheadle, Eliott Gould, George Clooney, Matt Damon

posted by GoldenAh
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The Longest Yard: Adam Sandler as Tough Guy
Sunday, July 22, 2007

Starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds, Tracie Morgan, Goldberg, James Cromwell, Michael Irvin, plus Nelly, and the usual wacky appearance of Rob Schnieder.

A funny film - okay, a mildy funny film. There were the usual gay prison jokes. Actually there were quite a lot of them. Hollywood writers are hard-up for really funny material these days. I wonder if there's a gay quota for their films. It's a top topic for these people.

The plot: washed up football player spends times in a rough prison. He's recruited to train fellow prisoners to play football. Of course, the prisoners are underdogs and they were to be game fodder for the big, bad, steroid enhanced prison guards.

James Cromwell (tall lean guy with very angular face) plays bad guy warden. He gradually turns bad, he starts out acting the "good guy". Michael Irvin, with his beautiful blue eyes, turns from the really bad guy to one with manly honor: he respects the game and the men who play it. Or something like that.

Chris Rock is in this film really big until half way through. When he goes, it's weird, because you don't even miss him.

I couldn't tell if Sandler actually liked him or not. The two of them have no chemistry. Then again Sandler doesn't act, he just does that monotone slow-wit drawl, whether he playing a tough guy, smart ass or idiot.

Burt Reynolds makes an appearance. I like Burt, but every time I see him I think of a burn ward victim.

Overall, it's okay. I have to go back and see the original. My guess is that the first film probably looks like a classic compared to this one.

Labels: Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock, football, Goldberg, James Cromwell, Michael Irvin, Rob Schnieder, The Longest Yard, Tracie Morgan

posted by GoldenAh
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YouTube Nation: The Natural Actor's Audition
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

YouTube is fascinating, be it clips of television shows, people involved in dangerous stupid stunts, folks airing their opinions, re-edited music videos to political ads, etc.

The other interesting thing about it is that I can tell when people are auditioning. I don't mean to put them down, I am certain that their feelings and what they are stating is authentic.

It's just that people who've attended acting school have a method of expressing themselves in a way in which normal people do not.

Some signs of an actor: long pause(s), structured "rants", the ebb and flow of dialogue that seems rather rehearsed, the deliberate 2-3 second stare into space (down and off to the left / right), and monologues that may sound familiar. You've heard it before, because the "actor" is reciting lines from plays / movies.

No crime in that. Authenticity is hard. Yet, the doctored stuff is easy to spot.

Those scenes with phony, hectoring, quarrelsome people pretending to be angry over nothing. How can I tell it's fake? The slight gestures they make to each other: the head nod, the long pause, and extended eye contact. You have the next line... Those little signals actors give one another.

Harmless fun, but some of these amateurs should say they are auditioning.

How to tell the real from the fake? When people look directly into the camera, close your eyes and listen. Don't they sound like they are on the phone talking to you?

A natural flow and chatty tone is real. Very few actors can really emulate that.

Labels: actors, auditioning, internet, YouTube

posted by GoldenAh
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I ♠ Huckabees
Thursday, July 5, 2007

I only watched it because Jude Law was in this film.

Wow, this flick is awful. And it has Lilly Tomlin
and Dustin Hoffman in it. Surprising.

I didn't like it because it smacks of an untalented attempt to bite "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. Loved that film.

It was weird, eh? But so novel and imaginative. Charlie Kaufman is the same writer for the films "Adaptation" and the best one "Being John Malkovich." I love quirky stuff.

So why did "I ♥ Huckabees" suck so bad? The lead actor was an ugly guy. He wasn't quirky. He wasn't cute. He was Tom Cruise with wrongly placed features: fugly. It didn't work!

The bad guy was Jude Law. This guy keeps trying to portray a bad boy, but he looks too innocent to pull it off. Law lacks the sort of menacing gravitas that Clive "He should have been James Bond 007" Owen has.

When is Hollyweird going to offer Clive Owen some kickass, juicy roles? Must all English actors be stuffed into roles as evil terrorists, or fairy tales and flying dragon movies? (Rant is over.)

Anyway, Huckabees is a clothing or an everything-for-sale corporation. The lead actor, the homely male, is a poet who decides to have his own life investigated. I don't know and didn't care why. Seems that the Jude Law character, who works for Huckabees, was taking everything from him.

Who gave the green light for this film? I think Hollyweird needs a modest quota system. They can put out 10% of films that are quirky, family friendly, tasteful, and very well done by minorities (not white women, gay whites or other non-racial groups).

It wouldn't be hard to produce TV shows or movies, where there are other people in this country besides the ugly bores they keep putting out films about.

Did I say this film sucked? I can't say it enough times.

Labels: Charlie Kaufman, Clive Owen, I love Huckabees, Jim Carrey, Jude Law, Kate Winslet

posted by GoldenAh
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