The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #1

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
12/28: #4: The Royal Tenenbaums
12/29: #3: Amelie
12/30: #2: There Will Be Blood

Number 1 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
With a bullet. I mean, not even close. Astute readers might recall that in my Top 50 films that I posted a little over a year ago, there were only two from this decade in the first chunk of ten, and this was the higher of the two (I didn't assign numbers, and interestingly enough, my Decennial #2 is nowhere to be found on the entire list; either I was still digesting it or made an oversight). Additionally, Eternal Sunshine was one of the movies I listed as one of my favorites in the LAMB's first-ever post. You read and perfectly retained the info given in both those posts, right?

Almost since the day I saw it, Michel Gondry's near-perfect film vaulted itself into my vaunted Top 3 (an impossible to separate trio that includes Pulp Fiction and Fight Club, with Fletch coming in a sentimental fourth). Inventive, funny, heartbreaking, creepy, sexy - pick an adjective, they all apply in spades.

Take a look at the complete Decennial Top 10 I've posted and you'll notice a very similar theme that runs through many of them: they are the works of tireless creatives that weren't satisfied with merely telling a story that existed in the reality we inhabit. Rather, they constructed whole new worlds in their films and filled them with intricate, intimate details that left the viewer's eyes (or at least this viewer) wide-eyed and struggling to catch up to all that had been laid out in front of them. A depressing America some 500 years into the future filled with morons (at best). An equally depressing (for altogether different reasons) planet just 20 years from now that needs but a single tweak (infertility) to wreak havoc on a global scale. The imagination of a pre-teen girl inhabited by monsters and fairies. A depressing America some 500 years into the future filled with morons (at best)...and robots. The blackboard of a mind of Leonard Shelby. Middle Earth! The Salinger-esque universe that occupies the head of Wes Anderson, complete with jumpsuit-attired millionaires and the fathers that abandoned them. A Paris so clean and picturesque it left real Parisians livid with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. And perhaps the lone exception, an all-too real version of the world of the early 1900s dominated by tycoons and baptist preachers.

Finally, there is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie that takes its audience and characters so far into the rabbit hole that we all forget that there was even a hole there to begin with. Faceless characters, worlds disappearing before our eyes - it's as if screenwriter Charlie Kauffman and Gondry dropped us into a human-sized ant farm and then shook it up until all the tunnels and patterns became jumbled and unrecognizable. So we waded through it all, and what did we find? That the world they had made was perhaps better than the one we were in to begin with.


What's your Top 10 for the decade? Finally, the Blog Cabins End of Year Spectacular for the best and worst of 2009 should hit the streets towards the end of January.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #2

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
12/28: #4: The Royal Tenenbaums
12/29: #3: Amelie

Number 2 on the RD-oBCDS is...

There Will Be Blood (2007)
Of all of the films on the Decennial, I've seen this one the least - just once, in the theater, upon its opening about two years ago. Fact is, it's been sitting on my DVR for six months now, awaiting a second viewing.

I don't know what's taking so long - why I haven't sat down for another helping of P.T. Anderson's phenomenal sweeping epic clash between capitalism and religion. It might have something to do with the nearly three hour run time, but that doesn't seem all that feasible given all of the films I've watched over that time. No, I think that there's a part of me that's afraid to experience it for a second time, afraid that I won't be as enamored of Daniel Day-Lewis' owning of the screen or Johnny Greenwood's haunting score or Paul Dano's coming-out party or any number of other aspects of the film that a single viewing might have blinded me to.

I'm sure my fears are unfounded. I'll watch it again and, like with most movies, notice more to love about it rather than vice versa. I'll convince myself even more so that Paul Thomas Anderson is perhaps the greatest filmmaker currently working or that DDL is our greatest living actor and other semi-obvious, shallow statements. And then, to celebrate my triumphant viewing of the film, I'll enjoy a nice, tall, frosty, chocolate --


Think you know what #1 will be? Stay tuned...the big unveiling is tomorrow!

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #3

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
12/28: #4: The Royal Tenenbaums

Number 3 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Amélie (2001)
I don't know if it's more apropos to say that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet did a number on me...or that star Audrey Tautou did. Either way, I was smitten on first sight with Amélie, which has ten times the heart, humor and style of just about every Hollywood-produced "romantic comedy" put out (the closest they've come recently was with (500) Days of Summer).

The word "whimsy" is thrown around a lot in cinematic criticism, and it's usually used in a derogatory fashion, as if the mere act of being whimsical demeans the art at hand. I can think of no better argument against that line of thinking than this tale of a melancholy young Parisian who feels not quite lonely, but sans her soulmate, who she just knows is out there.

But Jeunet understood that the journey is much more important than the destination, so he put together an excellent story that unfolds like a treasure map for the viewer, with twists and turns and broken hearts...until finally, the heart is put back together again, and with every viewing, my heart grows even fonder for Amélie...and Amélie.

And then...

LAMBcast #8 (the "lost" episode)

Host Jason Soto and the rest of the gang on the latest LAMBcast were putting on a hell of a show. Unfortunately, it was so much show that Jason's computer just couldn't handle it. All was going smoothly until around the 25-minute mark, where some sort of glitch with his recording software crept up and sabotaged the 'cast from there on out, causing a delay between Jason's audio and that of the other participants. It starts off subtly but sadly gets worse as the show goes on.

The entire show has been published, both for posterity and in the interest of the podcasters, some of whom were taking part in their first podcast. Despite the incident, my thanks go out to Jason for supreme hosting duties. At the least, have a listen to the unaltered portion and get to know LAMBcast noobies Rachel and Travis a little bit.

The topic at hand was Christmas movies, of which the gang dissected to no end. Also on tap, though a bit harder to hear was a round of Trailer Talk and a game of Last Man Standing.

In it, Jason was joined by fellow LAMBs:

* Tom Clift of Plus Trailers,

* Rachel Thuro of Rachel's Reel Reviews,

* and Travis McCollum of The Movie Encyclopedia.

As usual, the music, as provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech website, is the bomb. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service.

You can listen by playing it in the widget in the left sidebar; if you'd like to add it to your site (you would), click the "Add to my page" link. Also, you can find us on iTunes; just go to the Podcasts section and search for "LAMBcast." And hey - while you're on iTunes, who don't you go ahead and either rate the LAMBcast or write a review of it. Better yet, do both! It'll help us get noticed by the overlords at Apple and earn worldwide fame...or something like that.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, we'd love to hear them.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #4

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento
12/27: #5: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Number 4 on the RD-oBCDS is...

The Royal Tenebaums (2001)
Wes Anderson made people take notice of him with Bottle Rocket. Then he gave the world an all-time great character in Max Fischer in the beautifully crafted Rushmore. But it wasn't until The Royal Tenenbaums that we really got a glimpse inside the head and world of Wes Anderson.

Tenenbaums was presented to us from the start as if it were a long-lost novel, a Catcher in the Rye of sorts that had somehow never been found. Inside was a treasure trove of intricately drawn characters, from the persnickety Royal to the out-there Eli to the eternally depressed and lovelorn Richie and on and on. Even throwaway characters like Raleigh St. Clair and his patient Dudley Heinsbergen are given intricate backstories and choice dialogue. The surroundings were just as detailed as the people that inhabited them. We were given dalmatian mice, Gypsy cab companies, and this set of paintings that I absolutely adore.

Throw in an excellent compilation of 60s and 70s-era Brit-pop, punk and Bob Dylan and a so-deep-it-hurts cast and what you get is a movie that clicks on all levels. It will be in a never-ending battle royals with Rushmore for Anderson Supremacy in my book, but Rushmore's 90s release excludes it from this debate.

And then...

Stained Glass Cinema Sunday (#73)

I throw you all a Christmas-themed SGC last week, and what do I get?

"Nuttin.'"

See below for the answer to the stumping. It gets no easier this week.




















Standings:
J.D. - 15
Fletch - 13
Nick - 6
Wendymoon, Clive Dangerously - 5
Jason/Daniel, David Bishop, Rachel - 3
Evan Derrick, Jason Soto, BD79, Dreamrot (smacdonn) - 2
Steel11Kane, TonyD, Luke Harrington, Adam Ross, Justin, Anders, Dave, JLG, Big Mike Mendez, Nic Cage - 1

Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #5

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means: 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E
12/26: #6: Memento

Number 5 on the RD-oBCDS is...

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Many tried, and many failed. Even The Matrix, a sci-fi origin tale that dovetailed perfectly with the booming popularity of the internet, could not sustain its momentum outside of the first movie. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, having already been a popular and known commodity for decades, did what no others could: rival the Star Wars universe for the battle for geek's hearts everywhere.

Working from Tolkien's source material was a disadvantage in addition to being an advantage, though. Though there might have been a built-in audience at least for the first film, its success with the public (and as a film in general) would largely determine its overall place in the cinematic world. Had it not been a rousing success, a la The Golden Compass, interest in future adaptations would have evaporated. Instead, Peter Jackson just so happened to hit it out of the ballpark, setting up the foundation for what would be the defining trilogy of the new millennium.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #6

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth
12/24: #7: Wall*E

Number 6 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Memento (2000)
(All the shaky cam in the world can't compare.) How often can you say that a film has done that for you? Editing the film in such a way that it places the audience into a similar boat as its protagonist was Nolan's masterstroke. This isn't some high-concept piece about a guy that all of a sudden can read women's minds; it's the story of a man that retains no short-term memory. After all, it's completely logical. Chris Nolan's coming-out party is a brilliant film on many levels; yes, the nature of the way it is edited together holds tremendous appeal, but it takes nothing away from the story - it enhances it. You say it doesn't hold up, I say watch the chronological-order version on the DVD. Well, you say gimmick, I say ingenious.

"It's a gimmick," some might say, "and the movie doesn't hold up as a decent film at all once that gimmick is taken away."



Are you saying "Huh?" yet? Well, you're just gonna have to decode the rest.

Now see, what I did just there was a gimmick, but that's only because I'm nowhere near as talented as Nolan is. Here's the text in chronological order:

"It's a gimmick," some might say, "and the movie doesn't hold up as a decent film at all once that gimmick is taken away."

Well, you say gimmick, I say ingenious. You say it doesn't hold up, I say watch the chronological-order version on the DVD. Chris Nolan's coming-out party is a brilliant film on many levels; yes, the nature of the way it is edited together holds tremendous appeal, but it takes nothing away from the story - it enhances it. After all, it's completely logical. This isn't some high-concept piece about a guy that all of a sudden can read women's minds; it's the story of a man that retains no short-term memory. Editing the film in such a way that it places the audience into a similar boat as its protagonist was Nolan's masterstroke. How often can you say that a film has done that for you? (All the shaky cam in the world can't compare.)

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #7

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men
12/23: #8: Pan's Labyrinth

Number 7 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Wall*E (2008)
Pixar released seven feature films during the last decade. Six received a Best Animated Feature nomination from the Academy (this number will reach seven in a few short months when Up joins the team), four of which went on to win (Cars and Monsters, Inc. being the exception; again, this number is likely to climb to five). All but Cars has a Rotten Tomatoes score of > 95%. All but Cars has a worldwide gross of >$500 million. And all this is a long way of saying that any number of them could (should?) be in this spot, specifically either Finding Nemo or The Incredibles.

So what puts Wall*E ahead of them?

Good question. It comes down to a few things it was able to do: a) make you fall in love with a robot, b) leave you even more speechless than the film with a wordless 20-minute intro, and c) incorporate a preachy message...without being overtly preachy (the link to Idiocracy doesn't hurt, either). In addition, by being the newest of the three - and by being the only one set outside of our atmosphere - it's able to capture your eyes just as much as it did your heart.

(But it's really close. I feel like no matter which was chosen, it would have been the "wrong" selection.)

And then...

The Dude That Does Stuff Movie Plot Game #11

Last Week's Results: Jack's Smirking Revenge returns (with a vengeance? No...) to the top of the leader board, with four correct answers; see last week's comments section for the answers.

The concept is overwhelmingly simple; below are 12 movie plots, torn down to their basest base, and invariably involving the words "dude" and/or "stuff." All you must do is name the film. 1 point per correct answer; he/she with the most points wins. Google to your heart's content; it will do you no good. Many films might match the plots you see below, but there is only one correct answer, and that's the one that's in my head when I write it.

Have fun with this stuff, dudes and dudettes.

1. Dudes are paranoid of other dudes.
2. Dude helps other dude do stuff.
3. Little dude likes stuff just a little too much.
4. Dudes and dudette run away from invisible stuff.
5. Dudes do stuff badly...until motivated properly.
6. Dudes do stuff badly...until motivated properly.
7. Dudes do stuff badly...until motivated properly.
8. Dudes do stuff badly...until motivated properly.
9. Dude does stuff badly. Period.
10. Dude does crazy stuff until sane dude lends him a hand.
11. Dudette makes stuff real good. And quirky.
12. Dude is in love with fake stuff.

No, that's not a typo. I have four different movies in mind for numbers 5-8. Don't worry about the numbers so much, just guess the movies correctly and you'll get 'em. One of them you will likely not guess...

As you get them right, I'll mark them as gotten and stuff. Good luck.

Standings
JacksSmirkingRevenge - 5
Myherobobhope - 1.5
BD79, Fitz - 1
Nic Cage, Jason, Nick - .5

Correct answers so far:
1. Reservoir Dogs (JSR)
2. Napoleon Dynamite (JSR)
3.
4. The Blair Witch Project (JSR)
5. Major League (JSR)
6. The Might Ducks (Alex)
7. The Bad News Bears (Fitz)
8.
9. Hot Rod (JSR)
10. Lethal Weapon (Bob)
11.
12. Lars and the Real Girl (Jason)

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #8

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy
12/22: #9: Children of Men

Number 8 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Alfonso Cuaron pops into the Top 10 of the 00s yet again. This time not as director, but as a producer of the Guillermo del Toro-helmed horror-fantasy period piece.

Pan showed us that the horrors of real life (war, specifically) will always be much darker than the monsters of our imaginations, while at the same time illustrating that the creativity locked inside our minds had the power to provide refuge from those all-too-real evils.

A powerful fairy tale, shot beautifully and enhanced tenfold by another imagination - del Toro's own, which filled the film with fairies, creatures and monsters unlike anything we'd ever seen before, giving us haunting images that serve as mental postcards of the film's evocative moods of danger, whimsy, and longing for a serene childhood that was not to be.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: #9

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occurring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition.

Previous day's posts:
12/21: Intro/#10: Idiocracy

Number 9 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Children of Men (2006)
It's funny that Neil Blonkamp was raked over the coals for turning District 9 from a faux-documentary about serious social issues in South Africa into a balls-to-the-wall sci-fi action film in its second half. Three years earlier, Alfonso Cuaron did the same thing with Children of Men.

Then again, Cuaron, working from an excellent piece of source material, did it a lot better, which is why this film is on the list of the decade's ten best and Blonkamp's isn't (though it might pop up in another list at a later date).

Worldwide infertility. Immigration. A government at odds with its people. Like the best science fiction, Children melded these big issues with world-class action, technological advances, and (oh by the way) some of the best camera work you'll see in a theater, to say nothing of the A-list, Academy-bred cast, from star Clive Owen to Julianne Moore to Michael Caine and Chiwetel Ejiofor. What resulted was a contemplative action film that jolted your heart with a million volts of electricity and sent them all to your brain for processing.

And then...

The Really Drawn-out Blog Cabins Decennial Spectacular: Some Opening Words and the #10

Decennial, in case you're not hip to the term, means 1. relating to or lasting for ten years, or 2. occuring every ten years. It's really a word that we should hear more often. Anyway, this will be my series where I count down my favorites from the last decade, and since I don't plan on it taking 10 years to finish, we're going to go with the second definition. Be sure to come back in ~3654 days for the next installment - it's gonna be off the chain hand to the elbow crizwhack (insert somewhat outdated slang term of 2019 here).

The year-end spectacular for 2009 will be hitting the interwebs in mid- to late-January, but this decennial will be broken down and laid out for your viewing pleasure over the next 10 days, with a post per day, counting down one of the Mystical Magical 10 (aka my Top 10) each day, with Christmas an off-day, only because you'll be too busy drinking Santa Nog and eating Reindeer Droppings to bother reading blogs that day (jerks!). Enough foreplay.

Number 10 on the RD-oBCDS is...

Idiocracy
Mike Judge knows stupid people, and lots of them. So much so, that for his third feature, released in 2006, he dedicated an entire movie to them (debate amongst yourselves whether or not Beavis and Butt-Head Do America already accomplished this). Regularly panned for its apparent lack of a budget and given the shaft by Fox after some test screenings didn't give them the warm fuzzies, the comedy found a cult audience on DVD, a deja vu of what had occured some seven years prior with Office Space.

It mattered not. Judge packed his 84-minute film with over-the-top performances, sight gags, cameos from lovable character actors and quotable lines, and then topped it all off with a prescient, so-true-it-hurts concept that becomes more relevant with each passing day.

And then...

Survivor: Samoa Episode 15 (The Finale!) Recap/Live Blog

Are you ready for a marathon live blogging extraordinaire? Because I'm not sure that I am, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

Five are left: oil man Russell, law student Jaison, doctor Natalie, and Prayer Warriors (an oxymoron if ever there was one) Natalie and Brett. One thing seems certain: if Brettt (aka Haley Joel Osment) makes the final three, the victory is all but his, provided that the most deserving player, Russ, does not a) also make the final and b) convince the jury that the most deserving player in many seasons should get their votes despite his millionaire status, asshole personality and Foa Foa membership. All that said, I'm going to predict P.W. Natalie as the eventual victor. Let the three-hour bonanza begin!

7:07: How could I forget - the biggest question of the night is not such a trivial matter as who will win, but will the producers yet again dump 10 minutes of the final show with the lame, forced Walk of the Dead? My family and I will now metamorphosize into Prayer Warriors with our shared focus being to eliminate this dreaded event.

7:10: Russell and the rest of the Foa Foans, fear not: Haley Joel will not be winning two more Immunity Challenges in a row. Will not. Even the evil CBS show runners, who will be trying their damnedest to ensure Brett victories will not be able to arrange that.

7:12: How much weight has Russell lost? Eat sh*t, Biggest Loser. He looks positively svelte. By the same token, Natalie and Jaison look thinner than Brittany Murphy. Ouch...too soon?

7:13: Obstacle course/puzzle for the I.C. I'm on board for that, and even more psyched by Russ's early domination.

7:15: Everybody's startin' to come together, Jeff! You should recycle all of your phrases. I sense two fingers on each hand being raised soon...

7:16: Sonuvabitchin' Brett wins it. I can only hope that in addition to winning immunity that he also earns some charisma. And get that smug little smirk off his face, too.

7:20: Natalie's worried about getting voted off because she's the weakest one? With another Immunity Challenge remaining, wouldn't that be something that you' really want in a competitor? Granted, I wouldn't want to take her to the finale if I were one of the other players, but that's because of a lack of weakness when it comes to final votes.

7:23: I brought you the Haley Joel/Brett resemblance last week and I have a new one for you this week (don't ask me why it takes more than a dozen weeks for this - you just can't rush genius, I guess). This week's Celebrity Resemblance is: Mick has taken to reminding me of FlashForward's Joseph Fiennes. Now if only he could sell the similarities more by constantly brooding and turning on all of his tribemates.

7:25: I just got finished re-watching Se7en last night; makes seeing Dave all the more creepy.

7:26: Okay, enough of all this celebrity nonsense. There's a game to be played here, and we've come to the first Tribal Council. Funny that all of the talk has centered around voting off Mick, Jaison and/or Natalie. One big, big name is seriously missing from the footage - why isn't that trio angling to oust Rusty?

7:29: It's absolutely incredible that the entire jury is made up of former Galu members. Has this ever happened? Even the Stephanie/Bobby Jon season had two of them remaining.

7:31: Buh-bye, Jaison. Can't wait to see who you're voting for...

7:31: And here I was just thinking aloud that Jaison's vote would likely be for Russell. Apparently not. Then again, I think we've had many a player that is initially pissed off at members of their tribe that vote them off, swearing that they will vote for the other tribe's player, only to settle down after having a few days/weeks to think it over.

7:36: Brett: "If I don't win [the next Immunity Challenge], I'm probably gonna be the next one to go home." Ya think so, Doctor?!?!?! No one ever accused Brett of being a John (rocket scientist).

7:38: I know he's always this way, so I really shouldn't be looking too deeply at it, but Russ's cockiness over his assurance of making the final three really, really ---

7:39: WAIT JUST A GOTDAMN MINUTE! BOOOOO!!!! You know what that means? It's Walk of the Dead time!!! Let's actually go pay attention this time and see if there's something we normally miss in this obviously brilliant segment:

Marissa: Nope, don't remember you.

Mike: Hey, it's Jeffrey Tambor. I do remember you, though only because of that reason.

Betsy: You were the cop, right? Meh.

Ben: The name doth not ring a bell. Oh, but the face does. One of the biggest d*cks this show has seen in some time. Nice to hear honesty from Mick: "I wasn't sorry to see him go." Awesome - that's the kind of reaction I've been waiting seasons upon seasons to hear.

Yasmin: Another idiot. But you keep that confidence, hon.

Ashley: If she weren't blond and young, I wouldn't know who she was. But since she was, I know that she was part of Russ's "Dumb Girl Alliance." Rusty, so awesome.

Russell: Vernon Davis!

Liz: I had forgotten you as well. For good reason.

Erik: The inhabitant of my favorite part of this season: the Tree Cave Hole.

Kelly: Boy, we never got to know you at all, other than for being a pseudo-ScarJo.

Laura: You sucked, and I'm glad you're gone.

John: I had come to like John, but he got a bit wacky towards the end there. Tough luck, genius.

Danger Dave: The sight of you scares me.

Monica: See comments for Laura (to a lesser degree).

Shambo: Definitely a memorable character. Not to be confused with likable. I wouldn't be surprised to see her on some future All-Star season, despite the fact that she's about the farthest thing from an all-star.

Jaison: Not sure how you made it that far considering that neither your brains nor your athletic prowess proved to be as good as they seemed to be. Chalk it up to an early alliance that overcame insurmountable odds.

7:49: Alright, where was I? Yes, Russell's cockiness about making the final three. Something about those comments, or the timing or placement of them, put the fear into me. Call it Insider's Insight® Intuition.

7:52: Once again, I don't like the final Immunity Challenge. Balancing a statue on a pole? I want them to feel immense pain and utilize endurance and stamina to win this challenge. How long can you hold your breath underwater or walk on hot coals or something like that. Balance is such a fluky thing. I'd end up sneezing...

7:55: Were the placards with the contestants' names in front of them really necessary? There are only four of them - I think we know who they all are at this point.

7:56: Effing christ on a stick. Down to two people left...and of course, Brett is one of them.

7:57: To add to the bullshit of a balance challenge, the wind picks up. Amazingly, it doesn't knock off either player's statue. In other news, I predict a Brett win all the way.

7:58: Ok, I will admit that this is intense.

7:59: I just screamed "YES!" as Brett's statue fell. This is less a knock against Brett and more of a vote for Rusty. I'm fairly certain that Russ ain't winning the show, but it would have been ludicrous for him to not have even been given the chance...and even if he did make the final three, yet along with Brett, it's almost certain that Brett would win.

8:03: If you think Russell is keeping his word to Brett about taking him to the final three, I've got a bridge to sell you. The only, only thing that makes me think he might hold his word is the extreme value of potentially losing Brett's vote for sure should they oust him.

8:07: Russell is openly asking Mick and Natalie what they think his chances of winning are. What a jerk/awesome guy. Hey, you two people that I'm going up against - how badly do you think I'll beat you? And yet, the magical part of it is that he actually doesn't come off like a complete ass while he's saying these things. It's really a wonder to witness.

8:08: One thing seems for certain: Natalie will be joining Russ. Mick vs. Brett? I'm not so sure. Mick's paranoia seems on-base to me.

8:27: Okay, we took a little break, so I'll be catching up via skipping through the commercial breaks over the next hour or so. Then again, you're probably seeing the show an hour or more before me, so the point may be moot anyway. Or you're not even reading it on Sunday night. Anyway, full disclosure and all. No emailing me the winner before 9:00pm MST.

8:30: Tribal Council time. Who's the geek they sent in Jaison's place? By the way, I think Mick's going home.

8:31: What the hell am I saying. There's no way Russ keeps Brett, considering the Galu-dominant jury. I see dead Bretts.

8:32: No, Jeff, there is no suspense. The Foas are just saying the right things to make it seem as though Brett has a chance in this vote. He does not.

8:33: ...and the producers give it away by showing us the first two votes, by Natalie and Mick, both being for Brett. A tie? I think not.

8:35: Surprise, surprise. Oh wait - Brett going home isn't a surprise at all.

8:38: Hey, Mick - your shorts must have drawstrings. Use them. Lucky for us in the audience, CBS is blurring out your pubes. But what about poor Russ and Natalie?

8:40: Please, please, please mix things up just a tad, will ya? The Walk of the Dead, the Final Three Breakfast, the ceremonial Burning of the Shelter...yawn. Rusty's neverending barrage of boasts and trash-talking is the only thing keeping this portion of the show interesting. Those comments were made even funnier by the fact that he, Mick and Natalie have such a small bearing on the outcome.

8:45: Let me sum up Mick's opening statement: "I'm really boring. I tried not to piss any of you off. Please vote for me."

8:45: Natalie's opening statement was of the "I'm really glad you sucked enough to put me into this place. Thank you." I always love the hubris it takes to make that kind of statement.

8:46: Russell, meanwhile, is giving us the play-by-play of all of the people he had a hand in voting off. The "I'm way better than you and knocked your ass out personally, so vote for me" road; it's really his only play, as false humility at this point would get him nowhere. As such, I like it. Just in case it needs to be said: I'm outright rooting for Russ to win. Duh.

8:48: Natalie: I'm unemployed. Please vote for me. (Oh, and please ignore the fact that I was in sales making no doubt a ton of money.) Interesting play by Jaison, taking a path that seemed to be aiming at Russ and turning it into "Look beyond money, because all three of these people are monied." A plus for the oil tycoon.

8:49: Shambo's coming out firing! You go, girlfriend (and other homegirl cliches). In other news, she declares hers to be a vote for Russ.

8:51: Brett just said "bro date." No words. Okay, some words - is this Love Connection all of a sudden? Weird.

8:52: Kelly, please introduce yourself to America. Thank you, now return to anonymity.

8:55: I really don't see how this can't end in a shutout for Russell. This is a bloodbath.

8:56: Monica, Dave, Laura....boring. The lack of fireworks in this final council is astounding, made even more pathetic by the fact that all of the final three are saying that they've performed terribly (even Russ). Woo confidence!

8:58: Please Erik, save us. You're our only hope. Give us some drama and/or humor.

8:59: Does Erik deliver fireworks? Um, no. He delivers waterworks, nearly coming to tears talking about people that he hasn't spoken to directly in weeks, being the first person on the jury. Weird.

9:01: Erik just got back to his seat and attempted to slice his wrists with a piece of nearby hay. Now I feel bad.

9:03: Alright, before we return to New York or L.A., it's time to place your bets on who you think will be the Most Shocking Makeover award recipient. this award typically goes to a female that either gains back her pre-show weight or is buried under an avalanche of makeup, but, as with all things this season, I think my vote will be going towards Rusty. I predict a clean-shaven face (of course), but perhaps also a much trimmer physique.

9:05: Not two minutes later, I can already see that I'm wrong. He has stubble, his goofy hat on and doesn't appear to have lost any additional weight, and might have even gained some back.

9:06: Instead, the winner is....Natalie! Dolled up like Miss America, gained a few pounds, fancy cocktail dress - she's almost unrecognizable. And, as usual, she looked better before.

9:07: 3 votes Nat, 2 votes Russell.

9:08: 4-2. I don't wanna be right.

9:08: It gets to 5 and Jeff calls it. Considering that they always milk as much drama as possible, this means that she won 7-2. Lame voting, jury members. Super lame. I don't expect Russell to take this defeat very well, and the looks on his face seem to confirm this. In other news, my prediction was right!!! I rule.

9:12: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, congrats, Natalie - now let's talk about the only player that anyone will remember from this season aside from Shambo's Mullett, Russell..." That's pretty much how I see this reunion show playing out.

9:14: Is that a silver pacifier around Rusty's neck?

9:15: Man on no humility Russ thinks he played the "best strategic game in history." Not sure if I agree with that, and Jeff illustrates that with a potential scenario for him to chew over. Look, Russ, I like you as much as anyone, but a win is a win is a win, and you didn't. Now take your lumps and your loss and accept it. This is supposed to be Natalie's moment - let it go.

9:19: On that note, I'm closing down the Survivor live blog for this season. It's been a hoot (and a decent season to boot), and I look forward to doing it again next season, just as I look forward to your responses. Thanks!

Survivor news at Survivor.com
Survivor homepage at CBS.com

And then...

Stained Glass Cinema Sunday (#72)

J.D.'s back...he's back in the saddle again.




















Standings:
J.D. - 15
Fletch - 12
Nick - 6
Wendymoon, Clive Dangerously - 5
Jason/Daniel, David Bishop, Rachel - 3
Evan Derrick, Jason Soto, BD79, Dreamrot (smacdonn) - 2
Steel11Kane, TonyD, Luke Harrington, Adam Ross, Justin, Anders, Dave, JLG, Big Mike Mendez, Nic Cage - 1

Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:

And then...

TGITDNMAR (12/18/09)

It's that time again for TGITDNMAR, which (obviously) stands for Thank God It's The Day New Movies Are Released.

Avatar
I don't know about you, but I ain't never heard of this movie. Character study?

I'll see this, and I'll see it in 3-D since that's the only way it seems to be worth seeing it, but I'm gonna feel dirty while doing so. In the poll that's live right now, my vote is easily "It looks pretty dumb but curiousity and/or peer pressure (water coolerness) will overcome me." This is a case where I feel 100% manipulated by hype and buzz and James Cameron's ego into seeing this revolutionary picture that MUST BE SEEN. Being a film geek/movie blogger, I can't/don't want to be out of the loop, whether it lives up to the hype or not. (Of which I think it can't possibly do; who sets the level of expectation bar so high for their movie? What a dumb idea.)
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 91%

Did You Hear About the Morgans?
This is apropos of nothing, but I feel like she could be starring in this anyway (and was surely considered), so I'm going to go on a little Sandra Bullock rant right now:

Sandra Bullock seems to be having quite the year. Two hit movies. Oscar buzz for The Blind Side. The current cover of Entertainment Weekly which sums up those accolades I just mentioned. Only...

Gimme a break. The Proposal was certainly a hit, but let's be honest - $169 million isn't to Hollywood in 2009 what is was in 1985. It currently ranks 11th for 2009, and is sure to be pushed down further (by Avatar and others, for starters). Also, it happened to co-star someone that I think is a bigger star than her at this point, namely Ryan Reynolds. So sure, it's a hit, but I guess I'm just not willing to give her that much credit. The Blind Side - all hers; though I've not seen it, it appears as though it's a star vehicle for her. But you know what else was? All About Steve. Oh, did you forget about that one? I wouldn't be surprised - it seems as though everyone else has. Another star vehicle, only that one was a stinkbomb that made $33 million. So can the "Bullock is a golden lady in 2009" talk, will ya? She got lucky twice, but that still doesn't erase the trail of bombs shackled to her like Jacob Marley's chains (Premonition, The Lake House...).

Anyway, this Morgans p.o.s. Shocking news for you: it's directed by the guy responsible for Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice. You're stunned, right? I can't believe that Sam Elliott needs the money that badly. Just say no, Sam, and have yourself a Banquet Beer.
Fletch's Chance of Viewing: 0%

And then...

Survivor: Samoa Episode 14 Recap/Live Blog

This season has gone by pretty fast. We're down to the penultimate episode and six remaining contestants- can you believe it? For this episode, it would seem that Brett's future is in serious jeopardy? Will the Foa Foa Four (+1) continue their solidarity, or will there be a break in the chain that spares the pre-pubescent one?

7:01: We start the show focusing on Brett; already not a good sign for his future, given how little we know about the kid to this point in the game. He's busy attempting to gain favor with his tribemates...in the form of massaging Shambo's hair. Talk about taking one for the team. Ugh.

7:04: Hmm...perhaps the less I knew about Brett, the more I liked him. Savvy move using Natalie's shared religious background to gain favor with her.

7:05: Finally! Russ's beard has grown long enough that you can no longer see the weird "four fingertips" patch of skin on his neck where hair doesn't grow. That was freaking me out.

7:06: In other hair news, Brett commented on Natalie's gorgeous blonde mane and Shambo decided to wash her rat's nest, which set Russ off on a jag about what she's capable of hiding in there. Will this episode turned out to be sponsored by a shampoo company or something? I will be Jack's Complete Lack of Surprise if and when this happens.

7:09: Sweet - they're playing some sort of mixture of Jenga! and Pick Up Sticks. This is an inventive challenge that we haven't seen before. I like it.

7:11: Natalie just led Brett and Mick in a prayer circle...at the challenge. I'm gonna lose it. I ought not say anything more.

7:15: Was Natalie switched with a different player overnight? Where did this person come from? Okay, I'll stop.

7:21: The actors they got to play Samoans don't even look Samoan to me. I swear I saw some guy that was twirling a stick on CSI last week. Synergy.

7:22: Just kidding. Though I wish they would look more tribal or something. I do feel like these are normal villagers that they pay to come put on a show, whereas they always seem to present it as though these people live in huts and never wear shirts and such. I could be wrong, but it just feels fake.

7:24: It just hit me what Brett looks like: Haley Joel Osment had he actually grown up when he grew up, as opposed to staying 5'3". I see intensely religious people.

7:26: Is Shambo drunk?

7:28: Nevermind. All of them are drunk.

7:30: Russ about Brett: "He's not faster than me." I'd like to make a wager on that foot race, please.

7:32: The question is, with Brett's head firmly on the chopping block, what will the producers do to ensure his victory?

7:33: Whaddaya know - the challenge involves a ton of running and a little counting. My money's on Brett to win!

7:36: Unbelievable...Brett wins Immunity. I tell ya, you can't script this stuff! Or can you?

7:42: Russell needs to shut his damn mouth. Whether he's trying to assuage Shambo's fears or attempting to convince Mick of Shambo's weaknesses and character flaws, Russ is talking a mile a minute and bound to really do only one thing: inadvertently piss someone off and/or slip up somewhere. If you're not in danger, let all of the people that are do the scrambling.

7:45: Speaking of Russ being an idiot, he's a giant one if he doesn't play his idol. He has nothing to lose by doing so. This is the last chance he has to play it, which means it's the last chance for a true blindside against him. Should they cast no votes for him, no harm done whatsoever. Should there be votes cast, how stupid would he look to not play it, when keeping it does him no good? It would be the worst way to get voted off ever. Granted, I don't think they'd vote for him anyhow, but there's nothing to lose.

7:49: All that said, I don't see how this vote isn't for Shambo. Mick was busy acting like he didn't know what Russ was talking about when the oilman was complaining about Shambo, but who else is Mick planning on voting for? Mick seems tighter with Jaison and Natalie than he does with Brett - who else is left besides Russ?

7:50: And there's my answer: Mick votes for Shambo. She is D-U-N.

7:50: Russ, I was hoping you'd get voted off there for your hubris. Okay, not 100%, but damned if you didn't deserve it.

7:51: Though my distaste for Shambo has waned over the last few weeks, I couldn't be happier that she was ousted. First of all, it was really great to see a team that big that actually stuck together as long as they did with no breaks in their loyalty (even though that might not be compelling at times). Second, Shambo got played like a violin, and she's naive for not seeing it ahead of time (before the incident with Russ and Jaison tonight; I mean long-term). There were four of them and one of you...like we always say, if you're the swing vote, you're gonna be on the chopping block soon enough.

That said, good on her for accepting that reality during her final speech, even saying that their loyalty was "great." We'll see if her tune changes after a few days stewing at Ponderosa, possibly turning her venomous for her big question/comment at the finale. We can only hope so.

Survivor news at Survivor.com
Survivor homepage at CBS.com

And then...

Fletch's Favored Five: 1991 in film

Now, the second in a continuing series in which I count down my favorites from a particular year in film.

I'm going to use my friend Wikipedia to kickstart my brain, year by year, and I'll throw out a Favored Five here and there. If you want to refresh your memory in a similar fashion, just go to Wiki and type "[four-character year] in film." Here's the one for 1991. I won't pretend that Wiki is the end-all, be-all of filmic knowledge or that these yearly lists are 100% accurate, but they're an excellent place to start and a great resource.

1991
I was 14 years old for most of this year. As such, many of my favorites from this year are appropriately...juvenile (immature?). Still, having a look back at the movies of 1991 makes one thing abundantly clear: this was a pretty crappy year for cinema. It's no surprise that The Silence of the Lambs dominated so heavily at the Oscars (it won 5 of the 7 "major" awards) - it's competition was Bugsy, Beauty and the Beast, The Prince of Tides, and JFK, all movies that may be loved by some, but won't be making any canons any time soon (note: Beauty is amongst the notables I have not seen; see below).

Notable movies not yet seen:
Beauty and the Beast
Boyz N the Hood
La Femme Nikita
Jungle Fever

Honorable Mentions
Barton Fink
City Slickers
The Fisher King
The Addams Family
The Silence of the Lambs

5. Lionheart - Stop judging me - this is a list of favorites, not necessarily the best of the bunch, alright? And while I'm at it, read that sentence again when you get to the next choice. Lionheart may not be my favorite JCVD flick, but it's a load of fun, complete with Bizarro Troy Aikman, an Andre the Giant stand-in, many attempts at "acting" by Jean-Claude, and the immortal screams of Harrison Paige (spotlighted/interviewed on this fun podcast over at natsukashi): "That dude's gonna kill yo ass, man!!" (U.S release date was in January of '91.)

4. Hudson Hawk - Yes, Hudson Hawk. Universally panned, even by me, at the time of its release. Yet I came to love the Hawk; it's campy, it's got David Caruso playing a mute (oh, the irony, and yes that was him in the Just Because post a couple days back), James Coburn playing a nasty, Frank Stallone, Richard Grant and Sandra Bernhard playing one of the most perverse couples you've seen onscreen, show tunes, bad jokes, cat burglars, and of course, Leonardo DaVinci. A phenomenal bomb, but one that's a hell of a lot of fun if you just let yourself go. It should come as no surprise that I'm a fan of Last Action Hero as well - a failure in a similar vein with many of the same strengths. Maybe I ought to see The Love Guru after all...

3. Defending Your Life - This movie gets better with every viewing, and god bless HBO for airing it pretty frequently. It didn't earn a ton upon its release - just $16 million - but I'd venture that it would make the Top 5 or 10 of this year for many people these days. Brooks is at his neurotic best, Streep is Streep, loads of gags and great writing (the Past Lives Pavilion being the best, of course) and Rip Torn steals every scene he's in, all the more impressive because that's a lot of them.

2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - No brainer. Probably makes the top spot of just about every person's list that doesn't have Lambs on top. But as great as it is, I just don't/can't love it as much as...



1. Point Break - Yes, in case you aren't aware, I absolutely, positively, unironically love this film. It is not a guilty pleasure - it's a damn fine action film, certainly one of the best of the last 25 years (odd then that T2 came out in the same year, as it's another one of 'em). Reeves is perfectly cast, Swayze dominates in the role of his lifetime, Busey...well, what can you say about him. Throw in some great character actors (Tom Sizemore, James LeGros, John C. McGinley), an amazing chase sequence (on foot no less!), some unexpected nudity, and a Chili Pepper, and you get one of my all-time favorite films.

And then...

The Dude That Does Stuff Movie Plot Game #10

Last Week's Results: Fitz narrowly edged game leader Jack's Smirking Revenge, by a tally of 4-3.; see last week's comments section for the answers.

The concept is overwhelmingly simple; below are 12 movie plots, torn down to their basest base, and invariably involving the words "dude" and/or "stuff." All you must do is name the film. 1 point per correct answer; he/she with the most points wins. Google to your heart's content; it will do you no good. Many films might match the plots you see below, but there is only one correct answer, and that's the one that's in my head when I write it.

Have fun with this stuff, dudes and dudettes.

1. Dudes walk away from stuff trying to kill them.
2. Dude talks about lotsa stuff from his past.
3. Dude and dudette have to do stuff four times.
4. Dude does deadly stuff very meticulously.
5. Dudette makes stuff smarter - bad idea.
6. Dude has no stuff.
7. Dudette loses all her stuff.
8. Dude thinks you shouldn't have any stuff.
9. Dude has stuff coming out his ears.
10. Dude knows more stuff than he really should.
11. Dude keeps trying stuff to save dudette.
12. Dude inherits stuff.

As you get them right, I'll mark them as gotten and stuff. Good luck.

Standings
JacksSmirkingRevenge - 4
Myherobobhope - 1.5
BD79, Fitz - 1
Nic Cage, Jason, Nick - .5

Correct answers so far:
1. Shaun of the Dead (JSR)
2. Forrest Gump (wiec?)
3. Four Christmases (Jason)
4. Seven (Jess)
5. Deep Blue Sea (Justin)
6. Fight Club (JSR)
7.
8.
9. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (JSR)
10. Good Will Hunting (Jack Burton)
11. The Fountain (Fitz)
12. The Station Agent (JSR)

And then...

Just because: Kit Kat

And then...

Dude/Stuff News

The Dude is packing up his Stuff...and moving to Wednesdays. No longer tethered down to that catchy "Tuesday's Twelve Tags" moniker, I feel like mid-week is a better fit for the second weekly game here. The Dude will return tomorrow.

And then...

Fletch's Film Review: Brothers and Ninja Assassin

I wouldn't fault you for confusing Brothers with Ninja Assassin. Not one bit. I mean, they're practically the same movie.

First, you have the story of two siblings, each who take divergent paths in life. One has let down his strict, somewhat crazy father, while the other has maintained loyal to the principals his father taught him. This will result in deep familial conflict and trauma when outside influences strain to tear them apart. One brother will have inappropriate relations with the others' significant other, straining their relationship further.

And then there's Brothers.

Okay, so an Afghanistan-tinged family drama and a ninja-crazy action flick don't really have that much in common, but admit that I sold you for at least a couple seconds, ok?

Brothers is Oscar bait that just doesn't quite have the script or storytelling to match up with the acting. It's that rare breed - a high-concept drama, a film so limited in story that you can sum it up in less than x words: Good son presumed dead. Bad son redeems himself looking after the other's family but gets too close. Trouble ensues when other brother ain't dead. And that's really all there is to it. Writer David Benioff and director Jim Sheridan attempt to infuse the story with some background daddy issues (he's a Vietnam vet; the good son followed in his footsteps and the "bad" son is a ne'er-do-well), but it never sticks and, even worse, is more or less abandoned without ever being resolved.

What's most interesting to me is that three films just released this winter all cover some very similar ground. First came The Messenger, a film that showed us the grueling job of death news bearer and the damage it inflicted on those that do it. Then came Brothers, which also dealt with that exact situation, though the news turned out to be false. Finally, Up In the Air comes sailing in, telling the story of a man that fires people for a living, delivers news that might not be fatal, but is just about the next worst thing. I'm not generally one that picks up on what a grouping of films tells us about the temperature of America (i.e. whatever it is that zombie movies indicate, which I've forgotten already - something about the Cold War, I think), but clearly we're in a place where we're braced for terrible things. With the economy in the shitter, countless lives being lost in multiple wars and 10% unemployment nationwide, Hollywood wants us to know that it feels our pain.

Speaking of pain, did you know that ninjas don't feel any? That they train themselves to heal their wounds (the limit of which is never discussed), do handstand push ups on a bed of nails, walk on coals, and breathe fire? Okay, so that last one's not true, but all of the other "skills" (and many more) are on full display in the latest directorial effort from V for Vendetta director James McTiegue.

For as many bad movies as I'm loathe to love, sometimes I feel like flicks such as Ninja Assassin just aren't for me. As much as I'd like to be able to sit in my comfy seat, turn my brain off, and enjoy the splatters of blood and decapitations and vast array of deadly weapons on display, I'm seemingly incapable of not noticing so many errors and inconsistencies the film brings, to say nothing of people with hearts on the wrong side of their bodies.

Assassin offers plenty of action - some of it entertaining, most of it rubbish - but is plainly not written well-enough, either in terms of character or story, to be taken seriously as a good film. When the names Wachowski and McTiegue (a Matrix vet and the director of V for Vendetta) are thrown around, there is a certain level of expectation - yes, even for an action film - that needs to be met, and Ninja does not...cut the mustard. (Yeah, I said it.)

Brothers

Fletch's Film Rating:

	"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."

Shaky Cam Rating (details):	LAMBScore:

Ninja Assassin

Fletch's Film Rating:

	"Whatever"

Shaky Cam Rating (details):	LAMBScore:

And then...

Poll results; new poll

In one of the more serious poll questions I've featured, I asked you what 2012 director Roland Emmerich might do next, seeing as how he's eviscerated the globe in his latest flick after a sucession of bigger and bigger disasters. The results were as such (spelled out since the answers are cut off in the image):

* He will unite with Michael Bay and Uwe Boll to create the trillion-dollar-budgeted action movie to end all action movies (34%)

* He will realize he has made his opus, have a nervious breakdown, and kill himself (26%)

* He will find God and murder him, all the while shooting footage for a future documentary (19%)

* His next movie will be about the destruction of the Milky Way (11%)

* He will personally go on a billion-person killing spree (7%; this was my choice)

Anyway, new poll is attempting to gauge how Avatarded you are for Jim Cameron's latest, alternately titled Dances with Aliens by someone in a recent LAMBcast (sorry, I can't recall whom right now).

And then...

LAMBcast #7

You won't even hear the latest LAMBcast sneaking up on you until it's too late. That's right - in case the poster over there wasn't a clue, we dissected the action classic Ninja Assassin. Also on tap: Trailer Talk and a game of Last Man Standing in which the players were so good that they left the obvious answer on the table.

In it, I was joined by fellow LAMBs:

* Jason Soto of Invasion of the B Movies,

* Nick Jobe of Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob,

* and Scott Knopf of He Shot Cyrus.

Trailers discussed:









For more information on the LAMBcast, check out the topic at the LAMB Forums.

As usual, the music, as provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod's Incompetech website, is the bomb. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service.

You can listen by playing it in the widget in the left sidebar; if you'd like to add it to your site (you would), click the "Add to my page" link. Also, you can find us on iTunes; just go to the Podcasts section and search for "LAMBcast."

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, we'd love to hear them.

And then...

Stained Glass Cinema Sunday (#71)

Nic Cage finally got on the board last week. Just 13 more to go to tie J.D.!




















Standings:
J.D. - 14
Fletch - 12
Nick - 6
Wendymoon, Clive Dangerously - 5
Jason/Daniel, David Bishop, Rachel - 3
Evan Derrick, Jason Soto, BD79, Dreamrot (smacdonn) - 2
Steel11Kane, TonyD, Luke Harrington, Adam Ross, Justin, Anders, Dave, JLG, Big Mike Mendez, Nic Cage - 1

Here are the altered/actual posters from last time:

And then...