Personal Film Commentaries: The Next Trend?

I've long been a fan of filmmaker commentary tracks. It's the first thing I look for when scanning the back of a DVD case for special features. I don't consider a DVD presentation to be complete without a commentary track; and in the occasional case of multiple commentaries for a single film -- usually following the pattern of one with the director, producer or writer (the "technical" commentary) and one with the cast (the "fun" commentary) -- well, that's all the better.

My interest, then, was more than piqued by the recent commercial advertisements for The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray which heavily promotes its feature of enabling Blu-Ray-enabled PC users to create their own commentary track -- whether for a single favorite scene or the entire film -- using their webcam and microphone, and share it with others.

The idea of creating custom, "non-official" commentaries is hardly new. What movie nerd hasn't, at least in passing, had the idea of giving their favorite film the proper commentary justice? Harry Potter fans have been especially enthusiastic about creating their own commentary tracks for others to download (a good sampling here). The creators of Mystery Science Theater created Riff Trax, a site featuring humorous commentary tracks to popular movies that users can download for a small purchase fee.

The only minor problem with these "outside" commentaries is that they play separately from their respective DVD and must be synched properly in order to make sense. The Dark Knight is, as far as I know, the first movie to embrace fan-created commentaries. It seems so natural to give film buffs the opportunity to show off their knowledge of a particular film, that it's a wonder no one thought of it until now.

Is this just a clever marketing scheme? A fad? Or is this the next trend in home movie production? As technology and studio support eases the creation and sharing of personal commentaries, could they become standard? Would directors and actors take the time to sit down and record commentaries, or just let the devoted fans handle it?

Black Friday

I wasn't going to go out this year on the day after Thanksgiving, but I was doing laundry and I was bored and Best Buy is literally right across the street from my apartment, so I hopped over there to check things out. Along with portable GPS units and Blu-Ray players and LCD televisions, Black Friday has been a really good time to pick up dvds on the cheap. They are never the cream of the crop, but the kind that you didn't buy for 25 bucks when they were new, but 6 bucks seems just right. I restrained myself to buying only four, and I highly recommend them. Especially when they are between 4 and 10 dollars apiece! Here's what I got:

Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny - Not everyone is a Tenacious D fan, but those of us who are waited a really really long time for this movie to come out, and unfortunately in landed in theaters with a thud. Jack Black and Kyle Gass star as themselves as Tenacious D, the world's most awesome band. Just that sentence should have been good enough to gross at least 20 million, but I don't think the movie was marketed at all, which lead to a terrible 8 million. But now you can pick up the dvd and check it out. Pick of Destiny, for me at least, had pretty high expectations, and did not meet all of them. However, there are a lot of really funny bits and the music is great. The movie spoofs action movies, road trip movies, and even Hard Day's Night style movies about bands. If you like Jack Black, give this one a shot.

Stranger Than Fiction - Will Ferrel's comedic work finally got some notice by the critics for his understated performance in this flick. I think just about everyone can relate to his character, who is stuck in a rut and finally breaks from his day to day monotony only when faced with his impending doom. This movie is good. Real good. It's funny, and sweet, and the story is pretty original. Sure, we all think we are just characters in a novel at some point in our lives (or maybe its just me...) but I aint never seen a movie about it.

Serenity - You probably missed Serenity too when it came out a few years ago. I know I did. It is a movie continuation of the short-lived tv show Firefly, created by Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fame. So I'm sure some people dismissed the movie as Buffy in Space, but the only real similarity is that like Buffy and Angel, Firefly, and so also Serenity, has really engaging characters. After I saw Serenity the first time and knew there were further adventures of Mal and his crew, I couldn't wait to watch the Firefly series. Anyways, Serenity involves the crew of the same named spaceship, on the run from the evil government (kinda like Star Wars), and the whole universe has an old western feel to it (kinda like Cowboy Bebop)(but hey, Star Wars and Cowboy Bebop is a good pedigree). In fact, Whedon blends sci-fi and westerns together in Serenity so well, it could be a fine example of either. Check this one out sometime, but be prepared to become hopelessly addicted to a long since canceled tv show and cursing FOX mercilessly.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Jason Segel wrote and stars in this movie about the pain and awkwardness of ending a relationship. This movie is a good example of the Judd Apatow Comedy Machine, even though Seth Rogen is nowhere to be seen, but it could be known a few years from now for a few other things. One is the American introduction to Russel Brand, who is popular (or at least infamous) in England, and even though his master of ceremonies job at the MTV Video Music Awards was panned by just about everyone, could be destined for great things. More importantly is two, this movie could be responsible for the resurgence of the Muppets. Jason Segel is a huge Muppets fan, and one of the plot devices in this movie is his character's ongoing work writing a musical version of Dracula, with puppets. I have heard that he wants to make a new Muppet movie, and will treat Kermit and Fozzie and the rest with respect and reach out the their true audience: older folks who remember that the Muppets were cool once. Hopefully the Dracula musical in this movie will serve as a good enough resume to get Disney to cough up some money to make it happen. Oh and Forgetting Sarah Marshall is good, sorry I got sidetracked there. You should watch it.

So in summary, not all the movies in the bargain bin are total crap. Certainly not around the holiday season, which should provide you a great opportunity to fill out your, or someone you love's, dvd collection.

One Sentence Movie Reviews (Of Flicks I Haven't Seen)

I haven't been out to the movies lately. Nothing out there really appeals to me right now. I am anxiously awaiting the wide release of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, but alas it has not arrived in the desert yet. Although even though I haven't seen any of these, I can still cast a judgmental and dismissive eye upon them. Check it out:

Twilight: Even if I liked stories about femmy looking vampires and their wacky adventures in the Pacific Northwest, I would be turned off by the marketing for this movie, which is geared nearly exclusively to teenaged girls.

Bolt: It's amazing to me that Disney still bothers with these non-Pixar cgi movies; Meet the Robinsons and Chicken Little made money, but they are nowhere near as good as, well, any Pixar movie ever, and this movie will suffer the same fate.

Quantum of Solace: Today's technology is impressive: this movie has only been in theaters for two weeks, but its already out on dvd under the title The Bourne Supremacy.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: The law of sequels says that there is no way that this will be as good as the first one, which sadly sucked ass.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year: I think I could only be made to watch this movie if I was strapped down Clockwork Orange style, but even then I would only make it halfway through before I choked on my own vomit and mercifully spared myself from any more stupid song and dance numbers about basketball.

Role Models: This movie actually seems ok, but I feel like we are getting a movie like this every month now and I am getting sick of them, you know?

Changeling: "Directed by Clint Eastwood" + "Starring Angelina Jolie" = Oscar gold, well usually, except looking at the plot synopsis, the equation also should have "A Lifetime Original Movie" in there which throws the whole thing off balance.

December looks like it will have some quality films in it, so hopefully my movie malaise will be broken. Until then, thank goodness for Netflix.

Eat Some Popcorn!

I read a news blurb on the IMDB about how movie concession sales have dropped alarmingly this year. I'm sure upon hearing that, you reacted much like me: "well duh!" People have less money to throw around this year than in years past, on average. Between folks struggling to make mortgage payments and record high gas prices this summer, who has the cash to buy popcorn or sno-caps or sour patch kids when they go see the latest computer animated blockbuster or annoyingly awful family comedy starring Martin Lawrence? Plus, movie concession prices are downright ridiculous these days. You can buy a 64 ounce Icee at the Circle K for a dollar, but at the theater, a 20 ounce Icee costs like three times as much, for three times less Icee. And I don't know what the profit margin on popcorn is, but if I had to guess, I would say at least 5000%.

But here's the deal, everyone. The movie theater conglomerate isn't going to put up with this much longer. The theaters don't see a lot of the cut from the movies they show. The big money is in those five dollar hotdogs and eight dollar buckets or popcorn. And they know that we are still going to the movies. This year, we the moviegoing public, pushed the new Batman movie all the way up to number 2 in all time box office. We turned out in droves for the comeback of Robert Downey, Jr. And we made a movie about talking chihuahuas one of the most successful movies of the year. But the theaters are pretty pissed that we aren't buying as much junk as we should be. And if they can't get to their profit goals through concessions, they are going to raise ticket prices, and no one wants that. Tickets are already approaching $10 apiece here in Tucson, and that's bad enough.

So we all need to start eating popcorn at the movies again. For the good of humanity. I know that it totally sucks spending more than the ticket price just to buy a cup of Sprite from the soda fountain, so I suggest a compromise. Buy stuff you can share. Share your popcorn. Pass around the Twizzlers to everyone in your movie party. Don't buy hotdogs, because sharing those seems sort of gross. A group of four people buying one thing is better than buying nothing, and you can rest assured that your money is going to a good cause. I would much rather spend some money on movie food some of the time than paying $12 for a movie every time.

Michael Crichton

Author and screenwriter Michael Crichton died of cancer yesterday, according to a statement from his family being reported by various news sources today.

Crichton paid his way through Harvard med school by penning pulp novels under pseudonyms in the 1960s, before using his own name and concentrating on writing full-time.

The topics Crichton took on in his suspenseful and often scientific thrillers, naturally lent themselves to film adaptations, and he contributed much to the movies. His first break in Hollywood was the 1971 adaptation of his Andromeda Strain (which was also remade as a television miniseries this past year).

Crichton co-wrote the film adaptation of perhaps his own best known work, Jurassic Park, as well as the natural disaster thriller Twister. Prior to that, he had written and directed the classic science fiction movies Westworld and the film adaptation of Robin Cook's Coma. In the mid 1990s he turned a medical drama movie he was working on, at the advice of friend Steven Spielberg, into a television series, and it became ER (the two hour pilot episode was essentially his original film screenplay).

By the time of his death, most of Crichton's novels found their way to the big screen as well, notably Congo, Sphere, Disclosure and The 13th Warrior, although he always commented that he never wrote his novels with the film versions in mind -- a point made by the film version of The Lost World which differed considerably from the novel in seemingly every aspect except the title.

Medically trained, Crichton was very science minded, and science and medicine featured heavily in most of his works. He has been described as "the only writer to use footnotes in fiction" and "not science fiction, but science eventuality." His strong scientific views occasionally brought him controversy, most famously his denial of global warming. He was a board member of The Dinosaur Society, an organization that raises funds for paleontological research and education. Crichton had a dinosaur, crichtonsaurus, named after him.

I was a fan of Crichton. Not only did I relate to his growing up as an outsider, and found influence in his writing subjects and style, I discovered pure entertainment and escapism in his novels and the movies he helped bring to life. His influence will be missed.

Movie Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I read an interview with Woody Allen once where he said that he wasn't a huge fan of the dvd format, and that he would much prefer people go see his movies in the theater like in the old days. Even so, I was holding off on seeing Vicky Cristina Barcelona until it hit dvd because there are a ton of other movies out there and seeing a Woody Allen movie on the big screen doesn't really add anything to the experience (sorry, Mr. Allen). However, I recently learned that on Tuesdays at one of the budget theaters here in town all movies are a dollar, and VCB was playing there this week. That seemed like a good deal to me, and so I went.

The movie stars Rebecca Hall as Vicky, and Scarlett Johansson as Cristina, who are best friends, but are totally different people. Vicky is the rational, responsible one who is engaged to a stereotypical well-off business person. Cristina counters that by being irrational, not really having any direction and preferring relationships with men that are doomed to failure. They end up in Barcelona for the summer so that Vicky can complete her thesis and so Cristina can have an adventure. Things seem to be going well for the friends until they meet Juan Antonio, played by Javier Bardem, who interjects himself into each of the girl's lives in a way that forces them to reassess their entire value core.

To me, Woody Allen is telling us the story of how the rational person and the irrational person deal with the exact same situation. It was fascinating to see how each girl works through Juan Antonio's deal, and the twists and turns that you know you will get in a Woody Allen movie, and in the end, we discover that rational or irrational, the same conclusion is made.

The cast does a fantastic job in taking us through this journey. Javier Bardem is suave and super cool without being over the top and is eccentric enough to be a believable painter and not just "that guy with the weird hair from No Country For Old Men". Penelope Cruz shows up about half way through the movie and is amazing as Maria Elena, who represents the girl in a guy's life he will always be passionate about, but can never get a relationship worked out with her. Woody Allen is not in the movie, but I noticed elements of his personality in both Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, so even though Woody has a hands off approach when it comes to directing his actors, I could tell he still had a big influence on his leads.

That leads me to my one small gripe about the movie. Like many of his movies, Woody Allen uses voice over narration to help fill in the gaps, and while the narrator did a good enough job, it felt strange that Woody himself didn't do the narration. The movie feels so much like his older classic movies that I felt like he needed to be there somewhere, and the narrator would have been a good fit.

All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. I know that Woody Allen's movies aren't for everyone, but I would definitely give this one a try if you have even the slightest interest. If my review didn't do a good enough job of selling you on Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I will add this one last piece of information: Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz kiss. On the mouth. If that doesn't convince you, there is no hope.

Scientific Movie Review: Max Payne

Background: Max Payne is based on the video game of the same name. In the movie, as in the game, Detective Max Payne is motivated by only one thing: revenge for the death of his wife and newborn child. In the time since his families murder, he has been assigned to the cold case department, where he sits in gloomy emo darkness until finally a lead comes his way. Will Max use this new information to finally come face to face with the man who destroyed his life? If you have ever seen a movie before, you know that the answer is yes.

Hypothesis: Max Payne is the best video game movie I have ever seen.

Experiment: Ok, so let's get into Max Payne. In a lot of the reviews I have read about this movie, the critics complain about Mark Wahlberg's wooden performance as the title character. Wahlberg's Payne comes off as very unemotional, and while the big critics think that is just being lazy, I think its appropriate. Max Payne exists for one thing, and one thing only: revenge. He doesn't care about other people. He doesn't care if the cheeseburger he is eating is the best burger he has ever had. In fact, he probably doesn't even know what it tastes like anyway because tasting things doesn't get him to his goal. Max Payne should be uncaring, unfeeling, because he only gives a crap about the man who killed his family. So I think Mark Wahlberg did a fine job as the hero. I like that the movie does a good job of getting the feel of the video game down. When Max is sneaking around buildings, the lighting and overall tone of the scenes reminded me a lot of playing the game. One big thing about the game though that the movie guys got wrong was the gunfights. Max Payne has to kill a lot of dudes to discover the truth in the game, but in the movie, there are not very many action scenes. And on top of that, the game's signature, bullet time, where the action slows down and allows you to dodge bullets while getting off some super accurate shots of your own, is used only once in the movie, and it comes off as one of the cheesiest scenes in the whole picture.

Besides a pretty decent final act, the actual action is sparse, which is always a bad sign in an action movie. So we are left with the story, which is pretty muddled and really not all that interesting. It features some cliched gritty crime drama stuff like frame jobs and crooked cops and shaking down some informants for information. And there's some even more unnecessary stuff. Like when Max's old partner, played by tv's Donal Logue, gets killed before he can give Max a key piece of information. The partner's death doesn't do anything to refocus Max, he could really care less, and he gets the information anyway a few scenes afterward, so it was really needless and sloppy storytelling. Then there is Mila Kunis playing the assassin Mona Sax, who is an important character in the video game, but adds nothing to the plot in this movie.

Analysis: So I don't want to get too negative here. When the action gets rolling, its not too bad, and fairly true to the game. There is some cool imagery involving some creepy demons that you may have seen in the trailer. But, the movie does get mired down in a plot that isn't good enough to keep me engrossed in between action sequences. I wouldn't really recommend to see this one at a first run theater, but it could be a fun rental or cheap seat flick if you want some gun blazing action and don't expect anything spectacular.

In order to prove my hypothesis, I will need to decide what is the best video game movie I have seen before I saw Max Payne. Let me think here... After some contemplation, I choose Resident Evil. It's got Milla Jovovich fighting some zombies, a better story, and an evil robot. That is relatively rough competition to defeat, and Max Payne just doesn't get it done.

Conclusion: Max Payne isn't a terrible movie, but it is not the best video game movie I have ever seen. Hypothesis rejected.


For more about the Scientific Method, visit your local library, or ask your friendly neighborhood scientist!