Well, it was only a matter of time. In the first POWER RANKINGS, I awarded STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS the #1 spot. I thought this was an obvious choice with everything else far behind it. Boy, was I wrong. The South took umbrage with me speaking for him. He stopped short of slapping me with a white glove and challenging me to a duel with pistols, but the message was crystal clear: 2 Separate Power Rankings. I guess secession is just in his blood. So, on the right hand side of the homepage, under the previous posts, you now see this:
We will be able to debate the lists all year, but firstly:
You can go ahead and disregard my list as pictured because there has been movement my friends.
ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTINUES has jumped from the #10 spot to #4!
How does a movie that doesn't open for 9 months do something like that?
Here's Your Answer:
Yup. Apparently, Champ Kind now owns a fried chicken joint!
I absolutely loved Champ Kind in ANCHORMAN and could not have possibly come up with a better or more logical "where are they now" story-line than: Champ now owns a fried chicken joint.
It's just too perfect!
This picture from AICN is more than enough to catapult ANCHORMAN 2 up the list, but we also have been getting tons of stories about who will appear in the much anticipated sequel.
With all of the principals back, plus Kristen Wiig and Harrison Ford, plus a dozen or so other cameos (Luke Wilson? Meryl Streep? Hulk?), you know this movie is going to be all kinds of awesome.
It's taken 9 years (wow, I am getting old), but Ron Burgundy will again ride in mustached-glory!
Here is my new Top 5:
1. STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS 2. IRON MAN 3
3. MAN OF STEEL
4. ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTINUES
5. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES
And here is that sick, new STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS trailer:
Dan Here: If you read the first Past Ebert post you know the drill: Roger Ebert is an American treasure. Reading his work can give you a free film education. That's why it's important to revisit his past musings. Which we do, in this weekly column. Today's Past Ebert is in honor of it's Blu Ray Release :
In 1988, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT was blessed with the gift of movie gifts: A perfect, 4 Star Rating, from our boy! The review is a great read and Ebert was dead on with this statement: Like "2001," "Close Encounters" and "E.T.," this movie is not only great entertainment but a breakthrough in craftsmanship - the first film to convincingly combine real actors and animated cartoon characters in the same space in the same time and make it look real. I've never seen anything like it before.
Indeed, Roger. Indeed. As if this wasn't enough, we have a great bonus:
Here in reverse order, is the North's (correct) Michael Bay List:
8. Bad Boys II
As if there was any doubt, this is Bay's shit of shits. BAD BOYS II is one of the worst movies I have ever watched in it's entirety. Somehow Bay thought it was acceptable for it to be 147 minutes long? Martin Lawrence for 2.5 hours . . . that's 2 hours too long for anybody. It was an abomination. Rotten Tomatoes got it right (11%).
7. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Transformers 3)
The Bad Boys II of the Transformers world. How the hell Chris prefers this to #2 is incomprehensible. This movie had no Megan Fox, too much close-up fighting and they kept Shia LaBeouf in a humorless cage. Nobody puts Shia in a corner. Nobody except, Michael Bay.
6. The Island
It could have been good. I liked the concept, enjoyed the casting, but damn, did it blow. When I saw it in the theater, my date fell asleep. Normally I'd say that was my fault, but I'm giving Bay credit where credit is due. It tried to be a Sci-Fi Thriller and instead its 136 minutes long with 100 minutes of boring, needless dialogue.
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Transformers 2)
Like I said this movie is far greater than #3. We still have some humor left over (Shia, his mother, Bumblebee), the action was fun and you could still make out what was happening on-screen. Was it a great movie? No. Was it a good movie? Probably not. Was it better than #3? No Doubt About It!
4. Bad Boys
Will Smith and stunningly, Martin Lawrence both do well in this movie. It's fun, it has a great look and this was before every movie went to Miami. It was Bay's first movie and he did a good job. He made 3 good films to begin his career. If Bay died in 1998, people would have said he was a genius.
3. Armageddon
I watched the Director's Cut the other night and it was great. It's got the story, the right cast, great ending and the often sought after, but rarely found, in-film hit song. In the summer of 1998 you couldn't go one foot in this country without hearing "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith. If you start typing in Aerosmith on Youtube, it's the first thing that comes up. All of that made for a summer popcorn flick for the ages. If you can get the Director's Cut it's worth another watch.
2. The Rock
Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery. That's all I would have needed, but this movie delivers much more. Ed Harris is great, Cage being Cage when you still were getting to know him, and funny, smart dialogue throughout. This was a serious action movie that made you laugh the whole time. It's like DIE HARD or SCREAM, people are dying, but you're chuckling along the way. Plus, the Ferrari/Humvee Chase Scene is one of the best ever:
So, we know that Bay had a great 3 film start (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon), then basically could have taken off after 1998 and we wouldn't have missed anything. Except if he left, we really would have missed his greatest triumph. Sometime in 2006/007 (ahem deal with the devil!) he got it all back for one brief period. He shook off the critics, put away his over-directing ways and gave us:
1. Transformers
Transformers is a 10 of 10 in my book. It's got everything you could want and audiences went absolutely crazy for it ($700 Million Worldwide). It saw it at a Midnight Opening and the experience was great. The only time I ever heard a theater yell louder, was when people booed Michael Bay's name in the above teaser trailer. He went from his name being booed to people standing up and cheering in the aisles. Like I said, it was truly a blessed year for Bay. Of course, he returned to his old self after this film, but he gave us (at least) one film that will hold up forever.
Well, looks like I won again. Maybe I'll let Chris win one day. Kind of like Cal Naughton Jr. :
Yup. I love WILLOW. I was the perfect age when this hit on VHS/TV. Most people forget this is a Ron Howard movie and it is one of Ron Howard's best movies. It has a good story, fun characters (Kevin Pollak and Billy Barty), a scary-ass witch and of course Madmartigan (the always dope, Val Kilmer). Kilmer is so great in this movie. WILLOW was his first movie after playing Iceman in TOP GUN and only his fourth film. After this, Kilmer was everywhere. Don't let the next generation miss out on the late-80s Lord Of The Rings!
Well you can pretty much take everything I said above and double down. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT is a classic. You've got top tier talent at every level. It's got Mickey, Bugs, Christopher Lloyd, The Weasels and Jessica Rabbit. There are basically two types of people in the world: people who think Jessica Rabbit was hot and nobody else, ever. It was nominated for 6 Oscars and won 3. Most importantly, people ate this movie up in 1988. As of today, it is the 220th Highest Grossing Domestic Film. That's in 1988 money too. It jumps to 174 when adjusted for prices. That's a big time flick, in anybody's terms. How did Jessica Rabbit not get another movie?!?!
LIFE OF PI was my 5th Favorite Film of 2012. This should be a great Blu-Ray, but I'm worried about how the film will play when it's not in 3-D. To date, I've only seen a few films that have really been greatly enhanced by 3-D: AVATAR, THE AVENGERS, OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL and LIFE OF PI. I've also heard DREDD is legit and I think JURASSIC PARK 3-D will be awesome too. However, like AVATAR, LIFE OF PI's story is good, but not great. It was a movie for a 3-D theater experience. The box even says, "The Next AVATAR. A Visual Miracle." Well Time Magazine was right. It was a "visual miracle". Too bad 95% of home viewers will miss it.
Director Michael Bay catches a lot of shit from movie critics and bloggers
like me (and deservedly so, for the most part). He's brash, over-the-top, predictable, and often sacrifices story/characters for big effects and easy thrills. He has even been accused of stealing shots and ideas from other filmmakers.
But the fact of the matter is
that his movies make a lot of money – and I mean A LOT OF MONEY. That is what Bay is: a big-time action, music-video style, popcorn movie kind of filmmaker, and he seems more than happy to fill that role. He likes guns, explosions, hot girls, and car chases . . . well damn, sometimes I like those things in a movie too. And while his movies are mostly mindless entertainment, there are worse ways I could spend two hours.
And maybe it’s me getting older or
getting wiser (film-wise at least) but his earlier movies were (and still are)
more enjoyable – I still really enjoy the first Bad Boys, Armageddon, the
first Transformers, and even The Rock (on the other hand, Pearl Harbor, The Island,
Bad Boys II, Transformers 2 are all certifiable shit, no doubt). Sure,
even his best does not amount to very high cinematic standards, but sometimes it is nice
to just sit back and enjoy the ride.
You just have to know what to
expect from a Michael Bay film – try to make it out to be something more than it
is and you will be disappointed. And when he tries to take on something that
is clearly out of his comfort zone – such as the ethics-exploring sci-fi of
The Island or a war drama like Pearl Harbor – he fails spectacularly. It
is like Hollywood, especially with the Transformers
franchise, has given him too many toys to play with (pun intended). Bigger does not always mean better.
So it was interesting to hear,
while doing press rounds for the last Transformers,
Bay’s desire to dial it back for a while and concentrate on smaller-scaled
films. Last year, he described an in-the-works character-driven, “Pulp
Fiction-like project” with a
relatively small budget of $20 million (compared to the almost $200 million average
for each of the Transformers that's miniscule).
Now I am not totally sure about
the comparisons to Pulp Fiction, but
the resultant film is Pain & Gain, due out in theaters
in April. Pain & Gain follows a trio
of bodybuilders in Florida who get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping
scheme that goes terribly wrong. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony
Mackie, Ed Harris, and Tony Shaloub.
And guess what? It actually looks
pretty good, right? It still has lots of trademark Bay-isms, but he definitely tones it down. It looks like an interesting and entertaining story with
some humor and action, plus more-than-appropriate roles for Wahlberg and The
Rock (who are both so often miscast, but seem to get it right here).
But do not expect this newfound
Michael Bay-appreciation to last, he is already hard at work on Transformers 4 (and apparently Bad Boys 3 too). So we will see how Pain & Gain really goes before we
give him too much credit.
So in closing, I leave you with my rankings for all of Michael Bay's films, and expect my partner Dan to add his list soon.
The North Reviewing (contains some spoilers): "Wow! They did it!" That was my reaction to watching OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL. The "they" in that sentence being: Disney, James Franco and most namely, Sam Raimi. They made an oustanding individual film. As well as revived a great, but sometimes disregarded (thanks Chris), dormant franchise. Two monumentally difficult (and risky) tasks to accomplish. With his performance, James Franco silences all his leftover critics (like me) from his horrible turn hosting the Academy Awards in 2011. Franco turns in a modern, smart and funny performance as Oscar Diggs, the would-be Wizard of Oz. The character is a womanizing, not-actually-wizardy at all, con-artist/carnival magician at the crossroads of his life. He shows glimpses of being good at heart, but we are not assured of it. Over the course of the film we are constantly delighted by his simple, but witty dialogue and reactions to the wild and wacky events transpiring on-screen. He feels real and we really get a feel for him. Eventually, both Franco and Oscar win us over.
The in-flux Oscar lands in the Land of Oz and is thrown into an on-going, power struggle that has ruined it and the once-great Emerald City. He is quickly befriended by a witch named Theodora (Mila Kunis), who does not gives us her requisite "Good or Wicked and Directional" title. Just like everyone in this film, she has yet to become the lasting and final version of herself. Theodora and her sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz) are basically keeping the leaderless, unhappy Emerald City running after the death of their father, a great, real wizard. A wicked witch has run roughshod over the Oz and they think Oscar is the wizard from a prophecy who can save them. The plot is very familiar, but Sam Raimi's superb direction saves and elevates this film.
Rami's film is not THE WIZARD OF OZ, it is not a musical. The original has multiple, treasured songs. This has half of one. He took a lot of chances in his film and they almost all pay off. We do not get musical numbers, but we do receive tons of homages to the original: It starts with a funny, but serious black/white (and box screen) sequence in Kansas. It sets up the film and ends with a beautiful, 3-D, color reveal that was super impressive on a large screen. There are funny/needy/helpful side characters (some pulling double duty from Kansas), hot-air balloons, wicked witches, flying monkeys, poppy fields, scarecrows, munchkins, etc. All of these things get to play around in refreshingly light spaces. Raimi stayed away from the dark, heavy-handed scenery and retelling that films like the new, bitter ALICE IN WONDERLAND strive to show off. It was definitely to our mutual benefit. The film gets better as it goes along and we get a very satisfying battle for Oz. It ends right where Disney wants: ripe for the next chapter. We want to see more of everybody in this film and you can bet they will give it to us.
So far, OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL is the best movie of 2013 and is a must-see. It did something most reboots/prequels/sequels, cannot: It carved out it's own identity, while staying true to many facets of the original. We get snappy dialogue, great cinematography and stunning use of 3-D. Most importantly, we get to revisit a world everyone (except Chris) loves. Everything takes place in a very fresh, fun way with many enjoyable characters. As for the lack of music in Oz: they didn't have much to sing about. Being terrorized by witches and their minions will do that.
You may have noticed we dropped the "s" from our name. Now we sound like a blog, not a production company. Same two jerks, same old North/South, new URL. NorthSouthFilm.Blogspot.Com It looks good, sounds good and most importantly, it's cleaner.
