Movie of the Month/LAMBcast #68: Oldboy

[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.

Online Surveys & Market Research

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.

And then...

LAMBcast #67: The Rom-Com Discussion

[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.

Thanks for listening!

And then...

LAMBcast #53: Best of 2010

And so, it is finally time to draw line in the calendar and reflect on the past year in film. James, Jess, Nick, Jason and Dylan document their Best of 2010 in a variety of categories. The highlight: James' pick for Best Ensemble, by far.

Also on tap:

* Listener Feedback
* LAMB of the Week
* Trailer Talk: Battle: Los Angeles
* Last LAMB Standing

For the LAMB of the Week, we take a look at LAMB #262, The Film Vituperatem:


If you'd like your site to be a future LAMB of the Week, hit me up via email and I'll add you to the queue.

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!

And then...

The State of the Cabins (12/8/10)

Things to Click On
* It's a week old, but Jess's Burlesque review was tremendous. And to be honest, it was really just about the only way I was going to read a review of the film, so double kudos! (Insight Into Entertainment)

* Plus Trailers is no more. Check out LAMB buddy (and sometime LAMBcaster) Tom Clift out at his new digs, the creatively-titled Movie Reviews by Tom Clift.

* This is even older than Jess's post, but I really enjoyed Rachel's analysis of her three favorite films (and not just because they're the same as mine). (Rachel's Reel Reviews)

* James finally saw The Room. Of course he loved it. It's downright un-American (or Martian, or wherever Wiseau is from) not to. (Cinema Sights)

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week time:
* Footloose
First of all, probably the biggest shocker of this 80s "classic" had to be this. I wasn't even aware that Nice Guy Eddie was in the dance fest, but after coming to know the guy mostly from his roles in two Tarantino-scripted flicks, it was downright shocking to see him a) in tremendous shape, b) playing a gymnast that learns to dance and c) playing a hick version of Spicoli, and I mean a spot-on Utah-born-and-bred doppelganger of Mr. Hand's best friend. It was bizarre, to say the least.

Bacon's solo, "Don't dance angry" five-minute parade of homosexuality at the abandoned warehouse, complete with gymnastics thrown in for good measure? Priceless. A gold mine of unintentional comedy. The icing on the cake was the gymnast's bar (half of an uneven parallel bars? I don't know what the proper terms is...) that just happened to be there waiting for him.

Overall, (as I discuss on episode #49 of the LAMBcast, soon to be posted) I was in shock at just how blatant the gay rights message (propaganda) was in this film. That sounds like a negative, but it's not - I'm all for the message that was doled out by Bacon and his infectious dancing feet, I'm just flabbergasted that this movie played so well to America at the time - and that I was unaware after 25+ years that that's what the film was in fact about. I thought it was just about dancing fools, like the predecessor of those Step Up movies or something. So, pat yourself on the back for your unknowing tolerance, America - you sure stuck it to them rural, intolerant folk. Though the book-burning scene got a bit over-handed. Subtlety isn't exactly a bad thing, right?

And yet, with all that said, and as horribly cheesy as the flick can be at times, I kinda liked it. It's well-acted and, despite the preachiness, delivers a good message and doesn't deliver the Super Happy Ending you might expect from it. Or maybe I was just suckered in by all of the 80s nostalgia. After all, as bad as "Let's Hear It for the Boys" may be, "Footloose" is even better. Kenny Loggins deserves a Career Achievement Award for the stamp he put on an entire decade, just via three films.

Fletch's Film Rating:

	Expectation: "You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."
	Reality: "Darn tootin."

LAMBScore:

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* Right now, the only music I'm terribly obsessed with is that which either isn't out yet or I just haven't gotten around to purchase yet. Chief among them: the latest from Kings of Leon (hoping it's a return to their harder side), Royksopp, Kanye West, The Go Team! and DeVotchKa. Bring on Christmas!

Book I'm currently reading:
* The second in the Camel Club series by David Baldacci, The Collectors. As with the first in the series, it's an entertaining page-turner a la Dan Brown's Robert Langdon novels - Washington, D.C.-set (for the most part) with a heavy emphasis on spies and cons and such. There's a decent Ocean's-y heist in this one that makes it much lighter than the terrorist plot of the first, which is welcome. The character development could stand to be better, though, as this series seems to be the Oliver Stone (that's a character, not the director) Show even though there are several other members of the Camel Club. Granted, he's always been the most interesting one, but perhaps that's because the spotlight has always been on him. Anyway, I've borrowed books three and four as well and will likely get to them eventually, though I'll definitely be taking a break and delving into something else after this one.

And then...

LAMBcast #47: Due Date

Could this be the shortest LAMBcast ever? Dylan, Jess, and...well, that's it! Jess and Dylan tackle Due Date, plus throw in all the other stuff listed below, and manage it all in less than 37 minutes. 'Nuff said.

Also on tap:

* Listener Feedback
* LAMB of the Week
* Trailer Talk: Kung Fu Panda 2
* Remember the Time
For the LAMB of the Week, we take a look at LAMB #341, Screen Insight:


If you'd like your site to be a future LAMB of the Week, hit me up via email and I'll add you to the queue.

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!

And then...

LAMBcast #42: Whatcha Been Watchin' Lately?

Jess, Kai, Nick and Dylan do what we do best - b.s. about our recent film watching experiences, spanning from The Boondock Saints 2 to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and more. Also on tap:

* Listener Feedback
* LAMB of the Week: Rachel's Reel Reviews
* Trailer Talk: I Am Number Four
* Last LAMB Standing

For the LAMB of the Week, we take a look at LAMB #43, Rachel's Reel Reviews:


If you'd like your site to be a future LAMB of the Week, hit me up via email and I'll add you to the queue.

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!

And then...

30 dAyS oF cRaZy: Crazy People

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And then...

LAMBcast #38

Rachel, Jess, Nick, Jason and Dylan get together for some good old-fashioned LAMB chat, as in a grouping of a gaggle of LAMB old-timers. For this episode, we count down our five most anticipated flicks for the rest of 2010, and as you might expect, our tastes vary wildly (especially with that Jason guy around). Also on tap:

* Plugs/Listener Feedback
* LAMB of the Week: The List
* Trailer Talk: Burlesque, Case 39
* Last LAMB Standing (x2)

Music by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com).

For the LAMB of the Week, we take a look at LAMBcast regular Kai's site, The List:

If you'd like your site to be a future LAMB of the Week, hit me up via email and I'll add you to the queue.

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

And then...

30 dAyS oF cRAzY: The Dream Team

Wow - I haven't seen The Dream Team in forever. I seem to have good memories of it, though, and Jess of the newly-resdesigned Insight Into Entertainment got to revisit hers, as well as take a look back at a career that's sadly fizzled somewhat (though everyone loved him in Toy Story 3).

Stay tuned throughout September for nuttiness and zaniness of all varieties - click here for the full lineup, and click here for prior entries (which won't do you much good today, what with this being the first - madness!).

For part of the 30 Days of Crazy Blog-a-thon, this movie represents some clinically crazy people. And for a twist, the movie does a good job of representing actual insanity. The year an actor makes it big - a new franchise, an Oscar, whatever - they also tend to make some totally out there movie. Last year Sandra Bullock made All About Steve in addition to The Blind Side. Back in 1989, Michael Keaton was the first big-screen Batman, creating the beginning of the comic book franchise phenomena. However, the same year, he also made a comedy with Christopher Lloyd (post-Back to the Future), Peter Boyle (pre-"Everybody Loves Raymond"), and Stephen Furst.

The Dream Team is the story of 4 mental patients (schizophrenic, delusional, christ-fixation, and mute) who are taken to Yankee Stadium for a game, but during a pee-break in an alley, witness 2 dirty cops killing another cop. Their doctor is beaten up, and they're left unattended. At first, they realize they can do whatever they want - ignoring the fact that they're crazy. Keaton, the delusional one, goes to find his old girlfriend, Lorraine Bracco, and realizes his life hasn't stood still while he was in the hospital. Boyle (christ-fixation) ends up naked in a Baptist church preaching before being rescued by Lloyd (schizophrenic - thinks he's a doctor). Then they realize they'll do better if they work together. However, they don't really like each other - they fight, their issues get in the way of making a plan to save their doctor from the crooked cops (Phillip Bosco and James Remar) who want to finish the job.

One of the funniest scenes is the four of them under an old refrigerator box running across the street in the rain to the music of "Everybody walk the dinosaur". With a little help from Bracco, the four of them manage to manipulate their problems and save the day. The whole thing ends well, but the movie has a darker edge when each character bumps up against the limits of their own mental issues. Overall funny, but is pretty dated now, though it's fun to see all of these actors from an earlier time.

Tomorrow: Simon goes down the rabbit hole that is Donnie Darko.

And then...

LAMBcast #30

Part 2 of 2. Host Tom Clift leads a round table discussion on Pixar: thoughts on the company's place in Hollywood, a look at what's next for them, and a rundown of each of their 11 feature films, culminating with an extended review of their latest critical and commercial hit, Toy Story 3.

In fact, the proceedings, which also included Sebastian Gutierrez, Dylan Fields, and LAMBcast first-timer Jess Rogers, was such an epic that we had to bust it into two episodes, which also means no LLS or Trailer Talk this time out, but I think we more than made up for it.

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.

Also, we're still on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it's a bad one. Thanks for listening!

FYI: I started a dedicated Facebook page for the LAMBcast. I'll still post something here when a new episode is released, but if you're looking for a central place for commentary, suggestions, complaints, etc., go here (and LIKE it!).

And then...

LAMBcast #29

Host Tom Clift leads a round table discussion on Pixar: thoughts on the company's place in Hollywood, a look at what's next for them, and a rundown of each of their 11 feature films, culminating with an extended review of their latest critical and commercial hit, Toy Story 3.

In fact, the proceedings, which also included Sebastian Gutierrez, Dylan Fields, and LAMBcast first-timer Jess Rogers, was such an epis that we had to bust it into two episodes, which also means no LLS or Trailer Talk this time out, but I think we more than made up for it.

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.

Also, we're still on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it's a bad one. Thanks for listening!

FYI: I started a dedicated Facebook page for the LAMBcast. I'll still post something here when a new episode is released, but if you're looking for a central place for commentary, suggestions, complaints, etc., go here (and LIKE it!).

And then...

CAGEFEST: The Nic Cage Film Festival - Peggy Sue Got Married

CAGEFEST has arrived. In case you missed the announcement post the other day, Blog Cabins will be "celebrating" its most famous rival, the man formerly known as Nicolas Coppola. I'll be getting by with a lot of help from my friends as we take a look at ten films spanning Cage's career, from today's breakthrough role in Peggy Sue to last year's embarrassing Ghost Rider. For each film, there will be two arguments, a PRO and a CON.

Tackling the PRO today is Jess from Insight Into Entertainment. Jess is a longtime friend of Blog Cabins and the LAMB (she's #14) and had the pleasure of drubbing me in the last LAMB "battle" series, riding Lara Croft to the title, while the guys in the competition just dreamt of riding Lara Croft. But I digress...

PRO
For background, Peggy Sue (played really well by Kathleen Turner) faints at her high school reunion and wakes up back in her senior year (knowing all she knows will happen later) dating Charlie (Nic Cage), a popular couple deciding whether or not to marry after high school. Charlie has the option of going on to sing for a living or working in his dad’s electronics store. He takes the sensible route, marries Peggy Sue, and they have children and resent each other for the lost dreams. Peggy Sue goes back determined to make changes and not just be the good girl everyone expects. She dates the bad guy, hangs out with the nerd (giving him more ideas for his own future and glory). Overall, the movie is a cheesy, but funny look at 50s/60s high school students and the choices they were given and how much has changed in the time since Peggy Sue was in high school. Kathleen Turner is good, and the movie as a whole is good, fun to watch, memorable, and over the top. The problem is definitely Nicolas Cage’s performance as the wannabe rock and roll singer who didn’t have the talent to make it big. His look is ridiculous, even for the time period, and the nasal voice he uses throughout doesn’t endear him to anyone. I still watch this movie whenever it appears on TV, a definite guilty pleasure.


On the CON side, we have Pat from Doodad Kind of Town. When not travelling all over the world, Pat writes about a diverse mix of contemporary and classic films. The thing is, she typically has so many films in her queue, she's always playing catchup. Such is the life of a movie lover; so many movies, so little time. Pat's also a LAMB; her site is #24.

CON
"Do you think the world would still like me if I stopped being Mr. Excitement?" - Nicolas Cage in Peggy Sue Got Married

That line always takes me by surprise. I wasn't aware he'd ever started being Mr. Excitement.

Actually, I think Mr. Completely-Freaking-Clueless might have been more accurate.

Every actor, when faced with a new role, makes choices about how he is going to play that role. Some actors make risky choices which ultimately prove to be brilliant and inspired. And some actor make risky choices that just prove they are lunatics.

Cage's controversial choice for his character, Charley Bell, falls resoundingly into the latter category.

Here Cage is playing a popular, (supposedly) good-looking high-schooler and aspiring singer, circa 1960. Inexplicably, he chose to model the character's speaking voice on that of:

If you've never heard Pokey talk, let me assure you he does not sound like an energetic 18-year-old who secretly sings R&B in a grimy little club on the weekends. He speaks in a strangulated little voice that usually suggests he's about to break out neighing and whinnying.

In the first place, Cage doesn't even imitate Pokey all that well, though he does sound pretty cartoon-y. In the second place, it's never clear what the point of the goofy voice was anyway. Is it supposed to make Charley vulnerable or just ridiculous? (It kind of does both, but not in a good way; you mostly just feel embarrassed for Cage.) If nothing else, it makes for some pretty odd line readings. At times when Charley is most emotional - whenever he is in danger of losing Peggy Sue - Cage's voice gets particularly high-pitched and cartoon-like. I cannot overstate how annoying this is. At those precise moments when you're supposed to feel the most sympathy for Charley, you want instead to slap him up the side of the head with a two-by-four, and tell him to lose the stupid voice already! It takes you completely out of every important scene between him and Kathleen Turner (which is especially unfortunate since Turner is pouring her heart into these exchanges, and deserves better in return.)

I'm certainly not the first to complain about that voice. Turner was still sufficiently pissed off about it twenty years later that she reamed Cage in her autobiography "Send Yourself Roses." The director nearly fired Cage - and given that the director (Francis Ford Coppola) was both Cage's uncle and famously prone to bad, nepotistic casting choices (hence the leaden presence of daughter Sofia here and later in The Godfather, Part III) - that gives you some idea of how bad Cage appeared to those on the set. Eventually Cage talked Coppola and the screenwriters into keeping him on the film (I assume by using his own voice and not that Pokey-inspired one.)

But the voice is only a symptom of the deeper problem that Cage is simply not the right man for the role. He's too odd-looking and eccentric a performer to credibly portray an all-American teenager, even one who's unwittingly headed for a life of suburban ennui. And he's too young. Sometimes, to play a teenager properly, an actor needs the ironic distance of a few years, particularly when the actress playing his girlfriend is about 10 years his senior. Cage was barely 22 here. (In the 'present day' scenes, when he's been aged to look 43, he actually just looks like a 22-year-old with a little padding and some ghoul makeup.) And there's just no chemistry between him and Turner. We're supposed to believe that Turner's Peggy Sue not only married him the first time, but would marry him again if given the chance to live her senior year of high school all over again. And we don't. In fact, we want to tell Peggy Sue to run for her life that second time around.

(Call me crazy, but when I try to think of who I'd have cast in the role of Charley, Treat Williams comes to mind over and over again. He was/is handsome, he can sing, and he could easily have matched Turner in both energy and talent. )

I'm a not a Nicolas Cage hater, I swear. I think his idiosyncrasies as an actor were better put to use the following year in Moonstruck and Raising Arizona. And, while I've never seen Vampire's Kiss, I'm pretty sure if I needed an actor to eat a live cockroach on screen, Cage is one of the first people I'd call. But Nicolas Cage as an early '60s teenage heartthrob? Nah! No way!

And then...