TFC Journal at TheFilmChair.com

I just got back from Boston and have been catching up on all the news I missed while I was away. Part of that was watching Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for president via YouTube. Another part was going through my movie news sites like Deadline Hollywood Daily. On that particular site, Nikke criticized NBC news anchors for describing Obama’s speech as Sorkin-esque.

Always the cynic, aren’t you Nikke.

It’s funny because the exact thing she criticizes in Sorkin’s creations is it what is drawing people to Barack Obama in the first place. I remember watching Obama give his speech in 2004 and thinking, “My God, did they pull this guy out of a The West Wing script?.” By that time, The West Wing was on its sixth season and Sorkin’s The American President was airing on TNT something like twice a day, every day.

As naive as the politics may seem in any given Sorkin script, his idealized commanders-in-chief, both Jed Bartlett and Andrew Shepard, always seemed like the men you would want in the job. Smart, principled, and hesitant to engage in gutter politics. When it came to fighting back, these rabble rousers didn’t pull punches, but instead they maintained their righteous dignity. It wasn’t about them. It was about the job.

Barack Obama gave that same type of speech last night.

What makes Obama and his fictional Sorkin counterparts great is that they have the sincerest trust in the American people. That’s something most citizens aren’t used to, especially for people like me and have only lived to see Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush. Obama trusts that we’ll do our jobs as citizens. In return, we trust that he’ll do his as president.

Obama’s idealism will no doubt clash with reality. But those clashes will make Obama a stronger president–and us a stronger people for believing in his vision in the first place.

Now, I love Obama. Have since I watched him address the Democratic Convention in 2004. He is a transformational leader, as they say. But there’s something about this new Dave Stewart “American Prayer” music video that makes me feel uneasy.

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Eh, it’s not a bad tune. But the video borders on parody. (Can you really take anything with Perez Hilton and Margaret Cho in it seriously?) In fact, it represents everything that has gone wrong with the Obama campaign in the past month.

The line that really sticks is “this is no time to dream.” It plays over a images of tanks, smokestacks, a sign by a homeless veteran, and gas being pumped. We know it’s bad, but isn’t it the dream that carries us through. In the beginning, Obama embodied that ideal. “Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.” Those were his words in January after he won the Iowa caucus. We don’t hear that anymore.

Somewhere along the lines, the campaign go it into their heads that because Barack Obama made us believe in something that he wouldn’t be able to do the job of president. So he changed his tune a bit after winning the nomination. He made his move to the center, but ironically dropped the “one nation” rhetoric. It’s as if hope was something that only a Democratic voter could grasp.

Granted he was no longer able to stay above the fray as the presumptive nominee. It’s what hurt him when he had to go one-on-one with Hillary Clinton. He had to attack on a level that seemed outside of his rhetorical comfort zone. At the podium, on a public stage, attacks didn’t work for the Obama brand. They still don’t.

With the Democratic Convention kicking of tomorrow, Obama’s campaign needs to realize that this is the moment, that this is the time to go re-engage with people on a level that makes them believe that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” That’s the Obama this country needs.

Here’s the only music video that reminds us of that:
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The House Bunny (2008)–**1/2

The House Bunny is flavored lip gloss. At first read, that might be considered a bad thing. But this light-hearted comedy starring Scary Movie comedienne Anna Faris is wrapped in a sweet, colorful coating of joy. It’s hard not to smile, even when you’re cringing.

In the cut throat world of Playboy Bunnies, Shelly (Faris) is on her way out. She’s spent all of her adult life in the Playboy Mansion, but one letter, apparently from Hugh Hefner, tells Shelly that she needs to pack her bags. When she asks why Hef would let her go, one of the house boys tells the 27-year-old that she is too old. She’s “59 in bunny years.”

Without a job or a home, Shelly hits the streets, stumbling upon a lesser Playboy Mansion: A sorority house.

The first house she enters isn’t as receptive to the bare-tummied Shelly joining their ranks, but the Zeta house, full of its misfits and loners, needs a house mother who can teach the girls to be sexy. (Show some skin. Be flirtatious. Suppress those smarts.) Sexy means boys. Boys mean pledges. Pledges mean that they won’t get kicked off campus for not meeting the Panhellenic council’s pledge quota. They may not know it, but the Zetas really are all that. Sometimes it just takes a Bunny to bring it out.

Like any film that overtly advances the notion that all you need is makeup and a push-up bra to win the day, The House Bunny also tells us that we should be ourselves. Thankfully, The House Bunny never tries to jam the idea down our throats. Instead Faris’ talents as a comedic wonder are brought to the forefront.

Faris may be the only actress in the world who can wear, well, what you’d expect a Playboy bunny to wear and still have an audience focus on punchlines. Her full-bodied zaniness makes a rather formulaic movie feel slightly fresher and sunnier than it should be. Obstacles are put in the way, and adversity is overcome. But what could have been Legally Blonde-lite, turns into a farce with unexpected appeal.

Faris isn’t the only one who saves the film, though. Director Fred Wolf and his filmmaking team take a movie that was packaged for consumption—including a Hugh Hefner cameo, a role and musical number for American Idol Katherine McPhee, a romantic lead played by Colin Hanks, and other, less interesting romances—and chops it down to size. For as funny as Faris is, this is the crew that recognized her as the comedy star she could be beyond the Scary Movie franchise. Watching The House Bunny, you wonder why it took this long.

The House Bunny, starring Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Kat Dennings, Emma Stone, Katherine McPhee, Rumer Willis, Beverly D’Angelo and Christopher McDonald, directed by Peter Wolf, is in theaters now.

More than seven years have passed since Baz Luhrmann directed Moulin Rouge! The pop musical set in turn-of-the-century Paris brought the musical genre back to life.  Now can Luhrmann do the same for the romantic epic with Australia?

I’ve tried hard to ignore the picture, expecting the worst if my expectations get too high.  I’m generally quite skilled at managing my own expectations ahead of a release.  But this one is getting to me.  When the trailer came out, I watched it 5 times before I told myself to stop. (You can see it here. Damn it! I watched it again.)  Still, 20th Century Fox keeps feeding me little bread crumbs that I can’t help gobbling up.

I mean, check out this poster released today:

Luhrmann’s movies have a startling power.  As cynical as I can be, every single film he has produced gets to that hopeless romantic in me.   Hell, I saw Moulin Rouge! 10 times in the theater when it was released.  Because I’m paying my own bills now, I am praying that Australia doesn’t have the same effect on me.

Luhrmann’s Australia, starring Aussies Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, hits theaters on Nov. 14.

There’s buzz, and then there’s deafening noise. With $470 million in the bank and now a serious chance at challenging Titanic for the top spot, The Dark Knight is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. It has a lot against it. It’s a sequel. It’s a superhero movie. But–and I keep hammering at this–the Academy needs a big ratings year.

General consensus would have you believe that The Dark Knight is one of the best motion pictures in years. Some people have said it’s the best movie they’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t go that far, but The Dark Knight is the kind of steamroller that, at the end of the year, more people will remember than a No Country for Old Men. Gosh darn it, people love it. Even the critics are on its side (Metacritic: 82/100, Rotten Tomatoes: 94/100).

I don’t think it’s a question of if The Dark Knight will be nominated for Best Picture. Now, I think it’s a question of whether it will win the top prize. The film won’t get much love from critics groups, with the exception of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. It will be telling in January if BFCA goes for the Bat in a big way. If New York and Los Angeles critics go for it in December, the game is over. Until then, it’s a waiting game.

Updated Oscar Predictions – August 17,2008

Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008)–***1/2
Quickie Review 

Vicky: …you’re trying to lose yourself in empty sex.
Juan Antonio: Empty sex? Do you have such a low opinion of yourself?

Two American tourists on vacation in Barcelona get caught up in love affair with an artist and his unstable ex-wife. This scrumptious and entertaining drama from aging auteur Woody Allen woes the audience with its uber-sexy cast and beautiful locales. Once we are engaged, Allen works his magic, challenging us with complex relationships, celebrating sexual liberation, and making us laugh a little in the process. It’s not classic Woody, but watching the director work with his latest muse, Scarlett Johansson (as Cristina), and an international all-star cast shows there are still some new tricks in this old dog. Also starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Patricia Clarkson, and Rebecca Hall as Vicky.

With $459 million dollars in the bank as of yesterday, The Dark Knight is sure to make history today.  It will become the second-highest grossing film of all time beating out Star Wars.  The Force is strong with this one.  

Next up: Becoming only the second film in history to cross the $500 million mark domestically.  The way things are going, it should hit that number in a week and a half. 

One adaptation of a YA literary sensation moved out of November, and now one has moved in. 

Looks like Twilight will go head-to-head with Disney’s Bolt on Nov. 21, pitting hordes of families against hordes of tween girls at the multiplex over the Thanksgiving holiday.  

Call me late to the game, but I wasn’t aware of just how big Twilight and the other Stephenie Meyer vamp romance novels were until I saw the film nab the Entertainment Weekly cover.  

That was just a few weeks ago.  I’m not a big YA reader, but from what I hear around the office, this one has some serious teeth. Twilight doesn’t quite have the same numbers as, say, the Bible or Mao’s writings, but there are more books from the series in print than there are people in the West Coast states.  It’s kind of a big deal.

Thankfully, I can indulge in the cinematic versions of the books.  The first film will get me in the theater with just director Catherine Hardwicke’s name on it.  And because I like to appear cool via pop savviness, I have to see the movies the kids are watching.

Still, I don’t see the film having broad appeal.  (For the grown-ups with a vamp fetish, there’s always True Blood, which premieres Sept. 7 on HBO.)  But even if the film doesn’t get the same audience as a Potter film, Entertainment Weekly would have been better served by putting Twilight on its cover this week instead of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Seriously guys, a fall movie preview issue headlined by a summer 2009 film doesn’t really work.  Don’t you and Warner Bros. share a parent company? Communication.

Pineapple Express (2008)–***1/2
Quickie Review

A high-flying process server witnesses a murder and goes on the run, bringing his pot dealer along for the ride. A genre melting pot, this bromance/stoner comedy/action thriller mixes buckets of laughs with gallons of blood. Seth Rogen breaks the Team Apatow team mold with his hilarious screenplay while Southern Goth director David Gordon Green channels his inner Tarantino. Oh, the film is messy–but in the best way possible. Watch for Danny McBride’s scene-stealing turn as middleman dealer Red. Also starring James Franco.

Warner Bros. execs, apparently too exhausted from rolling naked in the loot The Dark Knight loot to market a Potter film, decided to move Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to July 17, 2009. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 set for 2010 and Part 2 for 2011, the move will give Potter fans 3 years in a row with movies featuring the Wiz kid. 

WB certainly has a dearth of blockbusters in ‘09, so the move makes sense.  I don’t think anyone is fooling themselves into believing Watchmen has blockbuster potential. Where the Wild Things Are may never be finished. And Terminator Salvation? Please.  Even if the excuse is the writer’s strike for now, you have to consider it something more strategic.  The annual numbers for 2009 will look prettier with a Potter film.  

Oh, and please consider this confirmation that Superman: Man of Steel will not make a 2009 release date. 

The July 17 date is currently home to Land of the Lost.  Expect that to change quickly.