Tag: team america

Opinion In A Haystack: The Top 50

88,000? Do your math; I rounded up to be safe.

The Lorax I am not, I do not speak for the trees. I however do speak for the Me-Tree, the tree that’s me (Dr. Seuss was a genius, I’m not. I know.) There is a strong difference between a person’s “favorites” and what a person thinks are the “best.” Many lists seem to forget that very important fact. Sure, I think There Will Be Blood, Let The Right One In, Pan’s Labyrinth, Requiem For A Dream, Synecdoche, New York (etc.) are probably some of the best films of the decade as far as craft, performances, and technique goes, but they might not make the list (you have to read further to find out.) They might not be flicks that I want to revisit all the time for leisure or laughs. As for the types of movies that usually gravitate toward my favorites, there’s a great quote by Christian Slater, as Clarence in True Romance, that sums it up perfectly:

So, when it comes down to it, I would say my taste mingles well with Clarence’s plus one important addition (make a mental note that I said ADDITION, not difference): humor. Silly, stupid, smart, weird, dry, ironic, satirical, oddball humor”¦I love it all. I think stupidity can be genius, and genius is often required for well done stupidity. So consider that a warning. Comedy is like pornography: to each his own.

Much like any list there will be a lot of choices that baffle and anger you, forcing you to question my taste. Remember, for every one movie you and someone else vehemently disagree on there are probably five that you happily agree upon. This is MY LIST, these are the movies that made my eyes glue open with wonder, my jaw drop in awe, my giggle switch tingle with glee, and my emotionometer (?) go all upsies and downsies (??) I obviously haven’t seen every movie release in the past ten years, so before you yell at me for leaving something out, leave a comment about it and I’ll let you know why it’s not on the list. Don’t sweat the numbered order too much after the top 20, in fact try not to sweat it much at all, putting this stuff in order is hard”¦you try it!!! For the 90^th time, this is a favorites list, it’s all opinion (IN A HAYSTACK!!!) and just for fun, so I’ll stop trying to justify my crappy selections and get to them:

50. Primer (2004) I’ve always been a sucker for time travel in any shape or form, so it’s no surprise that Primer gets the best of me. Its charm comes from two areas: it’s budget, and it’s intriguingly confusing plot. After watching this film several upon several times I still can’t really figure out what happened. The time travel paradoxes lost me after the halfway mark, but happily tied my brain into knots to the point of wanting to watch it again. When I first saw it I was half asleep and the movie started confusing me so much it gave me nightmares, which in turn inspired me to purchase it.

49. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) The amazing soundtrack to this film overshadowed what a spectacular movie it was. It’s rumored that there is going to be a new film based on Homer’s Odyssey in 2012, no matter how that turns out, I see myself still preferring the Coen Brother’s version.

48. Frailty (2001) Who would have thunk it? Pvt. Hudson can direct a damn great low-budget thriller. Game over man, game over!

47. High Fidelity (2000) There’s two types of people in this world, those who GET Jack Black and those who HATE Jack Black. Consider me in the former. This is the movie that gave the cinematic world Jack Black, which if you hate him will probably make it very bitter sweet as it’s a damn cool flick. Probably the last great “1990s feeling” comedy ever released.

46. Bandits (2001) Solid Acting. Hilarious. Infinitely re-watchable. Billy Bob and Bruce in top form. Easily Barry Levinson’s best directing effort of the decade.

45. Sin City (2005) The only movie on my top 50 that is based on a comic book. The Spirit taught us that in the hands of Frank Miller (circa this decade) that Sin City would have been close to unwatchable. Luckily Robert Rodriguez knows how to have some serious fun and is the best intentional exploitation filmmaker that ever lived (a compliment coming from me, perhaps not if coming from someone else.) R.I.P. Brittany Murphy.

44. A Dirty Shame (2004) Hilarious movie that made the list for introducing me to a timeless concept: UPPERDECKING.

43. Doomsday (2008) I was really hard on Neil Marshall’s Doomsday when I first reviewed it, even though I liked it. It exponentially grew on me with many repeat viewings. I get now what he was trying to do: write a love letter to John Carpenter and George Miller using the most badass ink he could find. This is the boiled down, “tough as nails” remains of the best films of his childhood, and it couldn’t be more fun to watch. Between this, The Descent, and Dog Soldiers, Marshall has proven that he is one of the coolest, hardcore, sci-fi/horror geeks working. It truly saddens me that he won’t be directing Predators.

Something needs to be said about Craig Conway’s terrific turn as Doomsday’s main antagonist Sol. He is an absolute psychotic, who doesn’t get much screen time, but milks every nano second of it. His on screen demise is one of the funniest and most extreme moments of the decade, which takes place during one of, if not the, best car chases of the decade.

42. Cast Away (2000) Robert Zemeckis’s only non-motion-capture film of the decade and by far his best. I love everything about this film. Being alone on an island with Tom Hanks for 40 minutes sounds boring, but it couldn’t have been more captivating. There was a lot of depth to this movie that was overlooked due to the comedic potential of Wilson the volley ball. Any of us in a situation like that would need to talk to someone to keep us sane, loneliness is the true hell. Hanks was playing a man with no faith, Wilson was Chuck Noland’s substitute for god. Think about it, pretty cool right? Open message to Robert Zemeckis: START MAKING LIVE ACTION MOVIES AGAIN!!!

41. Beerfest (2006) My biggest problem with Broken Lizard is the fact that they seemingly named their comedy group in homage to Monty Python when they are absolutely nothing like Python. They don’t make biting, clever satire, they make “party” comedies, which is fine. Drinking, and drinking parties, are prominently featured in all of their films, thus making Beerfest the apex of everything they do. This, as well as their other flicks, might not be the most finely crafted movie ever, but it’s a hilariously good time hanging out with a bunch of funny guys and their best buddies. Beerfest is on my list for a lot of reasons, if none other than the death and non-supernatural-resurrection of a main character, Landfill, all for the sake of absurdity.

40. Zombieland (2009) Read my review here. Hope the sequel doesn’t ruin it.

39. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Still Wes Anderson’s most solid flick. Every frame of Bill Murray in this movie causes me to crack up. Dry humor at its finest.

38. Drag Me To Hell (2009) If we never get Evil Dead 4, this will suffice.

37. Little Children (2006) Some of the best acting this decade, and starring two of the Watchmen! This is the film that gave us Jackie Earle Haley (again.) It’s clichÃ© to say, but the chemistry between Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson is all too real. I was very late to the party with this movie, seeing it only about a year ago, but since then I have viewed it numerous times, and it gets better each go around.

36. Zodiac (2007) I know many people found this movie dawdling and anticlimactic. I saw it four times in theaters and was on the edge of my seat each time. The pacing was very intentional and meant to reflect the actual hunt for the Zodiac Killer and eventual failure to catch him. David Fincher’s best offering of the decade in my opinion. A movie so well done that it made me afraid of Roger Rabbit.

35. Burn After Reading (2008) This is the Coen’s new Big Lebowski. An oddly paced, weird, dark, cult comedy with no clear cut reason or meaning for the events in it, that they made directly after their Oscar winning best picture. Probably my favorite ending of the past ten years, and, besides Seth Gecko, my favorite performance by George Clooney.

34. Best In Show (2000) Most people would go with A Mighty Wind, I go with Best In Show. I adore all of Christopher Guest’s movies, but there is something about people personifying dogs that makes me laugh.

33. Unbreakable (2000) Upon seeing this film on opening night I remember hating it. I thought it was tedious, boring, stupid, and a general waste of time. Fast forward 9 years, multiple viewings later and I think its one of the most poignant, dramatic portrayals of a superhero’s origin ever. I was too young to give it a chance in 2000 I guess. Sadly, due to poor box office take, we will never see the further adventures of Bruce Willis: Security Guard, but one can dream. Perhaps that is why most “lists” are bunk, you need around 5 years to truly test a film’s legs. I argued this in one of my first columns on this site.

32. Donnie Darko (2001) The theatrical cut, not the director’s cut.

31. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) A movie that will prove its merit with time, at least I believe so. I realize that most people blame Spielberg for ruining Kurbrick’s vision, but I would argue that the subject matter was way better suited to Steven than to Stanley. It’s sad that Haley Joel Osment’s career disappeared after his dynamite performance here, luckily Jude Law is still with us. His portrayal of Gigolo Joe was acutely perfect, but the award for coolest character most certainly goes to Teddy. As for the ending, I will say this: if you turn the movie off right as the camera zooms away from the amphibicopter at the end, you just watched one of the science fiction masterpieces of our time. If you don’t turn it off, you just watched a masterpiece with a pretty good, but unnecessary, second ending. What many of you have never bothered to realize is that the “tacked on ending” is Kubrick’s doing”¦not Spielberg’s. Look it up.

As much as I love it, this still doesn’t make up for Indy 4.

30. Hot Rod (2007) Don’t crucify me. I’m praising each movie on this list according to its own aspirations and goals. That’s how I get things like Beerfest and Hot Rod on a list in company with timeless, powerhouse, Oscar winning dramas. At the end of the day I don’t really need to justify what I find funny, so why bother. When praising a movie such as this, anyone is going to be on the offensive.

As a fan of the art of editing, especially editing for comedic effect, Hot Rod destroyed me (and I’m not exclusively talking about the “cool beans” scene.) Say what you want about how stupid and awful you think this movie is, but at least it forms a well rounded old-school-style comedy film. I’m not much of a fan of Judd Apatow’s meandering, improvised, disjointed movies. They are funny and all, but they are just a big pile of catch-all riffing and outtakes coupled with way too many dated references. How many times did they mention Spider-man 3 in Knocked Up? Hot Rod is a tightly knit bag of weird soup, held together by classic winks and nods (Footloose punch-dancing) that don’t date the movie at all. It is basically The Lonley Island: The Movie (thus in turn making it the SNL Digital Short: The Movie.) It’s odd that I feel like this flick is more akin to the Caddyshacks, Animal Houses, and Vacations of the past than all the comedies of this decade that didn’t bomb at the box office”¦oh well.

29. Storytelling (2001) Director and writer Todd Solondz never fails to deliver the most disturbingly interesting character pieces you will ever see.

28. Children Of Men (2006) The Blade Runner of our time? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Discuss.

27. Kung Fu Hustle (2004) Wasn’t it Roger Ebert who said this movie was a mix of Jackie Chan, Buster Keaton, Tarantino and Bugs Bunny? Well, he was right.

26. Pineapple Express (2008) Cheech, Chong, Bill, Ted, Wayne, Garth, Kyle, JB, Jay, Silent Bob, and now Saul and Dale. Pineapple Express is a more than worthy addition to the buddy comedy genre, especially considering the weed humor and the 1980’s style theme song by Huey Lewis.

25. The Rules Of Attraction (2002) James Van Der Beek can act. I was surprised too.

24-22. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) The Extended Edtitions especially. There’s nothing more that I can say about this triumphant franchise that hasn’t already been said. All I ask is that you give me credit for not coping out and using up only one slot for all three movies. I hate it when people let an entire franchise take up only one space on a list.

21. Gladiator (2000) Has it really been almost ten years? Love the movie or not, Maximus is one of cinema’s best ass kickers in one of this decade’s best revenge stories.

20. Grindhouse (2007) There is some contention about whether or not this is one movie or two. I saw it in theaters, billed as simply Grindhouse, for one ticket price, hence on my list it will count as a single film. Sure, it is more of an experience then a movie, an experience that was an experiment that didn’t financially work to well. Regardless, it was one of the most enjoyable movie going experiences I’ve ever had, and each flick gets even more enjoyable with repeat viewings. The beauty of Planet Terror is that it’s intentionally not completed, and the beauty of Death Proof is the over-the-top sounds of the mighty Kurt Russell getting punched in the face.

19. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004) Not that it matters, but can we give Jim Carrey the Oscar he deserved as far back as Man On The Moon?

18. Wet Hot American Summer (2001) Anything sir David Wain touches I want to put inside me (great sentence.) Role Models, Stella, The Ten, The State, even Superjail!…all of it hilarious, all of it sexy (as in quality.) Wet Hot is still my favorite “thing” he’s done (so much innuendo.) If there was ever a decade where GOOD spoofs needed to be appreciated, this is the one.

17. Adaptation. (2002) For every great performance that Nic Cage puts out, he makes four ridiculous movies to overshadow it. His acting credentials this decade have been wonderful”¦if you are looking in the right places: Matchstick Men, The Weather Man, Lord Of War“¦etc. I’m a fan of Mr. Cage even at his most ridiculous, and I would say that Adaptation was his best performance, even outshining Leaving Las Vegas, which he won Best Actor for. With that said, the true stars of this movie are Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.

16. Sunshine (2007) The 2001: A Space Odyssey of our time? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Discuss.

15. Tenacious D: In The Pick Of Destiny (2006) Remember back to #47 when I said there are two types of people: Those who GET Jack Black and those who HATE Jack Black. I really, really get Jack Black. I’ve loved the D ever since the first episode of their short lived TV show, and this movie/musical was everything I wanted it to be and more. The music is top notch and the oddball vibe flows hard and deep in this little movie known to it’s creators as “The greatest motion picture of all time.” Why so high on the list? Because I love it that much, and will watch it frequently for the rest of my days. This is a great little movie to add to the pantheon of silly/dark buddy comedies, much like Pineapple Express or Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. The opening and closing musical numbers are exceptionally well done, not to mention a gut-busting hilarious cameo from Jack Black’s UCLA college buddy Tim Robbins. There’s no need for me to justify it further, either you are still with me, or I just lost you forever. Either way, fueled by Satan, the D shall live on!

14-13. Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (2003-2004) Note how I once again didn’t cop out and let them take up two spaces. They were both released theatrically separate, until that changes in the USA they count as two flicks according to my criteria. Two amazing flicks.

12. There Will Be Blood (2007) If I was making a “Best Of” list instead of a “Favorites” list then Paul Thomas Anderson’s emotionally taxing masterpiece of craft, performance, and direction would be number one (sans “I drink your milkshake” jokes.)

11. Apocalypto (2006) If this is the kind of movie that comes from Mel Gibson drinking all that crazy sauce, then his next glass is on me. ZING!

10. Team America (2004) The Dr. Strangelove of our time? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Discuss.

9. The Wrestler (2008) Proof that any subject (“˜80s wrestling) can be taken seriously and turned into something entertaining and ultimately beautiful.

8. The Mist (2007) Frank Darabont + Stephen King = Heaven (but it might look a lot like Hell.) A beautiful allegory of the unstable human society that springs up when the lights go out. Chock full of commentary on religion, racism, and logic, this movie probably has my favorite film ending of the entire decade.

7. Inglourious Basterds (2009) You know, I never considered myself a Tarantino fan boy, but looking back on this list I have included every theatrical effort made by him this decade. Guess I qualify. Why are Tarantino’s movies so damn, fudging, good? I would have to say that it’s because the guy only makes the movies he wants to make, and meticulously so. After Pulp Fiction Tarantino could have made triple the amount of films by now, instead he took his time and did what he wanted to. It shows.

6. American Psycho (2000) By far Christian Bale’s greatest performance to date. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to return some videotapes.

5. Slither (2006) Meat! James Gunn’s lovingly disgusting homage to a bygone cinematic era of horror, science fiction, and humor. This film hits absolutely every mark it goes for. The mainstream, choking to death on torture porn, was in dire straits until Gunn came along and turned Michael Rooker into a gorgeous pile of tortured flesh.

4. Snatch (2000) Guy Ritchie’s air-tight, razor-sharp masterpiece of cool, comedy, crime and filmmaking. The editing is beyond impressive, and every actor does a pitch perfect job as pieces of this well oiled machine. This is easily my favorite film of Ritchie’s, however I have yet to see Sherlock Holmes, which would have to be un-fricken-believable to dethrone Snatch.

3. Shaun Of The Dead (2004) Duh.

2. Clerks II (2006) How must this look? Putting Clerks II as number two on a list which is being written for Quick Stop Entertainment seems like either the biggest kiss ass move ever, or the actions of a total sell out. Well I can assure you I’m not trying to kiss ass as I dearly loved Clerks II long before I ever touched a keyboard for this website. As for being a sellout, I have received no compensation for my choices on this list except for the heaping amounts of self satisfaction I get from being allowed to voice my brain waves via such a wonderful utopia of shining entertainment joy that Quick Stop most certainly is (now I’m kissing ass.) Please trust me, this is my true #2, the platform for which I write doth not affect my decision.

Clerks II is a raunchy comedy first and foremost, and a great one at that. However, I think what it does best is show the trials and tests that friendships go through when midlife is just around the corner. Hollywood often reflects societal values to their most boiled down form, which usually results in the message that love, of the romantic persuasion, conquers all. The thing that is most often pushed to the wayside in that equation is the loss of friendship, and how that loss affects those of us who value our friends just as much, if not more than, we value our romantic entanglements. In my personal life I’ve often been known to rant about how the western world hates “friendship” but upholds “romantic relationships” so you can imagine how and why Clerks II spoke to me between all of the pussy jokes. To me, the movie is ultimately about a guy learning that, while life has much to offer in many arenas, there’s simply nothing more important and satisfying than spending time with your best buddies. That it isn’t a waste of time, but rather, time very well spent. The fact that this occurred between two characters whom I had grown up with for almost a decade made it all the more affecting.

Plus it had inter-species erotica, which is also deeply affecting.

1. Hot Fuzz (2007) “Both Edgar Wright movies in the top 5? Really Bob?” Yes, really!

This was the easiest decision for me on this list. They mixed together their sharp comedic wit, pulp action movie elements, some of the best editing of the decade, added in some gore, a touch of The Wickerman (1973), a tighter-than-hell script, and a cast built from welcomed faces of cinema’s past and got something wholly new out of the broth. It’s quick, it’s funny, its ridiculous at points, but most of all it’s 100% grade A entertaining. I could revisit this flick a hundred times and still be ready to see it a hundred more. If only all satires, spoofs, and homages could be this wonderfully crafted. Hot Fuzz and Shaun are most certainly the high watermark of their kind, and the former is easily my favorite movie of the “˜00s. Shit just got real.

Flicks that just missed the list, in alphabetical order:

28 Days Later”¦, 3:10 To Yuma, 40 Year Old Virgin, The, Almost Famous, Anchorman, Anvil! The Story Of Anvil, Aristocrats, The, Avatar, Bad Boys 2, Bad Santa, Be Kind Rewind, Beautiful Mind, A, Beowulf, Big Fish, Borat, Bruno, Bubba Ho-Tep, Club Dread, Crank, Crank 2: High Voltage, Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The, Death Race, Death To Smoochy, Descent, The, Devil’s Rejects, The, District 9, Elf, Feast, Fido, Freddy Got Fingered, Funny Games, Gone Baby Bone, Gonzo, Gran Torino, Grizzly Man, Hangover, The, Hellboy, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, History Of Violence, A, I.O.U.S.A., Idiocracy, In Bruges, Incredibles, The, Informant!, The, Into The Wild, Iron Man, Jackass Number Two, Jackass: The Movie, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, JCVD, Jesus Camp, King Of Kong, The, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Kung Pow: Enter The Fist, Ladykillers, The, Let The Right One In, Lord Of War, Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World, Match Point, Matchstick Men, Memento, Mighty Wind, A, Monster House, Moulin Rouge!, Mr. Bean’s Holiday, Napoleon Dynamite, No Country For Old Men, Observe And Report, Osmosis Jones, Outlander, Pan’s Labyrinth, Peter Pan, Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl, Producers, The, Punisher: War Zone, Religulous, Requiem For A Dream, Rescue Dawn, Revolutionary Road, Road To Perdition, Rock Star, Role Models, Scanner Darkly, A, School Of Rock, Seven Pounds, Shaolin Soccer, Shoot ‘Em Up, Simpsons Movie, The, Sky High, Sleeping Dogs Lie, Slumdog Millionaire, Smokin’ Aces, Spider-Man 2, Star Trek, Step Brothers, Stranger Than Fiction, Super Troopers, Synecdoche, New York, Talladega Nights, Ten, The, Thank You For Smoking, Trick ‘r Treat, Tropic Thunder, Up, V For Vendetta, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Wall-E, Watchmen, Whatever Works, Where The Wild Things Are, Zack And Miri Make A Porno, Zathura, Zoolander

Here’s some smaller lists for ya:

MY TOP 10 DOCUMENTARIES OF THE DECADE:

(This list is really just the docs that I had a chance to see. I don’t see that many. And no, I haven’t seen Man On Wire yet. I’ll get on that.)

10. My Date With Drew (2004)

9. Jackass Number Two (2006)

It might seem like a stretch, but the Jackass movies aren’t scripted. They aren’t skits, they aren’t fake characters. These are documentaries about guys hurting each other for comedy. If you disagree that they qualify, just pretend it’s a Top 8 list.

8. I.O.U.S.A. (2008)

Probably the scariest movie of the decade.

7. Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)

6. Religulous (2008)

5. The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters (2007)

4. Jesus Camp (2006)

3. Jackass: The Movie (2002)

2. The Aristocrats (2005)

The most impressive collection of comedians on screen ever.

1. Grizzly Man (2005)

TOP 5 DVD EXTRA FEATURES:

5. Road House ““ Fan Commentary by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier (available here.)

It’s great, not just because of the commentary itself, but because of the mere fact that it exists, and the silly way it came to exist.

4. Freaked ““ Squeal Of Death ““ short film (available here.)

Witness the unending genius of Alex Winter.

3. Back To The Future: The Ride (available here.)

Unless you live in Japan, your home is now the only place to ride one of the greatest simulators of all time.

2. Bruce Almighty ““ Extended Scenes, Steve Carrell’s hair fire (available here and here.)

The visual of Steve Carrell screaming while a halo of fire shoots out from the back of his skull is a bigger laugh than any of the ones left in the movie from which it was cut.

1. Talladega Nights ““ Commentary by Ian Roberts and Director Adam Mckay (available here.)

Funnier then the movie itself, this commentary is a snowballing, dry delivery masterpiece of excess and sarcasm in which Roberts and Mckay talk about the ridiculous (and fictitious) multi-billion dollar production of Talladega Nights without ever breaking character. This is probably my favorite DVD extra of all time, and possibly my favorite comedic “thing” of this decade. Once you here Adam Mckay giving a deadpan description of how, during production, he was blowing up the Easter Island Heads from a helicopter using a Howitzer machine gun while thriving on diet consisting solely of human blood”¦there’s really nothing that is going to top that. Here’s an exert from the beginning:

Adam Mckay: “During the course of making this film, I changed religion four times. I gained a hundred and forty pounds. I lost another two hundred pounds. Three times I flat-lined from heart attacks. I went blind. I regained my sight…this is a journey we all want to share with you, if you will allow us to.”

TOP 7 BATS-SHIT INSANE AWESOME ACTION FLICKS:

7. Doomsday

6. Death Race

5. Rambo

4. Shoot “˜Em Up

3. Crank

2. Crank 2: High Voltage

1. Punisher: War Zone

Dominic West and Doug Hutchison deserve more recognition for whatever it is they were trying to accomplish with those accents. Hilarious.

MY TOP 5 WORST FILMS OF THE DECADE:

5. Date Movie

I used to live for spoof films pre-Scary Movie. What the hell happened?

4. Meet The Spartans

3. Epic Movie

These two writer/directors are so awful that they somehow wasted the opportunity of having Crispin Glover play Willy Wonka.

2. Disaster Movie

The worst “narrative” movie I have ever seen in a theater in my entire life.

1. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

TOP 5 PEOPLE WHO LOST THEIR WAY THIS DECADE:

5. Steve Martin

Peter Sellers? Really Steve?

4. Robin Williams

RV? Old Dogs? Night At The Museum? License To Wed? I will admit to being one of the few fans of Death To Smoochy and One Hour Photo and Insomnia were great, but still”¦why tarnish your reputation with all the crap? Hopefully World’s Greatest Dad will help solve this problem.

3. Eddie Murphy

STOP LISTENING TO YOUR KIDS!!!

2. Steven Spielberg

Indy 4? You should know better.

1. George Lucas

You should have retired in 1990.

Ok, That’s about all the list’s I can handle. Thanks for reading and Merry Holidaysmas!

December 23, 2009
Opinion In A Haystack: Eric Lichtenfeld Part 1

Interview: Eric Lichtenfeld Part 1 of 2: Blood and Light

This week, the western world sees the release of Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen on DVD, a film very telling of the industry in which it swims. However, for those of us with more then two decades of life under our belts, this is a trumpet, an alarm, a loud drunk at the party of the “action” film genre, it’s a guest that reminds you how much has changed and how your style is no longer “in.” We can rest assured that the drunk is right. Action isn’t what it once was. The hardware has been replaced with software, and the hero has been replaced with the “hottie.” Spectacle is no longer flavored with primal instinct, blood, and brute force. Instead, it’s injected with pusillanimous, pixel-engulfed, stimuli. There’s no need to be bitter. Those that care about the past, present, and future of this beloved genre are still able to celebrate “action’s” timeline with the reverence it deserves through literature such as Eric Lichtenfeld’s Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie. I had the pleasure of talking with author Eric Lichtenfeld about his book, the genre, and reactions to his chosen subject matter.

BOB ROSE: Thank you very much for reading my review.

ERIC LICHTENFELD: Oh, it was my pleasure.

BR: I can’t tell you how excited I was to learn that the author read it.

[Laughs]

BR: You thought I had some valid criticisms about the last third of the book?

EL: I’m not entirely sure I agree completely with it, but I think it’s fair. If I can sort of distance myself from it and approach the bigger issue you’re talking about. Certainly the action movies of the “˜70s and “˜80s are the ones of my formative years, so I think there is more of a sentimental attachment to those movies then to the ones in the “˜90s, regardless of the merit of one era versus the other.

BR: Is it a matter of personal perspective?

EL: I think so. We have a tendency to write most passionately, most engagingly about the things that influenced us the most directly. Maybe I should have done more to control all of that, but I think there is probably something to that observation. This might be something else you are probably picking up on. I think the “˜80s is sort of the classical era of the genre. Whatever genre you’re talking about is going to have a “classical” period where its definition is most crystallized; is at its clearest. So from the perspective of writing about a genre you’re interested in, there is so much to unpack in that period.

BR: So the “˜80s is where the Beethoven of action films exists.

EL: [laughs] I’m glad you sort of pushed me on that a little bit. Classical doesn’t necessarily mean the best movies are in that period.

BR: Just the most definitive ones?

EL: Exactly. The genre has its strongest sense of self in that period. The way I look at genres, and not just action, is that you have an early phase where there is a lot of experimentation going on. This is particularly true of the action movie. We’re combining elements of other genres and arriving at some kind of a new formula. A lot of that you’ll look back on in the future and see as sort of a primordial ooze. Then your next phase is when the formula is figured out, when filmmakers really know how to capitalize on that formula and keep reproducing it.

BR: Like how they kept trying to remake Die Hard?

EL: Similarly. By the time you get into all those Die–Hard-On-A-Something’s you’re already into the next phase of the action movie. I would say the classical phase of the action movie is more like the Stallone films, Cobra and Rambo, those really para-militaristic exercises from the “˜80s.

BR: Including Predator, Commando“¦

EL: Absolutely, in the sense that Predator is a very macho movie, really focused on the muscles and the hardware. With Predator you also see the influences of science-fiction and horror on the genre, the way you’ll continue to see throughout the “˜90s. I really admire Predator.

BR: I’m a huge fan as well.

EL: I like to think of it as more then your typical “˜80s action movie.

BR: It kind of belongs to a “Men Only” club”¦

EL: Which is vaguely true of a lot of John McTiernan movies in particular. Another great example would be the Chuck Norris films from the “˜80s, such as The Delta Force, a classical example of the classical phase, where the genre is most “itself.”

BR: I think your book points in that direction.

EL: Yeah, and actually the point I made in the conclusion, in this edition, was about Team America. I think Team America is a great test case for this. There are two components to it. There’s the political satire and then there’s the pure action movie parody.

BR: It’s a parody of Bruckheimer and Bay films.

EL: Before that, really I think it’s a parody of Chuck Norris movies. It’s a parody of Delta Force, of Navy Seals, which is not Chuck Norris but which was made in that vein.

BR: Red Dawn maybe?

EL: A little bit, sure. That was the mode that really influenced Bruckheimer and later Bay. You have a very “˜80s satire in Team America. Now, if you think about how old Team America’s target audience was in the 1980s, there is really no reason that parody should work, except that we have this ingrained idea in us that when we are talking about the “action movie,” that is what we are talking about.

BR: While I’m a fan of it, you can argue that Team America wasn’t financially successful with the target audience at the box office”¦

EL: Sure, well it’s a very offensive action movie with puppets; it had a stacked deck working against it. [laughs] I think what Team America is proving is that when we think of the “action movie,” what springs to mind is the archetype from the 1980s, and everything else, everything that came later, is a response to that. In the “˜90s and beyond, they became half-serious action movie, half-satire or parody. You see it in horror a lot, with Scream and films like that. You see something similar to that in the action genre. As far as all the Die–Hard-On-A-Something’s go, in the “˜90s you were already into that.

BR: The classical period was already over.

EL: Right, and the films were responding to the classical phase.

BR: Mainstream American movies, with a studio-sized budget all seemed to be much more clearly defined back in the 1980s and early 1990s. Now it seems we have two genres in mainstream film, with action or without action. Either there is a huge budgeted action behemoth or a tiny small budgeted independent film. There’s no in between. Predator, Die Hard, Rambo 2 are clearly defined action films. Today with films like Spiderman, Wolverine, Transformers they seem watered down, trying to span too many genres and are basically just giant “catch-all films.” I realize that is a broad statement, but I think there is validity to it. Would you agree with that?

EL: Yes, as you say, that is a broad statement, but I think there is a lot of truth to it. What’s happening is a kind of polarization. What has happened with the action movie is the budgets have gotten bigger, the standings of the films have grown, and they are more summer/holiday-tentpoles and less anything else.

BR: They are a big stew of everything you could want in a movie.

EL: Yes, and I think the reason we are seeing that is because of CGI, which allows your action movie to take on the more science-fiction, super-heroic, fantastical elements that makes the movie safer for a larger audience. Fewer movies get to suck up more and more oxygen. What has been disappearing for a while is the mid-size R-rated action movie.

BR: Would you consider Die Hard now, in 2009, a mid-size movie?

EL: Yes, I would. Die Hard is a really interesting example because if you were to go back to 1988, the movie was made for $27 million or so.

BR: Which now is a mid-size budget.

EL: Now? Actually it’s almost a small budget. [laughs]

BR: District 9 was made for $30 million, so that “smaller” film is the same price now as Die Hard, a huge film, was then.

EL: Right. One thing they have been saying for a long time is it’s very hard for studios to make $60 million movies. The budgets are very small or very large. In 1988, $27 million, it’s not chump-change, but it’s not a huge amount of money. More significantly, Die Hard was released gradually. It opened in only a couple of cities the first weekend, expanded the second weekend, and then went wide. You would never have that today. Today, by the third weekend, your movie would be close to done at the box office. Die Hard was a smaller production, released in a smaller way, and I think part of that is because Bruce Willis was not a movie star yet. He had a few movies that didn’t do well, and he wasn’t even that popular as a public persona at the time.

BR: He was unknown to the public?

EL: It wasn’t that he was unknown; it had gotten to the point where his popularity was waning. He wasn’t a movie star, he was a TV star, and people liked him on Moonlighting. But he started to acquire a reputation as a party boy, and as Die Hard got closer to release his, “star” was starting to decline. These were things that Fox had to navigate its way around, and obviously they did it extremely successfully.

BR: Sure, Die Hard defined a genre and his career.

EL: Trying to imagine something like Die Hard would be very difficult in today’s climate because you have larger movies and the technology allows them to reach a broader audience. What you can do with “light,” for lack of a better word, now, you had to do with “blood” then. We’re talking about spectacle, which is the driving principle of the action movie. All these stories are structured around spectacle, so doing that with blood certainly narrows your audience to a certain extent.

BR: Now it’s opened up to everyone, we don’t have to have blood.

EL: Right, and also because of changes in distribution and the relationship between studios and the theaters: how many movies are in circulation, and how long they get to play. All of these things, and budgets, are factors in how the genre has morphed to try to appeal to as broad an audience as possible in the shortest time frame you can get away with.

BR: You’re a great writer, you’re an intelligent guy, you have a Master’s. Did you get a lot of confused looks when you set out to write this book?

EL: [Big Laughs] Wow, great question. I started working on the book when I was still working on my Master’s degree and I got a lot of different reactions. It was really interesting. I got people who were unabashedly excited, because it was about time these things got the scholarly or intellectual validation that they wanted them to have. I got a lot of raised eyebrows, particularly in my department. I remember someone seemed to be excited that I had a book contract and asked me about the book. I asked him “Do you like the genre?” and he said “I did when I was thirteen.”

BR: [Laughs]

EL: I got a lot of that. A woman in my department asked me if I was interested in this subject because I was otherwise insecure in my masculinity. [laughs] But probably the most interesting reaction was from older people. Fathers of my friends would ask me, “Are you talking about this movie? Or that movie?” Actually, it wasn’t limited to the older set, but people would ask me these things and you could tell these were movies that were personal favorites of theirs and they were very protective of them. Obviously, what I was going to talk about was going to be determined by how I defined the genre (action is a pretty broad category) and frankly, how much space I had to play with, which was based on what the publisher dictated. People would ask me, in almost a challenging way, like they were trying to challenge me to a fight, about the movies they thought should be in the book. “Why aren’t you talking about this? Why are you talking about that?”

Everyone knows what a western is. Everyone thinks they know what horror is, action has been a little more amorphous. So it was interesting to see how invested people were in “their” titles. Was I going to include them? Was I going to treat them right? Generally speaking the reaction was positive. People liked the fact that the treatment that had been given to westerns, film noir, and to science fiction was now being given to the action film.

BR: They deserve that validity. Eli Roth has argued several times, even on FOX news, that American horror films are usually a by-product of the “horrors” of the current administration. Films like Last House On The Left, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre are born out of the fear and frustrations of Vietnam. Films like Saw and Hostel being born out of the Iraq war, even the “lame” horror films of the “˜90s show the lack of those fears. Roth was basically saying that the genre of horror has never rightfully gotten its due in how it accurately reflects society’s fears. I think what you do here, very successfully, is show how the action genre reflects society.

EL: Thank you.

BR: If horror shows us what are fears are at a given period in history, then does Action show us the inverse of that?

EL: I think they probably do the same thing in the sense that horror shows us what our fears are, but also what our ideals are, even if those ideals are a little bit skewed. Horror is fundamentally about the disruption of the normal by the abnormal. So if the abnormal is what we’re afraid of, then the normal is what we idealize. The virginal girl who destroys Freddy or Jason is this cultural ideal. So if horror shows us our fears, but also what we idealize, then action does the same thing. We define ourselves based on who we are, but also based on who we are not. The villains of the action movie signify what it is we fear, and the hero signifies another kind of ideal. I think they, horror and action, use slightly different means to achieve similar ends.

BR: In your book you discuss a lot about how terrorism is shown in action, which is most certainly a fear we had when certain movies were being made. A fear of who we aren’t.

EL: Yeah, and these fears are layered. Go back to the “˜80s, the classical phase, and take something like The Delta Force. Yes, it’s a fear of terrorism, but beneath that it’s a fear of “the other.” Cobra, which is not ostensibly about terrorism, and where the villains are white, is the exact same thing though. It’s not just fear of terrorism, it’s fear of “the other.” Even though the villains are a bunch of caucasians running around.

BR: They’re still not part of the Rockwellian society that is idealized?

EL: Yeah, they are clearly shown to be abnormal, practically on a biological level. I think I wrote about this in the book, how “other” the villains in Cobra are. As far as the connection between the genre and culture and politics goes, I would say it works both ways. The movies reflect the culture, but I also believe that the culture reflects the movies, in the sense that these movies are our modern day mythology. They are based on mythological forms and structures that go back, in America, to a time when there wasn’t even an America, to the 1600s, and of course they have roots and antecedents even before that. So when you look at what’s happening in the culture and in politics, very often, it seems to be conforming, not to a Lethal Weapon per se, but to a lot of the mythology that a Lethal Weapon has inherited and is expressing. Think back to the Natalee Holloway case, the blond high school senior who disappeared in Aruba. Or just generally, think back to whenever there is a white girl in trouble”¦

BR: Like JonBenet Ramsey?

EL: Yeah. Whenever there is a white girl in distress, often times you will see this kind of counter-coverage about how we only talk about it when white girls are missing. We never talk about it when African-American or other minority children are in danger.

BR: The white girl being the idealized princess in our society.

EL: Right, and that goes back to that captivity narrative that is so embedded in the action film, and in the western before that, and back and back and back.

BR: Like in The Searchers and such.

EL: Exactly, exactly. So yes, I do think movies reflect our culture, I also think the culture reflects, not the movies themselves, but the mythologies on which the movies are founded.

BR: Ronald Reagan mentioned Rambo while addressing the nation, or the Star Wars missile defense program. Movies do have an effect.

EL: Sure.

BR: This is a simple question, a huge question, but I have to ask, what is your favorite film of all time?

EL: Oh, wow. I don’t believe you can ask a film person what their one favorite film is. I know it should be an easy question but I take that question so seriously that I would never ask it of myself or give a straightforward answer. There is such a huge body of great movies to choose from, and there are also so many different ways to parse the question. Is it, what do I think are the greatest, most magnificent, movies ever made? Or is it, what are my personal favorites based on memory, nostalgia, sentiments and all that?

BR: Based on your life experience, your film knowledge, and your own taste.

EL: An intersection, a sweet spot between all these different ways of construing the greatest films ever. This is how I’ll answer the question: the movie that made me fall in love with the movies was Superman.

BR: Would you consider that a film within the action genre?

EL: If it were made today it would be. In 1978 not exactly, but it is certainly in that boy’s-adventure mode for sure. All these genres exist on a family tree. This I think is the more interesting question: “what is the movie I have a crush on right now?” What is the movie that I get really fascinated by, interested in, and think about for a couple of weeks or months? It’s not necessarily the greatest movie or one of my favorite movies, but one I find fascinating at the moment. Not necessarily a current movie; it could be 50 years old. In cinema, like anything in life, we feel our crushes very acutely. I like to think of it like that.

BR: What is your current cinematic crush?

EL: Right now I don’t know if I have one; it kind of comes and goes. [laughs]

BR: As far as crushes go, when I first wrote you I mentioned I had just watched Brannigan, and you seemed to not be too enthusiastic toward the movie. I’ll admit, I didn’t hate it.

[big laughs]

EL: Strange movie, I didn’t hate it. What I think is interesting about movies from that era is that it doesn’t look like the action movies that would come later. Brannigan really illustrates what I was talking about before. Brannigan, in the context of the action genre doesn’t really know what it is, because the genre hasn’t really been defined yet. So Brannigan is sort of borrowing and playing with elements from the past and from the present, but in retrospect it’s still in that very hazy place.

BR: While watching Brannigan I kind of fell into that rut of a mindset that you get, with the intense editing and action of new movies, sometimes you forget that old action films can be just as intense and you’re not prepared for it. When he explodes through that door at the beginning of the movie, kicks it down and barrels in, it threw me back, because I wasn’t expecting it. It felt like something I would see today.

EL: I’m heartened by the fact that craftsmanship from 35 years ago speaks to you that way.

BR: Oh it does, I can watch Predator and it will metaphorically “kick my butt,” more then say if I watched G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

EL: Predator is an exquisitely crafted movie. What I often say about Predator is that I find the movie oddly touching. The reason for that is if you look at the elements that make it up, you have Schwarzenegger who is a star, you have commandos in keeping with the paramilitary vogue of the “˜80s, you have the monster”¦

BR: Even a man-on-a-mission scenario.

EL: Yeah, it seems like it should just be this kind of studio product, but this is why I find it so touching: it could have been just as successful while getting away with a much lower level of craftsmanship. I don’t think the film’s success ultimately hinged on its being as finely crafted as it was, but it was finely crafted because that’s what these filmmakers do. Does it matter that they aren’t making these intensely personal art-house movies that may or may not have been their aspirations? They are making a very straightforward corporate genre piece, that if made thirty or forty years earlier would have been a B-movie on the second half of a double-bill, and probably forgotten to film history. There are a lot of movies from the “˜80s that are still around with us, really thanks to nostalgia, and not because they represent any real achievement in terms of style, craftsmanship, or storytelling. Predator is extremely simple, the building blocks of it are extremely conventional, but it’s the craftsmanship that puts it over the top. The filmmakers didn’t have to do that, but they did.

BR: If anyone does that the best, McTiernan does.

EL: I think Die Hard is the greatest action movie ever made and I’ve been an admirer of McTiernan for a very long time.

BR: I’ll admit that I think Last Action Hero, directed by McTiernan, is one of the best satires of the “classical period,” as you put it, of the genre. I will get a lot of flack for that.

EL: [laughs] Last Action Hero is a perfect example of what I was talking about before. It’s in that third phase where it’s looking back and commenting on what came before. I think Last Action Hero is a really mixed bag. It doesn’t get enough credit for the good things about it. It’s a very flawed movie. However, there are positive things that get overlooked.

BR: The movie does have a cult following. A lot of fans have revisited the movie and enjoy it for what it was trying to do.

EL: I don’t even think it was entirely successful at what it was trying to do. Hudson Hawk is another movie that people completely wrote off with a terrible reputation and then years later, a small number of people revisited that movie apart from the way it was sold, apart from what the studios said the movie was and found a new affection for it. I don’t think that’s exactly the case with Last Action Hero. The movie does do what it’s trying to do; it just doesn’t do it consistently. So I think a lot of the criticisms of it are fair, I just wish at the same time people would give it credit for what it does nicely.

BR: Do you think that all of [Last Action Hero’s] failures and criticisms are, in a way, part of the satire too? People viewed the movie as an overblown, disastrous waste of time, much like how the average action movie is usually seen by most critics. It fits the stigma, its story is almost part of the satire.

EL: I don’t necessarily agree. It is a satire of this large and overblown genre, but whatever you’re satirizing you have to play by its rules. Last Action Hero is all over the place. It’s going in so many directions at the same time; it doesn’t stick to the rules of that which it is satirizing. I’ll give you an example. The animated cat in the police station. Where is that in “the action movie?”

BR: I agree, all the jokes have to do with the inhabitants of that police department are completely absurd and out of place.

EL: The animated cat doesn’t exist within the genre the movie is ostensibly making fun of. If you were to forget everything you know about Last Action Hero, forget the marketing, the hype, the reputation, just go in cold, you would have a hard time placing exactly what the idea of the movie is. It’s making fun of Hollywood and making fun of the genre all at the same time. What I think is a pity is that they didn’t make the movie they originally intended to make, which was a much darker satire simply of the genre. The original title of the movie was Extremely Violent. I haven’t read the draft, but I understand it was darker, more violent, and an even more brooding satire of the genre. I would be surprised if you found the animated cat in it.

BR: Or the T-1000 cameo, the Sharon Stone cameo, that’s not parodying the Jack Slater movie, that’s parodying the business, they should have stuck to the world of the film within a film, Jack Slater 4, as if it really existed.

EL: Yeah, you have the E.T. joke, you have a lot of references to “movies” that dilutes the power of the references to the action genre itself.

End part 1.

Stay tuned for part 2, in which Mr. Lichtenfeld and I discuss ticket prices, Air Force One, Michael Bay’s anti-intellectualism, the silly side of Rambo, his future literary projects, plus more!

Thanks for reading.

October 26, 2009