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The Film Habit #19 - September 10, 2004 Hopefully the flu can’t be caught through the internet; otherwise I’ve probably given you all a healthy case of the snot bubblies by now. I’ve been eight kinds of sick all week, which works out ok since I’ve got dozens of hours of “Magnum P.I.” to watch in order to get my review of the first season DVD set out in something resembling a timely manner. On the negative though, my incessant coughing frightens my Beagle and has the nasty side-effect of limiting my hours of sleep. Last night I got five and found that to be pretty good. With luck the coughing will abate before tonight when I head out to catch Resident Evil: Apocalypse, not that anyone will probably mind if they can’t hear the crappy RE2 dialogue over my hacking.
Having the black lung also left me plenty of time to put a nice sheen on the annual summer movie box office wrap-up that Brody and I do together. We’re pretty proud of this one, so I’ve been doing my best to shove it down your collective throats. This gives me another chance, so make sure you run over to the FEATURES section and read Summer Box Office 2004: The Chronicles of Critics. I blame Brody for the cheesy title. We’ll do our best to make it equally cheesy next year. Summer Box Office 2005: Critics in Disguise anyone? Dive in to the Mail Sack  I’m going to change The Film Habit format a little bit this week and instead of coming up with something original and intelligent to say (not that I’ve ever done that anyway) take this space to answer a little reader mail that rolled in this week. Usually I just ignore all of you, but every once in awhile you’ve got to give even the most ill-tempered old dog a pat on the head. A special thanks to all you emailers for holding off on the death threats.
Shyamalan is Hitch Reincarnated Mike B: I agree with your review of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. I too thought the story could have been better done. Shyamalan did mess up on this one but I don't think he screwed up on being the next Hitchcock. There were two scenes of this film that have stuck out in my mind: the first was the scene in which the "creatures" are "invading" the town and Ivy is "saved" by Lucius. The other scene was when Noah stabs Lucius. These two scenes have made me convinced that Shyamalan just messed up on the story this time, but still has his visual style to become the next Hitchcock. If he messes up his next movie, I know he is not going to be. Bryce Dallas Howard is the only great part of this movie! Josh: I suppose even Hitchcock didn’t hit a homerun every time, though I’d be hard pressed to come up with a Hitch flick that missed as badly as The Village. There is some nice imagery in the movie, but even that often seemed a little forced. As for Bryce Dallas Howard, she does have a great screen presence and may even some day be a fantastic actress… as long as she isn’t asked to be convincing as a blind person. I suspect she was merely nearsighted. People Hate Us for Hating AvP Unnamed AVP Fan: Pretty narrow minded and lackluster review of the movie. "The Predator removes his mask as if he wants to kiss" ? What kind of shallow kick to the movie's groin is this? Obviously you have bad taste for action/horror and this film could deffinately been worse... Funny with all your snot-faced teenage like crap talking on the movie it's still #1 in the box office, shows what you know lol. Josh: Actually I’m 27. Perhaps you’re referring to the scooper review which we ran in BNN a couple of months back. If so, get with the times and go read our more recent and official kick to the Predator groin. Then you may come back and laugh out loud if you wish. Calling me a teenager certainly shows what I know. Dustin: if u read the book they came out with about 6 years ago,you would understand the move 7 times better then what u commented on. For simple reason in the movie it doesnt tell you what the predator was thinking.In the book it does so he has a good reason not metnioned in the movie to help the girl Josh: Dear Dustin, stop reading crappy Alien vs Predator books and try picking up a classic. Just because you find a book on the floor of Goodwill and can purchase it with only the loose change in your pocket doesn’t mean that book is worth your time to read. Might I recommend Heinlein, Herbert, or better still Douglas Adams? That is if you have a sense of humor. If not, go give Asimov a try. He’s all about robots. They don’t laugh either. PS – The great thing about Microsoft Word is that can correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors. All three! i know,Im too lazy to ues it too. We Do Muppets Right  Barb Schober (a fellow fan): Hi Josh. I just wanted to thank you for the great article you wrote
about the new Farscape trailer. Your support is much appreciate!
K Taylor: Thank you so much for that little piece about the Farscape trailer at apple.com. It's such a great TV show so it's great when you see it getting the attention it deserves. Plus, the trailer itself looks awesome! blue (member of savefarscape.com): Thanks so much for your mention of Farscape at cinemablend. I thought you might like to know that I've added some excerpts from your comments to a list of critics quotes re Farscape that I have been compiling. David Brown: Thank you Joshua for giving Farscape some love. :) I am always glad to find stories that promote my favorite little show from down under. Thanks a bunch, you rock! Nicola Wood: Just want to thank you for your article about the new Farscape Trailer. I am a huge fan of the show and am looking forward to the mini-series with great anticipation. I hope it does well, and articles such as yours can only help. Thanks again for supporting my favourite show. Josh: It’s funny how people who send hate mail barely include their first name, but people who send us love not only include their last name, but actual web addresses where we could track them down and conceivably give them presents. I have no presents, but if I did well… I’d probably keep them for myself. Still, good to know I’m not the only guy out there trumpeting “Farscape”. It’s cool to like CGI ogres, but people seem afraid to show love for Muppet driven science fiction. “Farscape” is quite probably my favorite show ever to hit television, you’d be hard pressed to get me to shut up about it. Glad I could do my part. Asians Don’t Breath Helium  Pete Walters: Well, you sure missed the boat on that one. You should know that
helium has nothing to do with the fight scenes. (To imply such shows
ignorance and ethnocentrism.) You should know that these characters
are the Chinese versions of Superman, Spider-Man, the X-men. This is
not a George Lucas film. It is a product of China, and if you do not
interpret a sign from its producing culture then you have lost the
meaning.
I don't know what your background is or what your qualifications are, but I think you show a general lack of knowledge in this one review. (Sorry, I'm not going to do research on you.) Why, when you speak of "plot structure" do you give us "story sequence"? Where's the review of the amazing visual story telling that Zhang acheives? The film is an epic genius by telling stories as plot points that DO change the emotional balance. In every version of the story, the character's actions are true, and there are glimpses of the truth. Snow was rash and impulsive in the first telling and the last telling. She stabbed Broken Sword in all three versions. But the motives for each stabbing changes. This is just one example of characterization staying true to each telling, until we eventually find truth. (You hinted at this, yes.) One could write an entire dissertation on the use of color alone from this film. Sure we had color schemes for each version. But each scene also had the heavier yang and lighter yin. This film is rich. Rich, rich, rich. A fantastic tragedy, with tragic heroes at every turn. Yes, it is like ballet. What a fascinating media. I do not mean to go on and on and off and off. I see that you generally liked this film. But your ethnocentrist remarks say more about you than it does the film. I'm sure you know that. Josh: Heya Pete! You too might consider reading Asimov. Speaking of missing the boat, what’s all this about helium? Are you telling me that they didn’t REALLY swallow helium? That’s crazy talk sir and I’ll not hear any more of it. For the record, I don’t have any qualifications at all (didn’t realize I needed a special card to watch movies) and what’s more I am not the least bit Chinese… anymore. However, I’m glad you enjoyed Hero. Since you took the trouble to email me, I’m sending you a complimentary pack of Crayolas. It contains many colors, perhaps you can write a dissertation on them instead. me to get your letter read on the air! You may have to wait till we get a radio show. What to Watch Criminal opens in limited release this week and yeah, it’s another caper movie. There’s one every week isn’t there? Much like serial killer movies or indie movies about pathetic nerds, they’re a dime a dozen in any theater, art house or otherwise. Sticking John C. Reilly in it sadly doesn’t mean it’s good. My John C. love is fading quickly in a post-Chicago world. When’s he going to quit doing this sort of mediocre garbage and make his move? Maybe he’s holding out for Boogie Nights 2. Cellular is a sequel of sorts to Phone Booth, even though it was written independently of it and features entirely different people. Why a studio would be desperate to have a follow up to phone both is beyond me and beyond a phone-theme I don’t see what the two movies have in common. Phone Booth is a claustrophobic little tale of creative terror… Cellular looks like a standard find the killer thriller starring a guy best known for a movie he hasn’t even made yet. Any movie that encourages people to drive while talking on their cell phones should be boycotted.  The thing to see this weekend is the sequel to a movie sneered at by the hardcore zombie fan, but generally embraced by the brain numbed public, which I guess includes me. It isn’t the greatest movie ever castrated from an undead corpse, but I had a lot of fun with the original Resident Evil and really dug the work of Michelle Rodriguez in particular. Michelle hasn’t made it into part two, but the delicious Milla Jovovich has, reprising her role as Alice. This time she has super-zombie killing powers. Granted, that part of it sounds like it’ll suck and the shot in the trailer where she runs down a building really makes me cringe. Still, the fun of the original might be there. If Paul W.S. Anderson could squeeze a semi-decent movie out of the first one, imagine what someone else (anyone else) could do with the concept. Run out and see Resident Evil: Apocalypse with me this weekend, let’s hope for the best.
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