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The Film Habit #34 - January 12, 2005 It’s been a rotten week for me here at Cinema Blend, what with my massive Racing Stripes snafu. If you didn’t catch it, good. If you did… whoops, it has been corrected. Folks, truth is I’m a better writer than I am a proofreader… and since I’m not the world’s most stunning writer, well that gives you an idea about my skills as a typo-corrector. I’m not a detail oriented guy, I tend to be more “big picture” which means I suck at getting little things right, at least without a lot of effort.
I do my best to put forward the necessary effort, but playing proofreader just isn’t something that comes naturally to me. Little things occasionally trip me, like knowing who the proper distributor is for the movie I’m writing about, even though I’ve looked it up three times and distinctly remember it being Disney even though my notes plainly say it is Warner Brothers. Ok, most of my mistakes are usually in the form of tiny typos, but every once in awhile they are bigger. Bear with me, I’m doing the best I can! Till then, think of any typo you find as part of Cinema Blend’s unique charm. Spelling mistakes are sexy! Besides, aren’t typos a sign of intelligence? Or is that not being able to tie your shoes? me to bitch about typos and be ignored. Outside Looking In  A month ago, no one had even heard of Million Dollar Baby, today it is absolutely the number one Best Picture Oscar contender. I feel miserably left out in the cold. Not just because I haven’t seen Million Dollar Baby (the defective screener they sent me makes a lovely coaster) but because none of the films I loved this year seem to be getting much serious awards consideration. Even the greatness of The Aviator seems to be getting only cursory consideration up against Million Dollar Baby and a pack of nice, but (to me) not that noteworthy movies like Sideways and Eternal Sunshine. Giamatti for instance does some really nice work in Sideways, but it is nowhere near as good as the stuff he did in the mostly ignored film American Splendor. Eternal Sunshine is a very good movie, but one that like everything associated with Charlie Kaufman leaves me emotionally cold and disconnected. Or take all the hubbub over Jamie Foxx’s work in Ray. I liked it, but thought he was so much better in Collateral where his performance was more delicate and subtle (Note to awarders, he is NOT a supporting actor in Collateral!).
This is the first year I haven’t at least had a Lord of the Rings movie in top contention to root for. As a result, I feel strange, and a little flemmy. It’d be nice if I could buy into the “awards don’t matter” mantra everyone likes to throw around. However, sad fact is that they do. Awards mean more attention, and attention means more viewers, and more viewers means that movie is likely to be remembered a couple of decades from now instead of slipping into misty obscurity. So while the rest of you are out there rooting for this stuff, I’ll be out here in the dark squeezing my stuffed Mr. Incredible. At least that movie is a lock for the animation category. The Aviator will not be so lucky. My already limited interest in the Academy Awards wanes further with every pre-Oscar award announcement. Luckily I’ll have Oscar Chat 4 to get me through it.  Whether or not something I’m rooting for wins, at least the Academy Awards aren’t rigged. That’s something that cannot be said for the increasingly irrelevant “People’s Choice Awards”, whose ceremony was held in the past week. Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Passion of the Christ actually won in two separate Best Picture categories, a virtual impossibility if you think about it. These are the two most divisive movies of the year. At best; half of the people who saw them absolutely hate them. With such a strong contingent opposing both films, there’s no way either should have won out over something much more universally popular. But, “People’s Choice” is now rigged to favor fanatics. This year, voting was carried out online and deliberately set up so that users could vote as many times as they want. No film has more fanatical lunatics following it than The Passion, except perhaps Fahrenheit 9/11. So The Passion’s nuts clicked a million times for Jesus, and the Fahrenheit 9/11 fans clicked a million times as a show of support for whoever it is that they’re supporting now as an answer to Bush. This year’s People’s Choice winners are not in any way representative of the people’s choice, but rather the award is now only a snapshot of the obsessive tastes of a minority, fringe few. Rigged. Skewed. Ridiculous.
me with Sideways love. Letters From Close Enough to the Edge to See the View But Not So Close That There is Danger of Falling Off  Guided by the spirit of the small Asian woman to your left (who I really need to replace with something more snazzy), I answer reader mail. It’s new, it’s innovative, and no doubt this idea will be ripped off by thousands of copycats, like that hack David Letterman. your comments to have them read on the… er answered here. Let’s see what you folks have to say this week: Cliff: I would argue that Moulin Rouge was responsible for the success and revitalization of musicals. Why does everybody act like Chicago did it? I never saw it and wasn't interested, compared to the aforementioned musical starring Nicole Kidman at her most gorgeous. Was Moulin too lovey dovey? Josh: I’m with you. Chicago gets all the credit, Moulin Rouge did all the heavy lifting. Cat: im a very big fan of phantom of the opera. i am soon going to be having singing lessons in school to be abl to sing like christina, so hopefully with all the merchandise i can love phantom even more, even though that will be very hard since i LOVE IT SO MUCH ALREADY! hope the competetion isnt over Josh: You may some day sing like Christina, but you email like Slingblade. Wrong email address. Again. Falice Spears: Hey Bill, I Just read your review of Chronicles of Riddick. Liked it! But maybe I can help you to understand the movie a bit better. The movie is actually a trilogy with Vin Diesel playing Riddick in a movie called Pitch Black. I think this is a little known fact since when we were renting Chronicles of Riddick this savvy young manager at Block Buster started down this road of did you know this is the second movie of a trilogy.......... You can watch Riddick and do OK but It really makes a lot more since IF you watch Pitch Black first and then Chronicles. Well anyway we rented both movies and watched them in concession. Wow! The first movie is very different from the first but together make much since together........If you haven't rent Pitch Black and then watch Chronicles of Riddick! Both are really great movies although directed by the same person, they are there own movie with different plots. Try this and I think chronicles will make much more sense, to ya! I can't wait to see #3. Thanks for your hard work and sorry if you already knew this, but it just seemed from your review you needed some enlightening, DISCLAIMER: This message is intended for the sole use of the addressee, and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the addressee you are hereby notified that you may not use, copy, disclose, or distribute to anyone the message or any information contained in the message. If you have received this message in error, please immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete this message. Josh: Your first name is a penis and your last name is a Brittney. You are a very special person. And scary. Alas, I’m afraid our critic Bill may have a long wait for the completion of your trilogy… since the second one flopped and a third isn’t going to happen. Since Bill knows that and you don’t, I suspect his understanding of the movie may be a little bit better than yours. However, your disclaimer is lovely and well thought out… unfortunately completely irrelevant since you sent the email to us of your own free will and thus it is legally our property and ours to do with as we choose. I printed a copy out just now and stuck it down my pants. Hello! You’re on the air. Cliff: “The people have spoken and the people are, generally speaking, pretty f'ing stupid.” Couldn't have said it better myself. Proof that MTV is still alive and kicking out there somewhere. Now go drink your fluoride. Josh: Cliff, you are becoming a serial emailer. Good. Now stop agreeing with me so I can make fun of you. Ok, I guess I’ll just say thanks. Thanks! Hey! Do you like writing for mildly successful movie websites with no guarantee that you’ll ever be paid? Are you over 18? You’re in luck. CinemaBlend.com is looking for writers just like you. If you think you can capture the signature Cinema Blend style as a DVD critic and/or BNN reporter send me an with a few samples and we’ll talk. |
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