Movie Trailer Roundup

Running with Scissors

Well that's a very nice trailer. It has nice little sentences to say what's wrong with the characters, quirky little jokes, and a narrative voice that tells you the name of the movie and everyone in it (and there's a heck of alot of people). Oh, and an Elton John song too, which makes it appear playful yet touching. Granted, I don't want to see the thing, but it seems uplifting.

The Last Kiss

Ah the Zach Braff emo franchise continues. But this time, he does narration. I also like how this website let you know right off the bat it's another movie of him staring at the camera looking forlorn, ala Garden "look at me, I'm Glum!" State. From what I can tell, the guy's going through another 20 something crisis where he feels life and adventure are slipping away forever; so he needs to take one crazy adventure that could be edited down to 2 hours. Oh, and he has to choose between his steady girlfriend and some new girl, who look and appear to act exactly the same, it kinda weirded me out. The trailer does pose a couple of interesting questions, and really makes you think, that maybe Zach Braff should stop whining so much. Heck, his best role is a sit-com, the goofy Scrubs episode are ten times better than the drawn-out, emotional ones. Ah, but if it turns out to be a good movie, I guess I'll see it, in my Death Cab for Cutie baby tee.

The Nativity Story

Fresh of the success of The Passion, we're getting our next biblical epic. There's not much in this trailer, all it tells you is apparently the movie is shot completely in silhouettes, Jesus is important, and coincidently is coming out in December. I was a little nervous how this whole story was going to be portrayed, so I went and checked out IMDB. Much to my tempered delight, Mary is going to played by a teenager (16 year old Keisha Castle-Hughes actually), and the cast has a nice non-white tint. In fact, Elizabeth is going to be played by the terrorist mother from 24, which should make the 16 year old terrorist from 24 John the Baptist. And Gabriel is going to be that nice prince from Syriana, the one who was all convicted about stuff. The director is pretty inexperienced, but has won alot of praise with two other, teenager coming of age stories.

Children of Men

The name of this movie intrigued me because I thought children of men was a goofy statement. I still think it's kinda goofy. And wasn't the human project the name of that fake charity George Castanza set up?

Flicka

Okay, a teenage girl discovering her place in the world by discovering the magic of horses and reuniting with her father. I really don't think they expect me to like this movie, as opposed to say....

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

See, right there, got the word assassination right there in the title, it's got to be good. It's one of those words that instantly can make a movie seem cooler, like "Snakes" or "Plane", sometimes "on". I like the history of Jesse James and that dirty little coward Robert Ford. Hopefully this isn't Titanic all over again, I thought it was going to be about a boat.

Employee of the Month

If you ever want to see a 2 minute movie, there ya go. Ever plot point, surprise, how characters change and discover themselves and get their come-up-ance (I have no idea if you can spell that word). Heck, it even has the appropriate music to hammer home the fact of what's happening, Jessica Simpson is supposed to be beautiful, the employee of the month competition is like Rocky vs. Apollo Creed, and it's all around fun! But for some reason, the trailer voice over guy recorded his work through a bullhorn. And you can tell they were really digging to get any joke they could from the movie. By the end of the trailer, everyone's learned a valuable lesson, that it's whats inside that counts, and you can't judge a book by its cover, well, I guess you partially can.

The Prestige

Yea, that'll be cool.

License to Ill

Well, the last physical evidence of my New Jersey roots were swept away by a, not completely disgruntled DMV worker. Man, the DMV is an all around miserable place; it's right up there with airport terminals. In both cases, everyone is imprisoned in a small waiting space, terrified that they'll call their number/row while in disposed or browsing the 5 dollar DVD bin of the Sam Goody. Then there's always the overly anxious guy, waiting in front of the help desk, asking the same question over and over again, not expediting the process but making everyone a little more edgy. And the help, with mysterious computers that have mysterious powers. Oh, and children wandering around aimlessly. The DMV has gotta be the most confusing place for a kid, at least at a store or in the airport there's some tangible reason, a new jar of soup or we're going to Atlanta. But the DMV, man, why are we here, whats that number, why are we here, are we getting anything, but you already have a license, why do you need a new one. No one knows kid, no one knows.

Oh, here's a little something for the kids, our very own Walk for Hunger in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdp_rYHEPeg

Quote of the day

Oh, it's Sunday, it's time for a Sabbath quote

'The words "God is love" have no real meaning unless God contains at least two persons. If God was a single person, then before the world was made, He was not love. That is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions: That in Christianity God is not a static thing, not even a person, but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. What does it all matter? It matters more than anything else in the world. The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-personal life is to be played out in each one of us. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality. But how are we to be united with God? He came into the world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has, by what I call "good infection."' - cs lewis

Presidential Inspiration

Well I've crossed the liberal ranting blog threshold with the second post, but actually I'm proud of the guy. He's finally vetoed something, sheez, 6 years and he finally says no huh? I mean, I know the Republicans controlled congress for most of it, but you'd think after awhile he'd disagree with Ted Stevens. Anyway, here are some inspiring words from the guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZV37aJIbPE

The Boss: Properly rated, if not under

So, I read a blog posting the other day that, oh, shall we say, troubled me enough that I felt it necessary to start a blog.

Let me take you back, contextually, to the year 1975. The scars Richard Nixon left on America and the damage done to our inherent faith in government were still fresh, the Vietnam War reached its bloody and hopeless end, Carlton Fisk almost brought a world series title to Boston with a magical hand wave only to be shut down in game seven (I'm sorry, this moment is just lost on me, they lost game 7, who really cares about game 6, was Boston a kinder place back then that they only needed to try hard to win respect) and a little show named Saturday Night Live began with painfully long sketches and run-on characters that were never really funny but Lorne Michaels thought could be turned into full length movies. There was so much promise in the 1960's, that by going to the moon we could find magical moon technology that could defeat communism, and that the Beatles would stay together and keep on rocking. But, hope, as it often does, fade, and so America had to turn to popular music. And so lets take a step back to the pop charts, with the top 25 song of 1975:

1. Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band
2. Shining Star - Earth Wind And Fire
3. Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees
4. That's the Way (I Like It) - K.C. and the Sunshine Band
5. Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver
6. Some Kind of Wonderful - Grand Funk
7. Cut The Cake - Average White Band
8. You're The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White
9. Lady Marmalade - Patti LaBelle
10. Send In The Clowns - Judy Collins
11. Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
12. You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker
13. The Hustle - Van McCoy
14. Doctor's Orders - Carol Douglas
15. SOS - ABBA
16. Low Rider - War
17. My Eyes Adored You - Frankie Valli
18. Shame, Shame, Shame - Shirley and Company
19. Amie - Pure Prairie League
20. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
21. Black Friday - Steely Dan
22. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
23. Mexico - James Taylor
24. Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band
25. How Sweet It Is - James Taylor

Alright, so, excluding #20 and 22, America was trapped in a perpetual cheesy wedding. I know, nothing rocks harder than James Taylor and KC and the Sunshine Band, but come on, this is a bleak time for music. And Bruce came to save us, so show him a little respect, okay? Without hime, its Earth Wind and Fire and Judy Collins.

For a little more contextually-ness, lets step all the way back to the 1930's. While the nation was greatly depressed and dusty, a skinny warbling cowboy came out of Oklahoma, a self-taught singer song writer named Woody Guthrie. It wasn't the best voice or guitar playing at the time, but he took in the music of his upbringing and cut through the swing music, delivering a satirical jab at the powers-that-be. Heck, he wrote this machine kills fascists on his guitar, that's frankly awesome. He wrote "this land was made for you and me," but unfortunatly no one's really taught the last two verses, here they are, for all your second grade pagent needs:

Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property.
But on the back side, it didn't say nothing.
This land was made for you and me.

On bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the relief office I saw my people
As they stood there hungry,
I stood there wondering if
This land was made for you and me.

A few years later, in the late fifties, atomic bombs were threatening to be dropped, and America was again in the grips of sunshine-y happy music. But at a hospital in Northern Mew Jersey, a little moppy haired kid came to visit and learn from Woody Guthrie, his name was Bob Dylan. He was another self taught guitarist with an awkward voice and nicely sad lyrics. And then a few years later, in the year 1975, Rolling Stone declared an upstart from New Jersey as the next Dylan, yes, Springsteen. Just another in the long line of American singer / songwriters, rough, self taught, almost tragic but ultimately hopeful. Sure, they weren't perfect, but neither was this country. And maybe, just maybe, they could help each other out. So you can keep your tragically hip Radiohead, as you drive around in your Saab convertible, fresh from picking up a six-pack of Heiniken as you visit Avery and Addison who just bought a new condo on the Cape, with your turtleneck sweater tied around your waist and your pre-wrinkled white button down shirt from J-crew, I'll be here with my Ipod, and tenth avenue freeze out, cause this machine kills fascists. But that's me, maybe you like fascism, I don't know.

ps. here's why Bruce owns Jakob Dylan in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdhs0Wm1GSA&search=springsteen%20headlight
It seems like it's Bruce's song, Jakob comes off like a cover band.