Category: Movies

The Killers have gone the way of M. Night Shyamalan

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We were discussing today what the new large rock band of America is. Who is the new U2? Some made a convincing argument for Kings of Leon. I was thinking that I had hoped it would have been The Killers after their awesome debut of Hot Fuss and their severely underrated Sam’s Town. However, two crappy albums later it looks like the best is behind us for them.

It then struck me that this is exactly how I feel about M. Night Shyamalan. Let me explain:

Legendary Debut Album, Hot Fuss, and Debut Movie, The Sixth Sense
M. Night’s The Sixth Sense was a monster of a movie. Not only one of the most quotable movies of the year (“I see dead people”) but also just a great film. So good it was nominated for six academy awards, including Best Picture. Similarly, the debut album by The Killers, Hot Fuss, was a bombshell of an album. It had five songs that will be played on rock radio stations for the next 50 years in “Somebody Told Me”, “Mr. Brightside”, “All These Things That I’ve Done” and “Smile Like You Mean It”. It was #1 on the charts for 50 weeks and won the Grammy for Best Rock Album. Both the movie and album killed it. Great start to both of their careers.

Strong Underrated Second Effort in Album, Sam’s Town, and Movie, Unbreakable
The film Unbreakable was released to generally positives reviews. Some people loved it (Tarantino placed it on his top 20 list of films released since 1992) but most thought it was inferior to Sixth Sense. It grossed $250 million worldwide and has a cult following of users who are often heard clamoring for a sequel. The album Sam’s Town was a great effort. It has three great songs in “When You Were Young,” “The River is Wild,” and “Sam’s Town”. Like Unbreakable to Sixth Sense, the album was nowhere near the smash hit of Hot Fuss but went to #2 on the charts and sold 1.2 million albums.

At this point the expectations were off the charts. Both had done a legendary album/film and a really really good one. That’s 2 for 2. I couldn’t wait for what was next.

And that’s exactly when the wheels came off. After the strong start and solid followup, both the Killers and M. Night dabbled in mediocrity for a number of years. M. Night made Signs, The Village and Lady In The Water. None of these were terrible. None of them were that good either. Similarly, The Killers released Day & Age which has a catchy single in “Human.” It isn’t good but isn’t bad either.

It’s the present where both of them descend into crap. M. Night’s latest film, The Last Airbender, was a total debacle. Nobody went to see it. It received 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. Similarly, the lead singer of The Killers, Brandon Flowers, came out with a new album this year called Flamingo where the best review of it by BBC Music said, “there’s a slight feeling of blandness about the whole thing”

It’s too bad. I liked both of them. I guess we can only hope that they both regain their old form eventually.

Everything is a Remix

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I just saw a great video that breaks down Led Zepplin and how many of their tracks were stolen from other tracks.  While interesting, it makes the larger point which i completely agree with that “everything is a remix” today and it always has been.  Taking previously created content and altering it to make something similar but also original and unique is what art’s all about.

Over the past few years, i’ve grown to love the music mashup which is when a DJ takes two or more (sometime a dozen) songs and mixes them all together to create a new song.  Some of my favorites have U2+a rap song, an instrumental with Star Wars soundtrack, and 80’s classic with Jay-Z (links to all songs are below).  I’ve noticed a few things: (a) that listening to these tracks is totally different than listening to the original, even though they sound extremely similar; (b) the best music mashups have a classic rock backbone and then from another tune faster lyrics on top of it.

Mashups and remixes of all kind are all over.  I’m seeing it in TV shows, for instance in The O.C. where they did an episode just like the Spider Man movie or when Avatar recycles the plot from Dances With Wolves.  Everyone has biases and influences so it’s rare to find something truly original.  Even when copying though, you are creating something new.  When Twitter launched, people thought it was just a copy of the News Feed application that was just one part of Facebook ,but it’s grown into something completely different than Facebook.  I always thought a cool movie idea would be an entire movie and narrative but every lined used is from another film.  Some lines are famous, and others wouldn’t be as recognizable. I think it’s a cool thought.

I’m pro-remix.  I think more people should try it.  Personally, I have a goal for myself over the next 12 months to actually create a music mashup of my own where i can actually use the tracks i enjoy the most to make something original.   I’ll let you know how it goes.

Here are my favorite music mashups that i’ve posted on my music blog where i post one good song every weekday:

The Social Network Movie

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I saw the new film The Social Network this weekend and loved it.  This was an interesting film for me.  It was the first film where i knew or met many of the major characters.

  • I’ve spent a good deal of time with Sean Parker.  We’ve worked together (briefly at AOL).  We’ve partied together when we both spent a week crashing at Spencer’s place in Hermosa. We’ve collaborated on a company together- my dad and I angel invested in Plaxo
  • I’ve met with the Winklevoss twins.   They came down to look at Ruckus in 2006 when they were still doing ConnectU
  • Others i’ve only met once or seen indirectly, such as Dustin and Peter Thiel.

But, it’s safe to say that i know the cast of characters which made the film incredibly satisfying.   Fincher and Sorkin nailed it as the characters in real life are very much how they are depicted.

The fact that this is a good movie can be attributed directly to Fincher and Sorkin.  The writing and directing is phenomenal.  Fincher takes his modern, slick style with awesome music and combines it with smart, quick dialogue.  You’re forced to keep up.  The result is great storytelling.  A mediocre plot become fascinating because of them.

The interesting parts to me are:

The ethical scale. In the web industry, there’s a huge hacker culture where technology grit and talent is valued over rules.  There are no rules.  Zuckerberg completely embraces this and the Winklevoss twins are on the other end of the spectrum.  Every other character is somewhere in the middle of this scale.   I see this every day when i see and talk to programmers who are trying to do something unique and innovative.  This is how Napster came to be.  This is how Skype happened.  It’s part of the web culture and i thought the film did a good job of showing the two types of people converging into the web business.

Sean Parker. He’s quite a character and I’ve had the pleasure of hanging with him a few times.  He is just as the movie describes as he’s very charismatic and love parties, high fashion, models and going to trendy spots.  But the film doesn’t do him justice in a couple of areas.  First, he’s a social software genius. He understands better than others how to make a site social and gain millions of users.  The movie makes him look like he totally mooched off Facebook.  It should be noted that he’s responsible for some huge contributions such as the News Feed.   In addition to the Peter Thiel money, he also helped with the Accel $10 million investment.  These are huge things.

There’s also a class system matrix here. You have old money (Eduardo and Winklevoss), you have no money (Zuckerberg) and you have new money (Sean Parker and Peter Thiel).    You have a kid with a chip on his shoulder making something extremely valuable.  Those with old money and traditional business models in their head (Eduardo and The Twins) want it and want to fit this round peg into their square hole.  The new money characters (Parker and Theil) know the true potential of Facebook, what it can accomplish, and that growing it now is the better strategy.  This was a very real dynamic and in fact i wrote about it 18 months ago when everyone in the media was writing about how Facebook pageviews are worthless and how they won’t be able to monetize and the social network business as we know it isn’t nearly as valuable as we thought.  It was all crap and it was because this is new unchartered waters.

The product is king. In the consumer internet business, the product on the page is the single most important thing.  Making the user experience tight, fast, and easy is the difference between a successful site and one that nobody uses.   This is why you can have two websites that do the exact same thing but one is a huge success and the other goes out of business (see the example between Mint and Wesebe).  This is especially true with social networks where it’s a winner take all game.  Network effects cause there to be one big site and lots of losers.  Zuckerberg knows this.  He intuitively understands the user experience.  Facebook is a great experience.  This is also why he discounts The Twins and their ambition.  Just having an idea is only a small part of making a site and a business.  He knows this, I know it and The Twins probably know this.

History of social networks and Exclusivity. For the casual viewer, i think the film might seem like Zuckerberg invented the modern day social network.  This just isn’t true.  Before Facebook there was Friendster, MySpace and half a dozen other social networks that had profiles and friend linkage.  Facebook’s defining characteristic was it’s default privacy settings – it’s exclusivity.  There’s an important scene in the film when Zuckerberg realizes that this is the idea behind the Harvard Connection and this idea makes social networks fun and more realistic.  This exclusivity was Facebook’s major point of distinction for the first few years of its existence and it’s interesting that this one point was not his idea.  Granted, he may have a better product sense than others and built a great site, but it was all founded on shady ground.  Putting in the work and developing the actual product is 99% of a web business, but if the main difference between Facebook and every other social network is not something you came up with, then that’s a problem.  And apparently that problem equals $65 million dollars.  Seems like more than a fair trade

Startup Culture. I thought the film did a great job of displaying web and startup culture.  Sure, it’s a group of people who don’t sleep but more importantly it’s a group of people who believe what they’re doing is the single most important thing on the planet.  They dream of kingdoms and a world domination.  Every feature they implement is a step in that direction which is why it’s ok to sacrifice social lives, money and sleep.  You saw that allure in this film.  That house in Palo Alto reminded me of the Fincher’s Fight Club house where another, different kind of cult was brewing only the one about Facebook was and is real.  It happens every day in the valley and across the world with startups.

All in all, I thought it was a great film and found myself thinking and talking about it for days afterwards.  You should check it out.

August Movie Roundup

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Scott Pilgrim (9 out of 10)
This is one of the more clever and entertaining movies of the summer. Sure, it’s one big video game, but it’s still visually stimulating and super funny. The comedy never stops in this one.   Kudos to director Edgar Wright’s ability to capture the entire comic book series (6 books) in 112 minutes.

There are six fights, one after another, which makes this one of the few movies with more than one major climax. Each fight could have been the big finale to any other movie: one involves a Bollywood-style dance number, one is a musical duel, and one is the big “Final Boss” that doesn’t end how you think.

The atmosphere in this film is huge. There’s both a Seinfeld and Nintendo references that i thoroughly enjoyed. The music has Beck, Metric and Broken Social Scene, along with old school 8-bit video game noises. Everything in this movie is over-the-top and excessively nerdy. From the music and sound to the look and feel of just the first thirty seconds of the film, you know exactly what you’re getting into.

Inception (8.5 out of 10)
Posted all my thoughts on this here and here

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (8.5 of 10) and Girl Who Plays With Fire (9 out of 10)
I saw both of these this summer. Take Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. i think Begins is a better cohesive movie, end-to-end, but Dark Knight is a great sequel with broader scope and more action. And, i think It works as a great movie only because it’s a sequel. Similarly, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a better individual movie. It’s tight and complete but The Girl Who Plays With Fire is a fantastic sequel. It takes the foundation of Tattoo and really blows it out.

Considering the first movie is mostly about one person and the second is all about another, it’s amazing how well these are connected, yet also how different they are. One is a methodical while other is frantic. One is focused with only 2 characters really, while the other all over the place with over 10. Regardless, both are fantastic and worth seeing.

The Other Guys (8 out of 10)
It’s great to have Will Ferrell back. I was worried he was going down the Eddie Murphy path where his movies got worse as he got older. But The Other Guys was one of his best. If you think of all the Will Ferrell movies and the ones where he gives the best performance, i’d rank Anchorman first, Talledega Nights second and this film third (and i do think Blades of Glory is underrated). Here he’s amazing as a homely cop but even funnier when he turns into his alter ego, Gator. I’d put this up against any of his other films.

Salt (6 our of 10)
This movie was just not at all interesting to me. Angelina’s character didn’t really talk the entire time. [**Spoiler Alert**] For the entire movie, you can’t tell you if she’s on Russia’s side or US’s. Thus, you have no idea what her character really thinks of really feels. You’re just watching her maybe kill people (maybe just maim), and based on those actions you’re led to believe she’s Russian. Of course, by the end of the movie, you realize that you’ve just been manipulated by fancy editing and lack of information. Pretty lame if you ask me. I’m just mad that the director wanted to make a movie like that.

Of course, the most interesting thing about the movie is the director, Phillip Noyce. It’s the same guy who was big in the studio system decades ago, doing Patriot Games, Clear & Present Danger and others. Then he moved back to Australia and did small indie flicks like Rabbit Proof Fence and The Quiet American. When he did, he employed a woman to stay in Hollywood and just read scripts. Specifically spy scripts. This is because he’s obsessed with spies. Growing up, his dad was a spy for Australia, and as a kid he used to go through town and follow people inconspicuously. So, this type of movie was the only thing that would bring him back to the studios. And after 5 years his woman found one. This is it. You can learn more in this KCRW podcast.

While that’s cool and all, i still wish it was a better movie.

Dinner With Shmucks (5 out of 10)
One of the more disappointing comedies of the summer. Steve Carrell is more annoying than funny and the plot is just rough. Say you meet a guy who is ruining your life – he tells your girlfriend about an old girlfriend, tells her to get lost, and then destroys your house by throwing wine bottles at all walls and tables. Now imagine this guy says he’s left his keys at your house, would you make a bed for him on your couch or would you drive him home? It wouldn’t be a movie if he just goes home but it’s a bad movie because he stays – because nobody would behave like the people in this movie. Don’t ever see this film

Some Inception Notes

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Discovered two cool things about Inception this week

First, there is some analysis done about when Leo wears his wedding ring. If you pay attention to when he has it on (clue: only in dreams), you can figure out the final scene in the movie.  That link is here

Second, this video below shows how the main score of the movie has a subliminal tune embedded in it.  Which pretty much blew my mind.  Thanks to Gawker for that.

Inception Thoughts

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I saw Inception this week. I’m assuming most of you know that this is a movie written and directed by Chris Nolan. Nolan is the same guy who wrote and directed Memento, The Prestige (with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale), Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. So, he can both mind screw you (Memento and Prestige) and wow you with effects and spectacle (Batman movies).

I though the film great and here’s why. It was truly original. Sure, there have been dream movies before. But in a world where most of the films are sequels and remakes, this movie was a plot that nobody had come close to. Mental espionage is not a common genre. You could argue this was the classic heist movie where one last job is all they need to accomplish but when you’re not stealing anything but instead placing a thought inside someone’s head – it’s a bit different. So i guess the context was the original bit. I loved the introduction of the plot and explanation of the concept. Similar to how the best part of Batman Begins is when we see how Batman came to be and who is responsible, the best part of Inception is learning how this dream hijacking occurs and who is required within it. Even as hit the third act of the movie, you’re learning the details of being inside dreams.

Also similar to Batman Begins and Dark Knight, the end of the movie is disappointing compared to the beginning and middle. Thousands of people shooting and missing the good guys while they lay people out with one punch is not a clever way to end a movie that relies on thoughtfulness and intricate details. Memento probably has the best ending of a movie of the past 10 years and thus i hold Nolan to a higher standard here. He’s gotten lazy with Batman.

The women in the movie were also great. Ellen Page was a great student and has never looked more girl-like, especially when you place her next to Marion Cotillard (the woman from La Vie en Rose). The scene where the two are next to each other is like a class in the difference between what a girl is compared to a woman. Marion Cotillard was also a phenomenal femme fatal. One last woman that drags the man down, literally.

I could see this film winning a slew of Oscars, but because the idea and execution was the show not the characters, the awards are for Writing, Director and potentially Picture not for actor or actress

Some other notes:

  • Great to see Tom Berenger in there. Haven’t seen him in quite a while. Loved it
  • Note from JT: when cillian murphy opens the safe and there’s a paper windmill in there isn’t that a symbol for green since his father seemed to be an oil tycoon?  Interesting nuance.
  • I’m not the biggest Joseph Gordon-Levitt especially since he overacted his SNL show but i thought he pulled it off.  I would have preferred James Franco who was originally cast for that role
  • I think they could have done without the entire third level (snow level) madness.  It was just too much and the movie still would have been sweet if it was a more tame level or just make level 2 more detailed.

Further Analysis of Back to the Future

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Some great points are made by the Cracked gang about the beloved Back to the Future.  Points such as

  1. Did Marty trigger the civil rights movement?
  2. Isn’t it weird that George’s and Loraine’s son looks just like the guy Loraine tried to sleep with in high school?
  3. How did Biff go from rapist to butler?

All that and more in the video below:

Liz Wallace’s Movie Rule

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There’s an interesting Rule that’s being discussed in Hollywood these days that has to do with the lack of interaction between women in film. The Rule states that woman are neglected in a film if the film doesn’t satisfy these three Rules:

  1. There are two women in the film
  2. These women have names
  3. These women talk to each other about something other than a man

Some of my favorite films of all time don’t satisfy this rule – such as Big Lebowski and The Dark Knight.   This week John August, a screenwriter of major films (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), is saying that now that he knows about this rule, he’s going to try to bring it to every one of his subsequent films.  He says in his blog post:

Looking back through my movies, I’m struck by how rarely the female characters actually do talk to each other. In Big Fish, it’s only a brief moment with Sandra and Josephine. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it’s a throwaway moment between Violet and Veruca. Titan A.E. fails the test unless you know that the alien Stith is technically female.

In each of these cases, I had to spend a few minutes just to come up with these (admittedly slight) examples.

Also, I find it fascinating that the Reverse Bechdel Test is almost meaningless. Pretty much every movie made includes two named male characters talking about something other than a woman.

Here’s the original comic strip that invented the rule:

And if you want to see how many films apply, check out this video:

Interesting….

Two Ridiculous Movies

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One week, 2 crazy movies.  Let me go into depth here….

Last week i saw the movie Crank 2: High Voltage. This movie is totally insane.   To illustrate how out there the film is, i’d like to repost comedian Aziz Ansari’s tweets he had while watching the movie where he reports on what’s actually happening on screen:

A dog just bit a cops duck off!

“FULL BODY TOURETTES!”

Chev is having sex on a horse racing track!!!!!  (this scene lasted 10x longer than I thought it could!)

Horse race sex scene is easily one of the most dumb/ridiculous things ever in a film. Can’t believe it. Crank 1 is dead to me.

Surely everyone has mentioned this, but Chev Chelios just killed an Asian dude and said “Chicken… and Broccoli.” Speechless.

RT @scottaukerman Here’s a lesson, kids: Tattooing your entire face will get you exactly ONE movie role.

RT @jwoliner The last “blooper” consisted of showing how an extra had shit himself. Going out with class!

Basically, I don’t want to give the impression that its cool to text or Twitter in a theatre, BUT if there is a movie with a character named PoonDong… I think its a unique situation and we were respectful in how we did

That’s right.  All of these things happened and more. For instance, there’s a Godzilla scene where Jason Statham becomes a 60 foot giant and fights in an electricity farm – for no major reason.  You have Amy Smart, the guy who played “Pedro” from Napolian Dynamite, David Carradine, Corey Haim, Jason Statham, and Ron Jeremy.   The horserace scene was so ridiculous that i had to buy the song that was playing during it out of respect. I could go on and on about how absurd this movie is, but i think you should do yourself a favor and get some beers and actually watch it for yourself.

But, my week doesn’t stop there.  I also saw the movie Splice on Sunday.  That took insanity to a whole other level.

I thought there was going to be a small alien-like thing that was just going to take out the lab and make for cool scenes similar to the movie Alien and Aliens.  However, what i was NOT prepared for was the little mutant to grow up to be like a human, have a tail with a stinger, go live with the doctors in their farm, start drawing pictures, have mutant sex with the Adrian Brody, get a pet kitten, grow wings, morph into a man, get buried alive, and then rape the mom.  THAT was unexpected and totally insane.  If you are looking for a humongous WFT, go check out this movie.

Ok, go about your business. Just had to report on that. Nothing more to see here.  Move along