Day 210: "Abin Cooper holds this whole state up for ridicule."

This is not your usual Kevin Smith yukfest.  Red State Was actually confusing to me, as it is Kevin Smith's first real, I guess you'd call it, drama.  What starts out as some high school kids looking for sex online, degrades into a 99% less gory Hostel-esque encounter, then becomes a Waco-like standoff between the uber-conservative right wing Five Points Trinity Church.  These guys are so right wing that "...even the Nazis think these guys are nuckin futs."  It's really weird to watch because this is like three movies stapled together.  In the same way that From Dusk 'Til Dawn is a serious crime thriller and then suddenly it's a vampire movie, this is how Red State is.  A teen sex comedy, then a torture film, then a police standoff flick.  Seriously Kevin, make up your mind to pick a plot and run with it.  I wanted to like this a lot more than I did, but it was just too jumbled.

Smith has again picked a really good cast here, mostly made up of unknown but talented young actors.  Supporting them, he has a great group of adult stars: John Goodman, Melinda Leo, Stephen Root, and Michael Parks.  The acting in this is really great, I just wish the story held up its end of the deal.

In the end, a bit of a disappointment from Kevin Smith, but let's face it: most of his disappointments are better than some directors successes.  I really wanted this to be better than it was, but still a pretty good time looking at the bizarre workings of one of the most controversial sects of the current era....highly dramatized and I'm pretty sure satirized.  I really, really hope that it is a satire, because if it's anywhere NEAR (like the same continent near) accurate, that is proof positive of truth being stranger than fiction.  Please be satire...7.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 209: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

No campers, I am not reviewing the latest Star Trek original cast film (those who find the opening quote funny will get the reference), but am finishing off the trilogy of Transformers movies.  Today's entry was Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  Don't ask me why they left out the word "side", but they did.  All I can say about this is this: thank God it's over.  Yes, this was the best entry in the series, but that's like saying that the flu is the best disease.  They all sucked, and Dark of the Moon was no exception.  I was a huge fan of the original cartoons in the 80's, so this whole debacle was a bit painful for me to watch.  Seeing one of your favorite memories decimated by people who see nothing more than dollar signs is like watching your childhood sold off piece by piece.  Sam Witwicky is back in his latest unbelievable adventure among the world's most destructive robots, this time finding out that the entire U.S. space program is based on something found on....wait for it.....the dark side of the Moon.  Soundwave and Sentinel Prime are introduced here, with catastrophic results for the buildings of the world.  Fans of the movie, forgive me here, but this was crap.  The Transformers themselves did look better than before, but they still need a good story to go along with those shiny new effects.

Shia LeBeouf returns as Sam, but Megan Fox did the smart thing for a change and declined to appear.  Instead, we have Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Sam's new interest.  Yay.  Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, and John Turturro DO return to their roles, however, bringing nothing new to the mix at all.  I want to know how the filmmakers got Frances McDormand, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, and Ken Jeong to appear.  I can only assume that incriminating photographs were involved in the "negotiations."

The best of the three Transformers films, for what that's worth.  If you want perfectly framed explosions and good effects without the burden of a story, by all means, go ahead and watch Dark of the Moon.  Or Roland Emmerich's Godzilla.  Whichever.  You'll leave wanting more, and that's in the non-flattering, bad movie kind of way.  Sorry, fans.  4.75/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 208: "If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place."

Drive is a movie made in the wrong decade by the wrong director.  Looking like an entry from one of the masters, Michael Mann, Drive could have easily been made in the 80's.  Directed by relative newcomer Nicolas Refn, this is a fantastic...homage is not the right term, but I'm going to use it here, to the intelligent films from the early 80's.  I may be reaching here, but it really reminded me of the James Caan classic: Thief.  The story revolves around a Hollywood stunt driver (who is oddly never named) who does work as a driver for, shall we say, a less legal workforce in his down time.  The Driver is a quiet, subdued person who views his chosen profession as simply a way to make ends meet doing something he is good at.  He eventually gets involved with his pretty neighbor and her son, adding a complication to his life.  Once he realizes that this woman is being targeted for assassination, he has to act in the way he knows how.  The action is outstanding, and the actual chases are wonderfully shot.  Unfortunately, also like Michael Mann, there is a bit of slowdown in the middle of the movie, but it is short lived.

Ryan Gosling continues his rise as one of the best young talents acting today.  He can act so subtly that a simple look can convey a drastic mood shift.  It's incredible.  Albert Brooks (yes, the funny guy) is the main antagonist here: Bernie Rose,  a cold-blooded gangster who gets what he wants.  Period.  It's a pretty cool change of pace.  Carey Mulligan is Irene, the Driver's neighbor, and resident damsel in distress.  Bryan Cranston and Ron Perlman round out the rest of the great cast.

Driver would have been great in the 80's and is a phenomenal movie in 2011.  It drips retro charm and offsets that with outstanding action, story, and acting.  Make a trip to your local theater to see this before it makes the trek to dvd and Blu-Ray.  I had a blast watching this, and wanted to turn right around and see it again.  9/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 207: "No, I don't believe in the Devil. People are bad enough by themselves."

I am a fan of good horror movies.  I am also not a fan of anything M. Night Shyamalan has been a part of since Unbreakable (also his best in my opinion).  Needles to say, I was absolutely floored when I watched Devil and found it to be an absolutely amazing horror movie.  Set, as anything touched by Mr. Shyamalan, in Philadelphia, Devil has a particularly distinct position in the horror genre as being the one movie where the religious character isn't the bats**t insane antagonist among the victims.  On the surface, Devil is about five people trapped in an elevator, tormented by, well, the Devil, while would be rescuers look on helplessly.  AS you strip away layers of the plot, this becomes a battle between good and evil for the souls of those five individuals.  It looks at forgiveness and the inherent power in the act of actually, genuinely forgiving another human being for his or her offense.  Like I said, I was floored after I watched this.  The director (not Shyamalan, but John Dowdle) went the route of putting the suspense and horror into the minds of the audience, as the gruesome acts are not seen, but heard.  I can only imagine what audiences in a dark theater with a great sound system went through during certain sequences.  It bordered, BORDERED, on Hitchcock-esque.

The cast was great in this as well, giving the story and their predicament real terror as their numbers began to dwindle.  There were not any big name stars here, but the actors did a marvelous job, and there were no insignificant roles.  As we found out more about the characters as the movie unfolded, I felt myself both rooting for and against them as circumstances warranted.  It was a weird feeling, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.

I really think M. Night Shyamalan has found his niche in the filmmaking process: come up with the story, let someone else make it while he produces the whole shebang.  If you like horror movies, definitely see this.  It is intense, claustrophobic, and attention grabbing.  I wish more horror movies took this route instead of the old cookie cutter, "more gore" style.  I loved Devil.  9.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!!

Day 206: "Welcome to St. Basil's"

I was feeling in the mood for a comedy today, and decided to go with a small film from 1985: Heaven HelpUs.  Telling the story of a year in the lives of five Catholic high school boys in Brooklyn in 1965, the audience is shown how brutal and hypocritical the education they received was.  Oh, and this is a comedy…quite a good one, too.  Dunn is the new kid to the school and is quickly indoctrinated to the way things work, both by the Catholic Brothers and his fellow students.   An orphan, living with his grandparents and his sister, Dunn has, unfortunately, had his future planned out for him in the form of the priesthood.  He begins to make friends with the local tough guy, the genius, the “self-abuser”, and the tough guy’s lookout, and through these friendships sees the world through his own viewpoint for the first time.

A very young Andrew McCarthy plays Dunn.  His performance shows a kid both naïve and, at times, world weary.  Unfortunately for McCarthy, his roles seem to be limited to this type of character.  Kevin Dillon is the resident tough, Rooney.  This is by far his best role, and it came very early in his career.  The Catholic Brothers are played by Donald Sutherland as the Headmaster, John Heard as Brother Timothy (the cool one), and Jay Patterson as the sadistic tool who makes everyone’s life hell.  A very, very young Mary Stuart Masterson and Patrick Dempsey also make appearances.

This is actually a really good movie.  I laughed out loud several times and was impressed with the acting and story.  Very similar in style to Avalon and Diner, Heaven Help us was a really pleasant surprise.  Give it a shot if you're in the mood for something different.  7.75/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 205: "Either return carrying this shield in victory or carried on the shield in death."

Being such a huge fan of 300; both Frank Miller's graphic novel, and its film adaptation, I decided to go into the movie vault and watch the 1962 "version" (I suppose that's the correct term here) of the Battle of Thermopylae: The 300 Spartans.  Produced in the period of, what's generally referred to as the "sword & sandal" era, it is a highly dramatized telling of the historic battle.  As the new version reveled in the battle sequences and the over-the-top, highly stylized visual style of telling its tale, the 1962 version relied very heavily on the acting and script to deliver its drama.  Not to say it was bad at all, it was just very different from what I was expecting.  Having seen Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus and Cecil B. DeMille's and William Wyler's Ben Hur, I was hoping for more grandiose setpiece battles.  This plays out more like the drama from movies like Barabbas or Cleopatra.  I did enjoy this, but in a much different way than I enjoyed 300.  Spartans is a much more cerebral film, giving the audience a much different view of the battle and its consequences.

Richard Egan stars as a beardless King Leonidas, giving the role a large dose of gravitas and drama that was missing from Gerard Butler's over-the-top, superhero interpretation.  Egan looks like he knows what this battle means for Greece, and has all the seriousness surrounding that knowledge.  Sir Ralph Richardson (of Dragonslayer fame, for me) is Themistocles, and David Farrar is the villainous Xerxes.

I enjoyed this as both a different version of events from a movie I already love and a blast from the "sword & sandals" past of American cinema.  if you're in the mood for an older movie that slipped under the radar getting into your classic lineup, check it out.  7.75/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 204: "I've been trying to kill myself all day."

Lord knows why I decided to watch this, I guess it was the only watchable thing on at two in the morning.  The Final Destination is the forth in the dismal franchise.  To tell the truth, this was nothing more than an excuse to kill people in new, imaginative and disgusting ways.  Saw, as a franchise, could have the same things said about it, but at least in that series, there was a face to put to the evil and some genuine attempt at story.  The Final Destination is nothing more than a montage of gruesome and elaborate death sequences held together under the illusion of "premonitions" and "visions", and then, having escaped from the highly staged and orchestrated gorefest, the characters then start dying in new and, not-so-clever ways.  This is the only series that I have watched where they tell you exactly who is going to die, when they're going to die and precisely how they are going to die.  Predictably boring and uninspired to the last scene.

In terms of stars here, there are no recognizable celebrities here, unless you are a huge fan of Forrest Gump and liked Mykelti Williamson as Bubba.  He's it in The Final Destination.  Really.  Have you ever heard of or seen anything else with Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, or Haley Webb?  Yeah, me neither.

In conclusion, avoid this.  Even if you are a fan of the Final Destination series, this is an unmitigated disaster.  I don't mean in the good way that might make this movie bearable, either.  It's really bad.  The only redeeming quality is the occasional gore, but that's it.  They even screw that up (a girl's leg, below the knee is mangled.  The next shot is her coughing up copious amounts of blood.  What?).  Miss it.  2.5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 203: "So my boss, who we're planning to kill, is dying in front of you and you save his life?"

Office Space is one of the funniest movies about work that I have ever seen.  Now, having said that, Horrible Bosses blows it out of the water.  While Office Space revolved around one business and its, shall we say, idiosyncrasies, Horrible Bosses takes a look at three workplace "relationships" and asks the audience the question,"How bad does it have to get before you're willing to actually kill your boss?"  According to this movie, the line is pretty far out there.  One boss is a complete psychopath, another is the priveliged, drug addled son of the company owner, and the third is a sex crazed, absolutely inappropriate, human resources nightmare.  The "victims" of these awful people begin talking hypothetically about how to kill them, then decide to movei to the action phase after each suffers one last, ultimate, humiliating experience at the hands of their tormentors.  I haven't laughed this hard (intentionally)at a movie in a long time.  The story goes completely pear shaped after we discover that one of the "heroes" is an idiot, but the laughs just keep going.

Starring Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day as the poor working class schmucks, these guys have the same kind of on-screen chemistry that I last saw in The Hangover.  Bateman's performance as the ultimate straight man was, in particular, my favorite.  The bosses are played by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, and Colin Farrell.  Farrell is almost unrecognizable in his role, but you'll still hate him just the same.  Jennifer Aniston....let's just say this is as close to full on sex scenes as you're likely to get from her, and damn are they disturbing.  Rachel Green this ain't.

If you liked Office Space or The Hangover, you'll most likey enjoy Horrible Bosses.  Make sure you put your brain on "pause" before watching it, though; the plot does spiral quickly towards the unbelievable.  I really enjoyed this, but i'm a sucker for crude humor and disgruntled workplace jokes.  F-bombs and toilet humor run rampant here, so put the kids to bed first.  8.5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 202: "You wanna talk? Let's talk!"

Another bad movie in the books.  Today's train wreck was Zookeeper.  The story of a "nice guy" who is in a job he loves, but the woman he thinks he loves thinks that he's wasting his life.  The job: zookeeper.  Seriously, this was awful.  Our story continues: the animals in the zoo overhear every conversation around them, including one between the zookeeper's love and her friend, in which she says that she may have made a mistake dumping him.  The animals then decide to take it upon themselves to get their keeper more confident and more appealing.  They then....wait for it....call a meeting to tell the keeper their intentions and get his buy-in.  It gets worse from there, so I won't bore you with a play-by-play, but suffice it to say, Zookeeper is another in a long line of talking animal films that exist to pander to kids and insult the intelligence of every adult in the auditorium.  Take the animals out of the equation, and it's still a horrendously bad romantic comedy.

Kevin James, notorious for bad movies already, gives another mediocre performance as the schlub with a heart who manages to, against every law of society, get the hot chick, or, in the case of this movie, two.  Rosario Dawson is his secondary interest, the zoo veterinarian, and Leslie Bibb plays the "girl of his dreams."  The animal voices are: Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Judd Apatow, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Nick Nolte, and Adam Sandler.  Every one of them, apparently, desperate for a paycheck.

This was terrible from start to finish, and I couldn't wait for it to end.  I'll never see that ninety minutes again, and Kevin James will never pollute a screen in my home again.  Skip this crapfest and see a great animal movie: the Rex Harrison version of Doctor Doolittle.  OK, its not great, but compared to this it should be shown in The Louvre....if they had a theater....for movies....that are art....forget it.  .5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 201: "Watch your hands there, this'll eat you up."

I must admit that I am fascinated by serial killers. Ted Bundy, Andrei Chikatilo, John Wayne Gacy, Herman Mudgett; the stories of their atrocities and their personalities always piqued the morbid side of my curiosity.  Now having said this, I knew that there was a series of biopics made about these men, but I was under the impression that they were of the direct-to-video ilk.  For most, this was a correct assumption.  Not so for Dahmer.  This movie looks at the last days that Jeffrey Dahmer was a free man.  Taking a decidedly personal look at the killer, Dahmer is not the bloodsoaked gorefest that one would think a movie like this would be.  Using the camera to look at his lifestyle, the audience sees how far removed from society in general Dahmer was.  I am in no way condoning or explaining away his crimes, but this was a shockingly lonely man.  A misguided, twisted person, he was incomprehensibly unable to cope with himself, so he made and kept companions the only way he knew how: by murdering them and keeping the bodies.  This movie is absolutely disturbing in the the ways that make good cerebral horror movie good; showing almost nothing, and letting the imagination take the reins. 

Jeremy Renner plays Jeffrey Dahmer.  Even in this early role, Renner does a fantastic job bringing this reprehensible person to life.  Bruce Davison portrays Jeffrey's overbearing and occasionally irrational father, Lionel.  The remainder of the cast is played by relative unknowns, and it's easy to see why they are unknown, they're not that good, but they do the job.

A very subdued horror movie based in reality, but, I'm guessing, perhaps 75% accurate (at best), Dahmer is a decent movie to watch if you're in the mood for something off the beaten path.  If you want a bloodbath, look elsewhere, but if you want to take a peek into the life of a social misfit and complete psychopath, check out Dahmer.  It's not bad, but it is disturbing.  7/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 200: "That's gotta be Swann."

Sweet...made it to day 200!  In celebration of this milestone, I decided to go with another, self-perceived, cannot fail movie from the rose colored glasses of my youth.  Like the unfortunate Metalstorm, when I saw the trailers for Timerider: the Adventure of Lyle Swann, I thought to myself, "Motorcycles.  Time travel.  No way is this movie gonna suck!"  Ah, youth.  I really need to stop listening to my inner child and kick his ass.  He's got really bad taste.  I'm beginning to think that if there were any good movies that came out of the early 80's, those were aberrations.  Here's the story in a nutshell:  A hotshot motocross rider participating in a desert Baja race stumbles across a time travel experiment and is transported back to the Old West.  The horses, guns, and very short tempers Old West.  His presence raises more than a few hackles and chaos ensues while he tries his damnedest to get back to good old 1982.  There you have it, the entirety of Timerider in a few short sentences.  How the filmmakers screwed this one up is beyond me; this could have been great, but alas, is crap.

A young(er) Fred Ward plays motocross phenom Lyle Swann.  The character is supposed to be the Travis Pastrana of his day, but I didn't buy Ward's performance for a second.  Peter Coyote and Richard Masur are in this as well, but it doesn't matter, this movie is beyond help.

Honestly, I'm somewhat surprised this hasn't been remade, considering Hollywood's recent penchant for unnecessary franchise reboots.  I mean, come on, given the popularity of the X Games and extreme sports in general, it almost screams for a remake.  On the other hand, I guess i should be grateful that they have let a sleeping dog lie.  Just awful.  3/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!

Day 199: "Definition of a scientist: a man who understands nothing until there was nothing left to understand."

I decided to go back to my sci-fi roots today and catch a film I've been meaning to see for years: The Omega Man.  Loosely based on the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend, and previously made into the Vincent Price movie, The Last Man on Earth (also made into a film with its original title starring Will Smith in 2007), The Omega Man is a whole lot of fun.  Dr. Robert Neville is the only remaining human survivor of a global plague released upon humanity during a border war between the Soviet Union and China (the border dispute portion appears to be historically accurate to the early 70's).  The other "survivors" are horribly mutated creatures.  Completely colorless, highly sensitive to light and psychotic, the "Family", as they refer to themselves, see technology, science, and even art as what caused the downfall of humanity, and left them the caretakers of a dead world.  Their attacks on Neville are their attempts to finish cleansing the Earth of its last infection so they can begin to rebuild from the ashes.  I enjoyed this movie in all of its 70's goodness.  Even the attempts by director Boris Sagal to inject some of the 60's and 70's counterculture elements into the story are pretty amusing to see (think a post-apocalyptic Manson Family).

Charlton Heston again brings his particular brand of swagger to the screen.  He plays the role of Neville in a very similar way to his portrayal of Taylor in Planet of the Apes.  Actually, he plays this role the same way as every other role I've seen him in, but hey, it's Heston; the guy rocks.  As with most of his pictures in the twilight of his acting career, he was the biggest star, and the only one with any real star power.

I'm putting The Omega Man in the same category of 70's sci-fi as Logan's Run and Death Race 2000, campy fun with a light social message thrown in for flavor.  Now don't get me wrong, I really liked this, but in reality it's just a glorified popcorn flick.  See it for a fun diversion, or a blast from the past.  Just for kicks, see how many goofs you can find.  There are a bunch.  7.5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 198: "The definition of rehabilitate: To restore to a state of physical, mental, and moral health through treatment and training."

Alcatraz.  Generally considered to be the most notorious prison in American history.  Murder In the First concentrates on the institution that was Alcatraz, and the responsibility that it shirked in the treatment of its inmates.  Another "based on a true story", Murder In the First looks at the story of Henri Young.  As a youth, Young robbed a general store of a total of five dollars.  Unfortunately for him, that store was also a post office, making his crime a Federal offense.  He was then sent to Alcatraz (A Federal prison) to serve his time.  After a failed escape attempt, Young is forced to serve over three years in solitary confinement.  In Alcatraz.  In a room with none of the amenities that human beings are entitled (not even a toilet).  Needless to say, Young is "affected" by his time alone, and upon his reintegration to the general population, attacks and kills a fellow inmate.  Now on trial for murder, he has to defend his actions.  A young lawyer, James Stamphill, is assigned to the case, and begins to unravel the circumstances and treatment that drove a petty thief to kill.  This is actually one of the better courtroom dramas that I have watched.  The story moves the audience to the places it needs to be in the story and gets us to question the character and motives of those men who were made responsible for the rehabilitation of  those prisoners.

The ensemble cast is led by Kevin Bacon as Young.  This was a great performance from Bacon, and cements further in my mind the reason we see him everywhere: he's a great actor.  Christian Slater (not a favorite) does a good job as his attorney, Stamphill.  I just don't buy him in most roles.  Sorry, Christian, you did a decent job here, but you could have done better.  Gary Oldman is the sadistic Assistant Warden, Milton Glenn, a man less concerned with the welfare of his charges than their punishment due.  Another great performance from Oldman.  William H. Macy and R. Lee Ermey round out the remainder of the principle roles.

This is a tense drama from start to finish, showing us everything men are capable of from great to horrific.  I enjoyed this quite a bit and would recommend it to those who enjoy the Grisham-esqe courtroom stuff.  You'll never think of baseball the same way again.  8.25/10

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 197: "Woodward. Bernstein. You're both on the story. Now don't f**k it up."

Returning, yet again, to my new favorite era in American cinema history, today's movie was the brilliant 1976 "docu-drama" All The President's Men.  This premise of this film was too crazy for even the most creative screen writers to come up with, as it is based upon fact.  Yes, I am  aware that many movies are "based on actual events," but the core events in All The President's Men had occurred, at the eldest, four years prior.  The story revolves around the two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who blew the lid off of the entire Watergate Hotel scandal that eventually brought down a United States President (Richard Nixon).  Beginning with a minor break-in and burglary of the Democratic Party offices, the reporters initially write the event off as it was meant to be perceived, but upon deeper digging and investigation, discover a conspiracy that ends at the President.  The film moves at a great pace, keeping the clues and surprises coming the entire time, and never bogging down into the nit-picky details that can clog an otherwise great thriller.  What sets this movie apart is the accuracy of the story itself.  Yes, there were liberties taken, but only when it came to sources and meetings which could have been incriminating to the parties involved.

Robert Redford (who is quickly climbing my favorite actor list)stars as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein.  These two greats of American cinema have a wonderful chemistry that is rarely seen on screen.  They play brilliantly off of each other, being at once irritating and funny.  The overall feeling of paranoia that they went through was palpable through their performances.  Jack Warden plays their editor, Harry Rosenfeld; the man who initially teamed the two journalists together for the story.  Perhaps the best role in All The President's Men goes to Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat.  This was the government insider who put Woodward and Bernstein on the right path and confirmed the critical points of the whole conspiracy.

I love it when I hit a home run from this era of movies.  Nowhere else in my lifetime even comes close to the sheer number of brilliant movies then those coming out of the late 60's to late 70's.  I am truly in awe of that period.  Even the horror movies are iconic (see The Omen and The Exorcist for proof).  But I digress.  All The President's Men is another in a long line of brilliance.  This is truly a case of "truth is stranger than fiction."
See it.  10/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 196: "Whoever holds the conch gets to speak."

I never watched the 1963 version of Lord Of The Flies.  Don't really know why, but after seeing the 1990 version, I really want to, and may actually review it later in the year, assuming I can find it.  The version I did watch, the 1990 one, wasn't a bad adaptation of the amazing William Golding novel, but it had some serious omissions.  If you have ever read the book, you will see.  As it stands, however, I did enjoy Lord Of The Flies for the movie that it was.  The film begins with the survivors of a plane crash making their way to a deserted island.  The survivors, as it turns out, are a group of pre-teenage boys from a military academy.  Initially their training and discipline keep them busy and productive on the island, planning and working to aid searchers in their hopeful, eventual rescue.  As time passes, however, it becomes clear to a splinter group that rescue is never coming, and all pretense of societal graces go out the window, barbarism ensues, and survival on the island becomes the priority.  The splinter group grows into the dominant force and eventually encompasses all but two of the boys.  I've read this book more times than I can count, and the movie just seems to be missing the heart of it.  It is well crafted and acted, but to me seemed go for the shock factor rather than the lessons shown in the book.

Luckily, the cast of newcomers and unknown actors does a marvelous job with the script they had.  Each of the boys has their own distinct personality and they maintain them throughout the film.  My favorite was Danuel Pipoly as Piggy.  I genuinely felt for this kid throughout.  Balthazar Getty played Ralph, but at times seemed lost in the enormity of emotions that the part called for.  Chris Furrh was Jack.  The completely amoral center of the entire breakdown of the group.  He played the part to the hilt and was, at times, one of the most completely reprehensible characters I've seen.  This kid didn't deserve to get rescued.

A really good, powerful movie, but missing some of the soul and inner character from the novel.  I'm definitely going to watch the original 1963 version, and hope that those excised portions are in there, because they are HUGE in the telling of this tale.  7.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 195: "We'll be listening to you."

Having been suitably impressed with the state of American cinema from the 70's, I was excited to watch The Conversation.  Directed and written by Francis Ford Coppola?  Check.  Starring Gene Hackman and John Cazale?  Check.  After watching it, gotta say I was bored with this one.  Harry Caul is the owner and main operator of his own private observation and recording firm.  Basically he is a freelance spy.  He is paid to record the conversation of a couple in a crowded and noisy square, and begins to dissect the tapes to distinguish the conversation from the background noises.  He succeeds, and is suddenly worried for the safety of not only the couple's well being, but his as well.  Harry is also an extremely private man, to the point of paranoia.  These personality traits are exacerbated by his new found predicament and he begins to unravel.  This is where the crux of my problem with the movie lies: is it Harry's story, showing how a man on the edge can easily come apart, or is it the story of this same man trying to avoid becoming an accessory to murder?  I couldn't decide, and worse, I found I really didn't want to.

Gene Hackman is one of my all-time favorite actors, and he did a pretty good job here, but the character was so introverted and private, I had real difficulty rooting for him.  John Cazale was one of those actors whose amazing career was cut way too short by his untimely death.  He also did a great job here.  The characters were just such..."nebbishes" I couldn't care what was going to happen.

An unfortunate disappointment, The Conversation had a lot going for it, but ultimately came up a bit short for me.  The suspense that should have permeated this film was too subdued to be effective, and the movie just came off as boring to me.  I guess they can't all be winners.  6/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 194: "In Futureworld, nothing can go wrong."

In 1973 on of my favorite science fiction movies was released: Westworld.  It was rare back then for movies to get a sequel, but this one did: 1976's Futureworld.  The original still stands today as a warning against technology getting to far ahead of the humanity in charge of creating and maintaining it.  Futureworld sticks to this basic premise, but adds in the quotient of the morality of big business and politics.  The original movie was about a high end amusement park that is staffed mainly by very high tech robots that appear and act human in almost every way.  One day there is a computer glitch, and the once benign robots begin to run rampant, overriding their safety protocols and killing the guests at will.  The uprising is eventually stopped, and the park shut down.  Futureworld continues the story.  Years after the initial disaster, the park has been reopened, with entirely new safety protocols by its parent company, the multinational technology corporation Delos.  Two reporters are sent to investigate the new park after a third is found dead with, apparently, incriminating news about Delos.  Initially, they are given the red carpet treatment and shown every aspect of the park's operations, including the now abandoned Westworld.  When they investigate further, they discover a web of treasonous activities and plans to replace world leaders with programmed replicas, which are virtually indistinguishable from the originals.

Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner star as the pair of reporters Chuck Browning and Tracy Ballard.  Considering the state of science fiction in the mid-seventies (Star Wars notwithstanding) they do an admirable job with thier parts.  Yul Brenner also makes a cameo appearance as the menacing Gunslinger from the original film.

This definitely falls well into the formula sci-fi from the seventies: lots of miniatures, mostly of the park itself, industrial looking sets revealing the seedy underworkings of the Eden-esque world above, and a paranoid convoluted plot that is too clever for itself.  I did like this, but it was too much politics and big business wheeling and dealing.  There wasn't the charm of 70's sci-fi that I love so much; like Logan's Run, Westworld, or even The Stepford Wives.  Fun but not great.  7.5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 193: "I'm staying! You hear that, New York? The frog is staying!"

How to follow up after Hostel II?  With the cuteness and innocent humor of the Muppets, of course!!  The Muppets Take Manhattan is the cameo filled second sequel to the magnificent Muppet Movie (the second being The Great Muppet Caper, thanks Branden).  Being a sequel, as we are aware, is a tenuous prospect.  Will it be as good as the original?  Will it carry over the same charm?  Will fame and riches have gone to Animal's head?  The answer to all of these, in both the good and bad, is not really.  It was very close though.  You could say it is unfair to judge this one based on the success of the original, but in reality, the formula, story, and even the structure of the cameos are all very similar.  The Muppets decide to take their chances, and following the decision of their ersatz leader, Kermit, make the pilgrimage to New York in order to produce the musical he has written.  Replace "New York" with "Hollywood, California", and "musical" with "movie," and you'll get my point.  Having said all of this, however, The Muppets Take Manhattan is a wonderful, fun movie. Now in my 40s, I still love the Muppets (specifically the Jim Henson era, since his untimely death, it's just been downhill) and their particular brand of humor and entertainment.

Manhattan does include the usual bevy of guest stars, this time including: Linda Lavin, Joan Rivers (pre-op), Gregory Hines, and a personal favorite, Dabney Coleman.  Jim Henson really knew how to utilize the guest cameo.  Each of the guest stars appears for the perfect amount of time to get their laugh, or show off their particular talent alongside the Muppets.  The best thing is, each of them plays off acting with a Muppet as if it was something that happened every day.

If you have kids, I definitely recommend The Muppets Take Manhattan.  If this is going to be their first exposure to the Muppets though, put The Muppet Movie in instead.  Its that much better, and the I still have the soundtrack on my IPod.  Yes, it does get playtime, especially "Movin' Right Along," one of the best driving songs ever (behind "Radar Love").  Lots of fun, but suffering from a bad case of sequelitis.  8/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!

Day 192: "Anyone who comes to this place cannot leave without killing."

Blood and boobs are usually an amazing combination for any horror movie formula.  Look at John Carpenter's Halloween, look at any Friday the 13th.  It especially worked in the original Hostel.  Unfortunately, it falls flat in Hostel II.  Believe me, I really tried to get into this.  I liked the original, as it brought something new to the genre, but the sequel just.....sucked.  I mean I've definitely seen much worse horror movies lately, but this one just couldn't match the edge-of-your-seat intensity or pure surprise of the first film.  Hostel II just seems to be another episode in the ongoing saga of tortured to death teens and the revenge they seek.  The "torture porn" elements and gore are very well done, as is the nudity (oink, oink), but it just seems to be there for show.  It's like, "here is the gratuitous sex, violence, and gore you wanted.  Oh wait...you want a cool story too?" 

There are no really big stars in this, although it is written and directed by Eli Roth, the guiding talent behind the original.  For what the actors are given in terms of the script, they do a decent job, it's just that they weren't given a whole lot to work with.  Those victims do look scared as hell, I have to admit.

I would recommend this to huge fans of the first Hostel.  HUGE fans.  Otherwise, just sit down and watch the original again.  It's a vastly superior movie.  For pure shock and gore factors, it is worth a watch.  6.5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 191: "I can be very respectable."

I've liked the TV show Hogan's Heroes since I was a kid.  When Bob Crane was found dead in 1978, add to that he was murdered, I was blown away.  This guy was Col. Hogan!  What do you mean he was a sex fiend?!?!  I was initially very hesitant to see Auto Focus because I wanted to keep some of my childhood memories what they were.  As most biopics seem to do, Auto Focus embellishes the facts a bit, but the majority of the story seems to be intact.  During his rise to popularity, actor Bob Crane meets photographer/videographer John Carpenter (not the cult horror director), and the two embark on a tumultuous relationship.  Eventually, and tragically, the two begin to delve into the world of, shall we say, "unorthodox" sexual escapades.  It gets, as most vices and addictions do, completely out of control, causing enormous rifts in the friends' relationships as well as Crane's marriage.  The whole thing comes to a tragic head, and the story ends.  It's weird, but the movie never seems to take a stand on any kind of morality, good or bad.  It just kind of tells its story and that's it.

Greg Kinnear plays Bob Crane, coming off at once as both very likeable and unbelievably depraved.  Yet another great performance from Kinnear.  Willem Dafoe is the completely reprehensible Carpenter.  This is the kind of role that a lot of actors will avoid for fear of being typecast, but Dafoe is unafraid here.

I am still unsure if I liked this, but it is a pretty well done movie.  I will probably not watch this again, just because of my personal memories, but it's worth seeing, if just for the background info on Crane and Carpenter's relationship.  6.75/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 190: "This is such a stone-cold pack of wierdos, and I am so proud."

Just finished watching Bridesmaids, and HOLY CRAP!  Thank God I'm a guy and didn't have to go through the nightmare these women did.  I was kind of expecting a half-assed female version of The Hangover, but I got a movie that was funny on its own merits.  The story revolves around two childhood friends, one of whom gets engaged, and the other is, naturally, the Maid of Honor.  The remainder of the bridesmaids are, shall we say, an eclectic group.  There's the snobby bitch who thinks she is the bride's "new" best friend, the "veteran" wife and mom who has had enough of her marriage and kids, the newlywed who attempts to leech marital advice from the "veteran", and the sister of the groom, who could beat the crap out of a bull.  Eclectic.  I wanted to kick the living hell out of half of them.  The first half of the movie is all about the planning and cattiness that surrounds movie weddings.  The back half of the film is when everything just falls apart for the friends.  The Hangover this ain't.

Kristen Wiig stars in this as Annie, and she pulls of the female, train wreck thing beautifully.  She is absolutely hysterical in this and is painful to watch at times, given what she has to endure here.  Maya Rudolph is her best friend, bride-to-be, and really tests the bonds of friendship at times.  The real scene stealer here is Melissa McCarthy.  She is the second funniest person in this movie, behind Wiig.

Bridesmaids is genuinely funny as hell, and like I said at the beginning, I wouldn't willingly wish the female side of a wedding on anyone.  Not to be too much of a male pig, but women are N.  U.  T.  S.  Definitely much better than I thought it would be, and not the rip-off I thought either.  A chick flick with a guy sized raunchy streak.  Give it a whirl.  7.75/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 189: "So...my daughter is just your slam piece?"

I was really hoping that Friends With Benefits was going to be at least marginally better than No Strings Attached.  I was wrong, really wrong.  It was leaps and bounds better.  I was in shock, although I probably shouldn't have been.  Directed by Will Gluck, the same guy who brought audiences the just as surprisingly good, 80's throwback comedy Easy A.  The story revolves around a New York based headhunter who recruits an L.A. art director to uproot and move to the east coast.  The two become good friends then decide to attempt the impossible: becoming Friends With Benefits.  It works for a while, then the usual nightmares of emotional attachments jump in.  I have to say, this is one of the better movies in dealing with the whole sex without commitment thing.  It is alternately fall-off-the-couch funny, then painfully accurate, then it just takes stab after stab at the Hollywood conventions surrounding couples movies.

Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake star as the confused couple, playing off each other wonderfully.  Both of them get better with every role they play.  Woody Harrelson plays the sports director for GQ, the magazine that Timberlake's character now works for.  The guys steals every scene he's in.

I have to say I liked this movie quite a bit.  The on-screen chemistry between all of the characters, the clever script, and the pot-shots at the romantic comedy genre in general make this movie a good waste of an hour and change.  Give it a shot.  7/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 188: "Why don't we have a Powerpoint presentation on spontaneity and fun and figure that one out?"

Oof.  Why do I do this to myself?  Couples Retreat is nothing more than another ninety minute, sitcom based entry in Disasterpiece Theater.  The story of four couples who, in an attempt to create closer relationships, totally screw everything up by going to a tropical resort together.  They not only screw each other up, but they managed to screw up my day as well....I had to sit through this tightly coiled, steaming pile and sift through it looking for something, ANYTHING to enjoy.  Nope.  It's bad enough watching one couple's marriage go bad in a movie, but four?!?!  Jeez...I couldn't wait for it to end.  Even how they are forced to dress at the couples therapy is reminiscent of prison wear. 

The really scary thing about Couples Retreat is the cast.  Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Malin Ackerman, Jean Reno, Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis, Faizon Love, and Kristin Bell are all really good, funny actors on their own, but here, they are just trying way to hard and seem to be competing for the camera's attention.  I found it pretty cool that Jango Fett himself, Temuera Morrison, was in this, but when that is the best part of the movie, it's time for me to turn it off.

I couldn't stand this thing.  I can see what some people may have found amusing or interesting here, but, happily, I was not one of them.  I must have missed the point of this...thank God.  1.5/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 187: "I just missed your heart..."

Not the movie I was at all expecting, Hanna is very much a thinking person's action film.  Watching the advertising, I was sure this was going to be a second rate La Femme Nikita rip-off, happily, I was wrong.  Hanna is the story of a girl who was intentionally raised in the wilderness, away from the distractions of society, in order to become the perfect assassin; not for profit or politics, but in order for her to be able to protect herself.  Instead of the usual, Bruckheimer-esque, perfectly framed, explosionfest, the audience is treated to a character study of the principles.  This allows us to become involved with these people so we actually care when the crap hits the fan.  That having been said, there is still plenty of action and mayhem to keep the most devout action fan watching.  I honestly haven't been this pleasantly surprised by a movie in a long time.  There are a number of points where the movie slows down, but it all comes together and makes for one of the most cerebral action films in years.  An amazingly crafted movie, it's no wonder it didn't do better at the U.S. box office: most of us are morons.  We prefer McDonalds to Mesa Grill.

Saoirse Ronan plays the title role brilliantly, giving at once, an innocence and ice-cold toughness to Hanna.  She looked like she spent the first 16 years of her life in the wilderness, training for any contingency her unfortunate circumstances could bring.  Eric Bana plays her father, Erik Heller; a man ruthlessly hunted for events in his past.  Cate Blanchett is CIA agent Marissa Vikla, the bitch responsible for Hanna and her family's woes.  What a bitch she is, completely stone-cold and unrelenting in her pursuit of Erik and Hanna.

I loved the different directions and twists that Hanna took throughout.  A completely satisfying action movie that has only minor slow down, give it a shot if you're looking for something completely different and absolutely smart as a whip.  Everything from the action to the dialogue to the acting, Hanna is wonderful.  Abstain from the latest summer, popcorn, shoot-em-up, and sit down and enjoy Hanna, or she'll kick your ass.  9.25/10

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 186: "Beast, never forget: mutant and proud."

It's again becoming rare for a comic book movie to be any good.  X-Men: First Class falls into the excellent group of the genre.  As a sucker for an excellent origin story, First Class provides many origin tales, all very well done.  The story of the first group of mutants collected and organized into groups, both fighting for opposing political and moral ideals, the battle lines for the separation and control of mutant-kind are drawn early.  It is going to be almost impossible to go into any detail regarding story without spoilers tripping off of the tongue willy-nilly, but here goes.  A young Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are brought together by the United States government in order to recruit and train a team of mutants to work for the U.S. to battle any superhuman threats that may arise.  They are also assembled in a veiled attempt to register them so that the government will be able to keep tabs on the mutants and their abilities.  Eventually the team is sent to stop the machinations of Sebastian Shaw, a former Nazi who himself has devastating mutant powers.  Note that Lehnsherr discovered his powers while in a concentration camp under the control of Shaw.  Like I said, this plot is deep and layered in ways that comic book movies usually are not.  This is the best installment in the franchise.

James McAvoy is Charles Xavier, the man who founds the X-Men proper and sets up the facitlity to properly train them and attempt to integrate them into society.  he does a marvelous job bringing Xavier's idealism and intensity for his cause to the screen.  Michael Fassbender portrays Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto.  His control of Magneto's unadulterated rage and need, yes NEED, for vengeance is remarkable, and goes well beyond the other portrayal of the master of magnetism (sorry Sir Ian, but he blew your performance out of the water.).  Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique, Nicholas Hoult's Beast, and Kevin Bacon as Sebatian Shaw also deserve recognition here for their performances as well.  Especially Bacon, his Shaw was a rendition I had never seen before, and was a brilliant villian.

I highly recommend First Class, especially if the bad taste of The Last Stand is lingering in your minds.  This is a magnificent reboot of a franchise that was going the way of the Adam West Batman series.  See it, relax and soak in all of the goodness and soul of the comic that was sucked out of the previous films.  I had a blast, and you will too.  9/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 185: "Is that all he said? Because it seemed like there was a lot more."

As off-the-wall, unpredictable, undefinable movies go, Lost In Translation was pretty good.  The story of two uprooted Americans, lost (in multiple ways) in Tokyo.  Bob is an over the hill actor, seduced to Japan for two million dollars to appear in a whiskey advertisement, and Charlotte is the wife of a celebrity photographer, who is left to her own devices during his extended photo shoots.  The two, separated by the most uncomfortable of divides: age, find each other and embark on one of the most....odd relationships I've seen.  Bob, being twice Charlotte's age, can see what direction her marriage is taking.  Having been married twice, he tries to keep the relationship as innocent as it can be, while allowing a deep connection to be formed.  I had a hard time finding a label or genre to put this movie in, and that makes it that much more intriguing.  I really couldn't decide if I liked or disliked this film at first.  Just watching the film, I kept wanting something, ANYTHING, to happen.  As the story unfolded, I came to the realization that I was missing what was happening waiting for some unknown event to happen.  After that, I really liked it.

Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, and injects his own particular brand of humor to Bob's personality without getting completely wacky.  For lack of a better term, it's Bill Murray: refined, and I really liked it.  Scarlett Johansson plays Charlotte with such subtlety and understated emotion, that it was wonderful to watch.  Tis is the type of role that the world needs to see her in, because she is great to watch.  Giovanni Ribisi plays Charlotte's harried husband, a man who has no idea of the jeopardy that his young marriage is in.

I arrived at the conclusion that this is a movie that people will either love or hate, a middle ground is a difficult place to land here.  I am on the side of the former.  An intriguing observation of two lost people finding each other and helping the other to discover what he/she could not find by themselves.  Give it a serious viewing, and you'll walk away with a new understanding of why people need each other.  8/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 184: "If you touch my drum set I will kill you!"

Forgive me folks, got back late last night, so I'm writing this today.  Watched Step Brothers flying in from Vegas.  Very funny.  The story of two adult children, still living at their parents' homes.  The single parents find each other, fall in love, and decide to get married.  That means that the two "boys" are now forced to temporarily live in a single room together.  By the way these guys are in their forties and act like they are in their teens.  Dad eventually reaches his breaking point, and lays the law down: get jobs and move out in a week.  Turmoil ensues and the movie goes from there.

Will Ferrell and the always underrated John C. Reilly star as the two children, and they continue their chemistry that began in Talledega Nights.  I'll never understand why Reilly never gets any leading roles, he's phenomenal.  Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins are their parents, looking exasperated the entire time.  Seriously, as parents, cut the cord earlier, this was a disaster of their own making.

Crude but very funny, it's definitely worth seeing.  8/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 183: "4 counts of indecent exposure, 2 counts of lewd, lascivious behavior, and one count - pure jealousy...".

Here we are gang, THE OFFICIAL HALFWAY MARKER!!!  183 days down, 183 to go, so it's downhill from here.  So movie fans, what do you get when you mix four middle-aged men, Harley Davidson motorcycles, a bad script, and an obscene budget from Buena Vista Pictures?  Wild Hogs.  The story of four guys attempting to fight off the doldrums of middle-age by going on a cross country bike trip from Cincinnati to the Pacific Ocean is played out here like a bad, hour-and-a-half sitcom.  These guys eventually stumble across a "real" biker gang, and they are forced to not only confront the gang, but their own feelings of  inadequacy dealt to each of them through life.  One's got the bland life, one just lost everything, one is henpecked, and the last is a computer nerd with no social skill with the ladies.  Very formulaic and predictable as to how their issues resolve themselves. 

The four guys are played by John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy.  Quite possibly the safest cast one could have asked for.  The main villain is played by my man-crush Ray Liotta, but he pretty much just walks his way through this role.  The only actor to absolutely steal both scenes he is in is John McGinley as a highway patrolman.  Funny as hell.

A safe bet for the whole family, Wild Hogs doesn't do anything to promote or detract from biker culture, but there are better choices for family night.  Give it a shot if you're feeling brave, otherwise, skip it.  I wasn't impressed at all.  5.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 182: "Regardless of the verdict of juries... no player who throws a ball game...will ever play professional baseball again."

I again ask your forgiveness, gentle readers.  I am still in Vegas and am having difficulty completing my assigned task.  Today 9/2 I watched Eight Men Out.  Quite possibly one of the best baseball movies made, it chronicles with a bit of license, of course, the series of events surrounding the most infamous professional baseball teams in history: the 1919 Chicago White Sox.  This team is still considered to be one of the best ever, it is also the team that set the precedent of consequences of betting on baseball.  Several players were bribed by what was assumed to be the mob to throw the World Series.  The movie was great, showing the inside story of what went down, as well as how the sportswriters covering the Series eventually deduced what happened.

There is a galaxy of stars in this: John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, D.B. Sweeney, Clifton James, Michael Rooker, David Strathairn, and Christopher Lloyd only make up a fraction of the remarkable cast.  All of them do a phenomenal job bringing this sports tragedy to life from almost a century ago.

If you like baseball, sports movies, or just plain good films, watch this one.  Just for accuracy's sake, the World Series in 1919 was a best of nine, not seven, as it is today.  Thought I'd clear that up for you ahead of time.  8.5/10.

See you at a better time tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!

Day 181: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANY MORE!!!"

Yet another brilliant film from my Second Golden Age of Movies, Network is one part satire, two parts social commentary, and ten parts brilliance.  Yet another case of a movie poster's tagline being 100% accurate, and in this case: visionary.   Network, put simply, is the story of television and its impact on everything.  Network, put correctly, is the story of Howard Beale.  An over-the-hill anchorman who has just received his two week notice from his employer who is replacing him due to dropping ratings.  He proceeds to have an on-air breakdown where he informs the watching audience that he will shoot himself on live TV the following week as one last defiant act.  The funny thing is, the crew doesn't even notice for a short while.  Several breakdowns in front of the camera, and ratings increases later, an icy, overly ambitious programmer decides to give him his own show to air his "revelations."  From there, everything goes completely to hell.  This movie is one of the best social commentaries disguised as drama that I have ever seen.  In 1976, when this was originally released, TV was a much more innocent creature, and this story must have been one of those, "That would never happen in REAL life" moments that people discussed as they left the theater.  In 2011, however, most of this has already occurred, making Network one of the single most prophetic pieces of film ever produced.

William Holden stars as Max Schumaker, an old school newsman who is seeing the world he loves and dedicated his life to being torn down around him.  Holden puts such passion into the part, I actually think that he believes the character's views himself.  Schumaker is the only scrupulous, principled person in the movie.  Peter Finch is absolutely brilliant as  Howard Beale, a man who has had his entire world taken from him, and is pushed to beyond his breaking point.  The amazingly written diatribes are delivered with a passion that has rarely been seen on-screen.  Faye Dunaway is ice queen Diana Christensen.  A programmer who has, unwisely, put television (as an entity) before her social life, career, and even morals.  Another amazing performance.  Robert Duvall is Frank Hackett, a penny-pinching bureaucrat who represents the corporation running the network.  Ned Beatty has a small part, but his performance was also phenomenal.

Nominated for ten Oscars and winning four (including Finch, who was awarded his Oscar for Best Actor posthumously) Network is a brilliant film on every level that is broached.  One can only wonder how far away modern television programmers are to attempting Network's shocking and controversial ending.  No spoilers here, just watch this movie.  One of the best I've ever seen in every aspect of it's production, from script to cinematography.  10/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!