Jeez Jon

The Best Film From 2007?

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.  One of the best documentaries I have seen in a long time.  It's the story of a put-upon Everyman science teacher Steve Wiebe challenges the world's record in Donkey Kong, and the huge amount of nerdy drama he goes through in order to prove it.  Obviously, I'm a little biased when it comes to documentaries about gaming (or more specifically, awesome mockumenatries about gaming that are currently available all over North America -- buy one today!), but King of Kong is one of the most solidly constructed films I've come across. 

The world's record in Donkey Kong is held by Billy Mitchell, which is hands-down the best American film villain to come down the pike in a long time. With his shoulder-length Jesus mullet, his tritely patriotic ties and haughty demeanor, Mitchell is exactly the megalomaniac tool you'd think he'd be.  The cult of personality he's built around himself as "the world's best classic video gamer" is just jaw-dropping. When Wiebe does challenge the record Mitchell established in 1982 (yes, 25 years ago),  Mitchell's nerdy toadies do their best to discredit Wiebe's accomplishments, all fueling Mitchell's sizable ego. I mean, here's a taste of Mitchell here:

Oh yes. This man knows he is saying this on camera, thinking he's coming across as the God amongst the Gamer Nerds.  Let's put this in perspective, shall we?  It's FUCKING DONKEY KONG! It's a video game, for cry eye!  Jesus, people, it's like saying I'm the best at Monopoly - who gives a shit?  But that's the awesome thing about King of Kong is that these people live for this shit.  I'm not one to poo-poo someone's hobby, but when I'm sitting around my living room, playing D&D, I know it's just a fun past time and I don't put anymore importance on it than that.  But these guys?  Oy.

King of Kong is amazingly entertaining. With Wiebe as the underdog and Mitchell as the bad guy, it's the ultimate story of one man battling against the odds. Wiebe has victories and defeats along the way, and you will be sitting at the edge of your seat, hoping Wiebe comes out triumphant. There's even an 80's-style training montage as Wiebe gears up for a big tournament. Who can argue with that? 

Rent this movie. You will not be disappointed.

There Will Be Awesomeness

Just saw There Will Be Blood. Fantastic.  Daniel Day-Lewis is just amazing.  Every performance of his is an actor master class for me.  He's completely different in every film he does - his voice, his pace, his Tempo, his Shape -- every Viewpoint covered.  It's not a short movie and it's necessarily a fun movie, but it does kick ass.  I'm watching the rest of No Country For Old Men tomorrow.  Sweeney Todd was also excellent.  La Vie En Rose was pretty terrible, despite some good acting.  A decent awards season so far...

My Comedy Stylings Are Now In Your Extended Network

I've mentioned before about the role playing games mockumentary Tom and I made, and we've finally gotten something linkable. Thanks to Katie, we have a splash page up for the film here.  We're also up on MySpace as well here.  If you are on MySpace, please feel free to befriend our little film there.  Check out both pages for updates about the film, since we are getting so close to actually finishing it.  (Fingers crossed...)

The Other F-Words

I've been away for a while and I do apologize for that. It's been pretty busy around here, and it's best to present them in an alliterative form.  Let's follow the letter F:

*Film*.  I shot my day on the horror movie this past Friday.  While my death scene was taken away from me, it was pointed out by some friends that this does open up my role for the sequel.  We'll see.  My remaining one long scene involved me prepping two dead bodies, both played by two of the main actors in the film.  As they laid on cold stainless steel gurneys, I had to use a rigged fake scalpel to cut into them that had blood coming out.  This being a low-budget film, the rigging of the fake blood didn't quite work most of the time and indeed came apart during a lot of takes.  But we did manage to make it work. 

*Finances*.  I started back to work at Urban Basic Cable Competition Show on Monday.  It's almost like I'd never left -- most of the gang of co-workers are back, with the addition of Miss Katie to the mix.  The show is what it is, and that's plenty okay in my book.  It's a good solid paycheck and a 40 hour work week, which is rather rare in reality tv. 

*Fa***t*.  Even though other people have chimed in about the Isiah Washington/T.R. Knight brouhaha, I thought I'd weigh in as well.  Frankly, the word Isiah Washington used is offensive -- period, end of story. There is no other way around it.  It's up there with the N-word and the C-word (rhymes with hunt), as far as I'm concerned.  This whole thing is totally reminiscent of Mel Gibson's and Michael Richards' outbursts as well.  We all think some horrible, nasty thoughts in our life.  Everyone at one point or another has had a racist or misogynist or homophobic thought cross their brains. It's another thing to actually say it.  Being gay is not a choice;  being a homophobe and using homophobic terminology is.  It comes down to a phrase Tom has used many times:  if you own it, you can use it. This means that if it's a bunch of gay men who are using it, that's okay, 'cause it's theirs.  Same thing about the N-word and African-Americans.  It's about context, like I said previously about the use of the word f****t in the play that I bailed on.

The context that Isiah Washington used the other F-Word was out of malice the first time around and self-interest in the second.  What prompted him to use the word the second time around was a simple question asked by E!Online's Ted Casablanca:  Aren't you guys happy to move on from the choking incident earlier (meaning the first time Isiah Washington called T.R. Knight a f****t)? A simple answer to that question is "Yes, we are."  It was a yes-or-no question.  And yet, Isiah Washington decided to try to deny the incident ever happened after he had already confessed to saying it.

The outrage that has come out of all this has made Isiah Washington apologize again and, apparently, go into treatment. Both Michael Richards and Mel Gibson have also sought treatment as well, with the latter going to rehab for alcoholism.  While I'm all for forgiveness, this still makes me weary of... well, all of them.  It is an open secret that there are a lot of gays, Jews and African-Americans in the entertainment industry, so to have all of this vitriol come out lately is a bit dumbfounding to me.  If you really don't like these specific sets of society, then why work in this industry in the first place?  That would be like me saying "I hate Christians" and then go work in Nashville. Or for TBN.  Or for NASCAR.  Makes no sense to me whatever.  (And, as a side-note, I obviously do not hate Christians.)

As all of the outrage over Isiah Washington's comments has been indignant responses around L.A., this town has come to also celebrate a film where the use of this word (and others similar to it) is being applauded and celebrated.  I watched The Departed on Tuesday night, and there is the word again -- along with "cocksucker", "fag" and other homophobic terms.  So why is Isiah Washington bearing the brunt of this righteous indignation and nothing has been said about The Departed?  I honestly don't know. The movie deals with mobsters, gangsters and blue-collar cops, so the eventual arguments are 'Well, that's how people talk in this setting'.  Really?  I know a bunch of blue-collar folks who don't use homophobic terms and find them insulting. To me, it makes the characters who say these terms as assholes and therefore are completely unsympathetic.  Think about it:  if you were watching a 2 hour 45 minute film about mobsters and cops and all of the characters were dropping anti-Semitic or racist comments very often, you wouldn't like them either.  So why sit through a whole movie of it?  Even the protagonist in the movie, the one character you actually like says "faggot" when taunting his main rival at the end of the film.  Why is this okay?  Why?

Unfortunately, I can't say this isn't the first time I've sat through a Martin Scorcese movie where I've had this feeling.  At least with Taxi Driver (which in my opinion is still his best work), Travis Bickle's homophobic comments are kept to the barest of minimums.  There are two very nelly queens in Mean Streets that get thrown out of cab by Robert DeNiro that's done for comedic effect.  But Raging Bull?  HATE.  I watched this in my Film History class in college and almost walked out because the homophobic comments were so plentiful.  Sure, it's a technically well-made film.  Yes, the acting is spectactular.  But after sitting through lines like "You punch like you take it up the ass", I just wanted the damn thing over.  In Vito Russo's book The Celluloid Closet, he recounts a tale of a gay actor in After Hours who refused Scorcese's direction to make the character a flamey stereotype.  Instead, the character comes off as more three-dimensional and lonely, which gives the scene between him and lead Griffith Dunne more poignancy. 

Scorcese's  rather homophobic track record  can be explained away (partially) due to the times.  Mean Streets was in the early 70's, and After Hours was mid-80's.  Raging Bull was a period piece back at a time where being gay out in the open was almost a death sentence (and in some parts of the world it still is). But The Departed is a 2006 film set in the present. In this day and age, frankly, Scorcese, his screenwriter and producers should seriously know better.  Get with the times, people. 

I just hope that out of all of this people will use the term (and those similar) less.  It's not being politically correct: it's correct, period.

Snakes On A... Well, You Know

It started a few weeks ago.  A bunch of us from work were driving back to the office from lunch when our Office PA (who totally kicks ass and is pretty much a coordinator in everything he does except his title) was talking about going down to Comic Con in San Diego that weekend.

ME:  Oh!  Are you going to try to see the Snakes On A Plane footage?

Office PA: I hope so!

I then related a story on NPR about the net phenomenon about the movie, and how fan trailers, songs and posters have been made for it.  We all laughed about it and then went to talk about work.  I come to my desk the following Monday with this poster sitting for me at my desk.  This helped spark the Snakes on a Plane rage at our office.

The ante was upped one morning when the main office manager overheard us talking about the movie, and he showed me this. A website where you can have Samuel L. Jackson send a personalized message to friends and family by either e-mail or phone?  I was so there. I sent out messages to work buddies, Tom, friends, and had them given back to me in return.  This went on for a while. 

And then, yesterday -- premiere day.  We in Post on Urban Basic Cable Competition Show were all a flutter about seeing Snakes on a Plane.  Tattooed Story Editor was adamant about seeing it tonight, as it is the day before his bachelor party and he wanted to specifically wanted to see it (a) drunk and (b) with the most obnoxious crowd at any movie theater in Los Angeles.  So naturally, he wanted to see it at The Grove.  For the uninitiated, the Grove is a cramped-yet-trendy shopping center in LA right next to the venerable Farmer's Market.  There is a multiplex there, and the crowds? Not my favorite. There have been a couple other instances to back up this reputation.  But for this piece of cinematic genius, it seems like just the place.

We ended up being in a group of 20.  Yes, you read that right:  twenty.  2-0.  There were about 15 of us from work and then 5 other friends and family showed up.  We took up two half-rows in the front section of the theater.  GM, Hermione and I saved our seats as other Snakes-enthusiasts were coming in.  This one girl in short blonde hair and wearing two tank-tops walked by us.

TANK-TOP GIRL:  Oh, you guys are saving seats for a large group too?

ME:  Yes.

TANK-TOP GIRL:  That's awesome!

Tattooed Story Editor showed up with the rest of the crew, and they were pretty plastered.  Hermione had brought in a small bottle of Jack Daniels to add to her Coke.  Are you guys getting the vibe of this? 

I honestly have not seen a movie audience that hyped and excited since the re-release of Star Wars in 1997.  I mean, it was crazy... and therefore, it was pretty awesome.  As the lights dimmed, Tank-Top Girl's crew started it all off.

TANK-TOP GIRL'S BFF:  Gimme an S!
THEIR GROUP:  S!
TANK-TOP GIRL'S BFF: Gimme an S!
THEIR GROUP:  S!
TANK-TOP GIRL'S BFF:  Gimme an S!
THEIR GROUP:  S!
TANK-TOP GIRL'S BFF:  What does that spell?
THEIR GROUP:  [LOUD SNAKE-LIKE HISSING]

And the rebuttal from our group was instant.

TATTOED STORY EDITOR:  Gimme a 'GAY'!

The evening rolled like that.  During the trailers, the crowd would alternately hiss like snakes, shout at the screen for the lack of snakes or just shout "Snakes on a Plane!  Whooooo!"  The movie started and the crowd loudly cheered Samuel L. Jackson's name in the credits and the title.  And once he appeared on screen after the first 10 minutes of set up of the plot (as it were), the crowd cheered, whooped and hollered.  Once the passengers started assembling to go on the plane, the crowd started loudly saying who would make it and who didn't.  Bimbo with dog?  Guy in Crowd:  "Dead".  Stuffy British Guy?  Guy in Crowd:  "So Dead."  Older Stewardess?  "Very Dead." 

As the film continued, the hissing would happen at random times, usually when it was quiet.  When Samuel L. Jackson would tell someone off, someone from the crowd would end the sentence with a loud "Bitch!"  At one point while a couple of the stewardesses were having a quiet moment, Tattooed Story Editor started making very loud fart noises, and that completely had me rolling.  He then capped it all when Samuel L. Jackson was flirting with one of the stewardesses:

TATTOOED STORY EDITOR:  How about a black mamba in your pooossssaaaayyyyyy!

It was unbelievable.  Oh... how was the movie?  Snakes on a Plane, as a film, is very entertaining.  It knows exactly what it is, and it delivers.  It's a cliched action film that knows it's a cliched action film and doesn't try to be ironic about it.  It embraces pretty much every action movie trope you can think of, and relishes it.  It's ridiculous, scary, and quite funny.  There is a lot of snake carnage on display here, and a lot of people (and body parts) get bitten.

Snakes on a Plane, if it can maintain this kind of campy audience energy, could easily become the next Rocky Horror.   It's definitely fun enough.  So, we'll see.  The capper to the movie is the campy music video they play over the end credits.  The song?  "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)".  The band?  Cobra Starship, of course.  Enjoy!