Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends We're so glad you could attend Come inside! Come inside!
Wait, let's try that again:
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends We're so glad you could attend Come inside! Come inside!
That's right, my friends, after four-and-a-half years, Blog Cabins will be no more. Some months back, I got a message from my friend and fellow blogger Kai Parker of The List. It said, "I am drunk so bear in mind when reading! :) If we were smart, we would get together with a handful of other bloggers we know and build one big Mega-blog-site." Much to his surprise, I replied with, "Not shitting you...I've been thinking about this kind of thing for a while, and especially lately, but wondered who to ask and whether or not anyone would have interest."
Thus, a new website was born. Chalk it up to any number of things: boredom, a desire for a new challenge, the appeal of a new partnership - whatever it was, there it is. Kai and I are each ceasing operations on our existing sites (the URL will still function, but there will be no new posts) and have begun a new journey, one that can be found at our new home:
We have high hopes and big goals for our new site. It will feature lists (of course), reviews of new releases, classic films and vault picks, news, trailers, editorials, festival/awards coverage, games and hopefully everything in between. There will be additional contributors (let us know if you're interested!) helping us along the way, too. Basically, we've spent much of the last two months working on the site (thank god the Ladies of the 90s tourney was here to keep this place going over that time; watch for the Dudes of the 90s tourney over at Insight Into Entertainment, going on now) and we're really excited about what we've got. We hope that you'll come visit us and give us a warm welcome.
So thanks to all of you that visited BC over the years - it was a blast and wouldn't have been without everyone that visited and commented and all that other sappy stuff that people say. Mucho thanks as well to Kai for joining me on this new journey as well. It's gonna be a blast - join us!
[Note: this site is no longer publishing new content - please come check out my awesome new site, Man, I Love Films! http://manilovefilms.com. Thanks!]
The voters in our last MOTM poll overwhelmingly selected Oldboy as this month's film, and it's not hard to see why. Chan-wook Park's genre-spanning 2003 film shockingly was not an instant classic, but has become more than a cult icon in the eight years since its release, climbing the IMDb Top 250 (it currently sits at #97) and, more importantly, becoming more and more known as one of the quintessential Asian films of the new century.
For those unfamiliar with it, the plot synopsis from IMDb:
"An average man is kidnapped and imprisoned in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, Oh Dae-Su soon finds out that his kidnapper has a greater plan for him and is set onto a path of pain and suffering in an attempt to uncover the motive of his mysterious tormentor."
First up, the links! Thanks to all of the LAMBs that sent in their posts for this edition of the MOTM. Be sure to check out the varied opinions on this controversial film over at the LAMB.
It's also time to vote on next month's movie. I've included many of the choices from last month, but swapped a few out to keep it interesting. You have one week to vote.
As we do every month, the LAMBcast is tied into the MOTM. We had a jam-packed show with six participants for our MOTM-theme, with Nick, Jason, Kai, Jess, Univarn and Dylan on board. Bonus: there's a SHOCKER of an announcement given by a couple of the participants. You won't believe it when you hear it!
Also on tap:
* (An epic) Rants of the Week
* Trailer Talk: Conan the Barbarian * Last LAMB Standing
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Music provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech website. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service. The LAMBcast loves feedback, too. Either here in the comments section or to blogcabins@yahoo.com or to our Facebook page. Also, we're on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it's a bad one.
Thanks for listening!
If you haven't seen Oldboy then you can either rent it or watch it online with LOVEFiLM - the home of free movies online.
[Note: this site is no longer publishing new content - please come check out my awesome new site, Man, I Love Films! http://manilovefilms.com. Thanks!]
BEGINNER
EXPERT
Standings:
J.D. - 47
TheGreatWhiteDope - 35.5
Steel11Kane (Kano) - 8
Dreamrot (smacdonn), simoncolumb - 7
Nick, Wendymoon, Stevee Taylor, BD79 - 6
Clive Dangerously, Justin, JLG, Mad Hatter, Rachel - 5
Jason/Daniel, David Bishop, Jason Soto, Andy, TheAnswerMVP2001 - 3
TJMAC510 - 2.5
Evan Derrick, Alex - 2
TonyD, Luke Harrington, Adam Ross, Anders, Dave, Big Mike Mendez, Nic Cage, CaptainRon19, Anh Khoi Do, Tom, Andy the Time Lord, French Toast Sunday - 1
Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:
[Note: this site is no longer publishing new content - please come check out my awesome new site, Man, I Love Films! http://manilovefilms.com. Thanks!]
It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.
Priest What will be next in the one-word title, quasi-religious, zombpire trilogy from star Paul Bettany and director Scott Charles Stewart? One can hardly hold back their need to know.
My best bet is this: Dominion, starring, of course, Bettany, as well as Sharlto Copley, Idris Elba, and Rachel Bilson. Set 4300 years into the future, Dominion centers on a broken down man named Jacob (Bettany) questioning his faith in Zheyahu (the name that the people of that time will be calling their deity) after his lifepartner (wife) and malespring (son) are taken from him by a man known only as The Shemanatrix. However, The Shemanatrix holds a secret dear to humanity; all may not be as it seems. Meanwhile, the enemies of Zheyahu have targeted Jacob as the leader in a movement to oust the apolitical zombies of Leftanthsaville. Or something.
All jokes aside, as bad as Legion looked (and apparently was), and as much as I got a similar vibe from Priest when first seeing the trailer, I have to say that I have a glimmer of optimism that it just might be decent - that the commentary on organized religion just might be enough to suck me in, provided that I can ignore the ridiculous monster aspect to the proceedings. Doubtful, I know.
Dylan's Under Normal Circumstances Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 45%
Bridesmaids If you've heard me talking about the trailers on the LAMBcast, you know that I haven't been sold on the quality of this so-called "female Hangover." However, I've got it on multiple words that it is no copycat, that this (yes) Apatow-produced chick flick brings the funny - and not nearly represented solely by the gross-out humor of the trailer(s) - but also brings the heart. Even bigger, it features female characters that just might be real people, and not shrill wannabrides or one-note caricatures. I'm still worried about the treatment Melissa McCarthy is shown in the trailer ("Get it? She's fat!"), but I have to say that, especially with a lack of other films I'm interested in seeing in theaters at the moment, I'm kind of interested in checking this out.
Dylan's Under Normal Circumstances Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 78%
[Note: this site is no longer publishing new content - please come check out my awesome new site, Man, I Love Films! http://manilovefilms.com. Thanks!]
Enjoy!
Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week: I completely spaced out last week, forgetting that I had seen two films in the prior week that I hadn't seen before. And they both happen to be Bruce Willis films released in 2010, for that matter. Weirdness.
Red It's the anti-Adventureland. The marketing for Greg Mottola's 2009 coming-of-age tale apparently had a number of people thinking they were walking into Superbad II. Many walked out angry (I loved it, if you recall).
Red, on the other hand, appeared to be a fun-but-mostly-dumb, over-the-top action flick, resting on the laurels of its one-joke setup ("Haha, look - old people firing machine guns and such!"). The sight of Bruce Willis cassssuuuualllyy gliding out of a vehicle and into a sober walk as the car spun out of control might have looked pretty damn cool, but was also apt to roll more than a few eyeballs (like mine).
So it's with great pleasure that I'm able to say that it was a great pleasure to see Red. There's a knowing wink to the action in Red that acknowledges, "Hey, we know we're doing some over-the-top shit here. But we know it, you know it, and we're going to move on from that point, alright?" And move on I (and it) did. Backing up a bit, Red sucks you in from the start with its framework. Willis plays Frank Moses, one of those retired spooks that never even gets to live into retirement in all those other spy books and movies; he's the kind of guy that "knows too much to live." He's meant to keep working until it kills him or he's put out to pasture - should he ever wish to get out, he's to receive a response akin to what mob movies teach out (i.e. there's no getting out once you're in).
But Frank is out, and while he's not suicidal or anything, it comes as no shock that a globe-trotting spy is bored with the life of a typical retiree, reading books and doing crossword puzzles. So he rips up his benefit checks so he can continue to have a reason to call Mary Louise Parker's Sarah, a government office drone also looking for some excitement and travelling.
From there, the plot is set in action. As it turns out, someone wants Frank dead, and the bulk of the film is him teaming up not only with old friends but old adversaries to solve the mystery, all the while dodging the 21st century version of a guy kinda like him, personified by the ever-appealing Karl Urban.
Red is a blast. The one-joke setup turns out to have more ammo than it would appear to, assisted no doubt by a cadre of top shelf thespians, from Malkatraz to Mirren to Freeman and Brian Cox. A "travel postcard" transition device adds a unique charm to the standard action flick as well.
Fletch's Film Rating:
Expectation: "Darn tootin."
Reality: "It's in the hole!"
LAMBScore:
Cop Out Ah yes, the infamous film known mostly for the fact that is was NOT written by Kevin Smith.
Smith is, however, wise enough to get my ears perked up immediately by nabbing 80s icon Harold Faltermeyer to score his film, immediately aligning it (though it doesn't look so hot in comparison, sadly) with such films as Beverly Hills Cop and Fletch. Hell yeah! The post-credits scene even goes so far as to play "Bit by Bit" (aka the Fletch theme), barely stopping short of the part in the lyrics where Fletch's name is mentioned.
Cop Out has a few memorable moments - chief among them the opening "hommage" scene and just about any time Seann William Scott is on screen (in a bizarre role, by the way) - but is let down mostly by a poorly cast villain and a plot that hinges upon a valuable baseball card. Even coming from someone who still has a stash of cards from the 80s and 90s in his house somewhere, this felt like way too nerdy a device for a supposedly cool customer like Willis' protagonist. Besides, the chain of events that puts the plot in motion to recover the stolen card might just have you wondering, "What about eBay, dummy?"
Fletch's Film Rating:
Expectation: "Whatever."
Reality: "Whatever."
LAMBScore:
Music I'm currently obsessed with listening to: * I've had this in my head for the last two days and I have no idea why...now it's your turn.
Book I'm currently reading: * I finally (finally!) finished the Dahl Onmibus. Appropriately, it ends with a short story called "Bitch." That thing was a tedious read. See earlier States for my reasons why on that front. In short - excellent storyteller, bizarre, world-crushingly depressing stories. He could've written a two-word book rather than this 600+ page tome, consisting merely of "Humanity sucks."
Today I picked up two Elmore Leonard novels. I've never read a page of Leonard, and shame on me, since I love/like/have a soft spot for every single movie that's been adapted from his work. Even The Big Bounce and Touch, and no one saw or liked those.
I bought Get Shorty and another one whose name I can't recall right now (that hasn't been adapted, as far as I know). I've seen Get Shorty a number of times and love it, and I normally abhor reading books after I've seen their adaptations, but if any book could convince me, it's this one. If the book is half as good as the movie, it'll be awesome (and somehow, it will probably be better, if I can let go of the film enough to go along for the ride).
Things to Click On * You couldn't possibly have missed the Life in Movies blog-a-thon, could you? (By the way, I posted "answers" to mine in the comments section of that post, if you're still baffled.) (Fandango Groovers Movie Blog)
* I pretty much picked away at this post of Univarn's, but that doesn't mean it's not a good, interesting post. (A Life in Equinox)
* It's time for an all-new season of one of my new favorite podcasts, Lee and Dan's Midnight Movie Club. I've never seen this first film of the new season, but check their back catalog - lots of 80s and 90s goodness to be found on this funny podcast.
* James caught Predator for the first time, and I was surprised and pleased with his superb review. (Cinema Sights)
[Note: this site is no longer publishing new content - please come check out my awesome new site, Man, I Love Films! http://manilovefilms.com. Thanks!]
Jess hosts a roundtable discussion of romantic comedies: the good, the bad, and the just plan unwatchable. Is the genre more than just Katherine Heigl and Kate Hudson flicks? Does The Princess Bride count as a rom-com? Is the term 'rom-com' an insult? Jess, Rachel, Nick, James and Dylan attempt to answer all of these questions and more.
We'd also like to give a special shout-out to Clara of Just Chick Flicks, who was there and more than willing to participate in this discussion that was tailor-made for her and her site, but was unable to thanks to some technical issues.
Also on tap:
* Rants of the Week
* Trailer Talk: Bridesmaids
* Last LAMB Standing
Music provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech website. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service. The LAMBcast loves feedback, too. Either here in the comments section or to blogcabins@yahoo.com or to our Facebook page. Also, we're on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it's a bad one.
[Note: this site is no longer publishing new content - please come check out my awesome new site, Man, I Love Films! http://manilovefilms.com. Thanks!]
BEGINNER
EXPERT
Standings:
J.D. - 47
TheGreatWhiteDope - 35.5
Steel11Kane (Kano) - 8
Dreamrot (smacdonn), simoncolumb - 7
Nick, Wendymoon, Stevee Taylor, BD79 - 6
Clive Dangerously, Justin, JLG, Mad Hatter, Rachel - 5
Jason/Daniel, David Bishop, Jason Soto, Andy, TheAnswerMVP2001 - 3
TJMAC510 - 2.5
Evan Derrick, Alex - 2
TonyD, Luke Harrington, Adam Ross, Anders, Dave, Big Mike Mendez, Nic Cage, CaptainRon19, Anh Khoi Do, Tom, Andy the Time Lord - 1
Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:
[Note: this site is no longer publishing new content - please come check out my awesome new site, Man, I Love Films! http://manilovefilms.com. Thanks!]
That Fandango has done it again.
In other words, Andy over at Fandango Groovers Movie Blog has come up with another excellent community blogging event (it transcends blog-a-thon!) for us all to partake in. I would hope that you can tell from the banner what it's supposed to be, but here's the skinny from the horse's mouth:
Inception, Toy Story 3, Winter’s Bone, Sex and the City 2 - what was your favourite movie of 2010? That’s an easy question you probably know the answer without giving it a second thought. But what about your favourite from five years ago, or ten, or event the year you were born? Now that’s a little harder.
I am inviting fellow bloggers to tell us what their favourite movies are from each year of their life so far. You can put as much or as little effort into you list as you wish. It could just be a list of movies, you may with to add a sentence or two about the movies or what they mean to you, you can brighten it up with images, posters or trailers. The choice is yours.
So, below is my list. I went at this with the mindset: which were the movies that undoubtedly meant the most to me at that point in my life (if I even saw them that year) that STILL mean a lot to me. Sure, I might have loved Benji or The Black Stallion when I was a child, but I can't say that I've seen either in at least two decades.
Edit: I forgot to mention a component of this list - I've tried to make it a bit more fun than your typical list, in that it's somewhat of a guessing game as well. While many of the images you see below are bound to be iconic, others are either from less recognizable films or less iconic images from very well-known films. If you aren't sure what any of them are, just ask (or guess!)
