Mr. Peepers Gossip

According to me, that is.

I’m not a movie critic, nor do I purport to be one.  I just like what I like.  I tend to go for “movies” over “films” and it tickles me to no end when I see critics fall over each other trying to sing the praises of something most people won’t see (let alone get) to appear either cultured, or at least un-neanderthal like in the eyes of their peers.  Don’t get me started on the ones who get a bug up their ass when they get assigned something they deem beneath them and pretty much write the negative review prior to seeing the movie in question.  Trust me.  It happens more than you think. 

Anyway, enough with the negativity.  On with the list.

10 – X-Men (2000)

Director Bryan Singer actually pulled it off.  An introduction to a group of superheros who by chance, intent, or even against their better judgement, work together to save one of their own and a city full of people from a misguided villan (the best kind).  Sure, the film’s not perfect, Halle Berry’s African accent and bad wig in her role as Storm come to mind, but at just over 90 minutes, everyone I was with at the theatre left wanting more.

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9 – Kill Bill Vol 1 (2003)

A mix of spaghetti western, martial arts film, exploitation flick and revenge driven drama, from a technical standpoint it, shouldn’t have worked, but it did.  Directed by Quinton Tarantino and starring Uma Thurman as the Bride, a woman who turns out to have been an assassin left for dead by her murderous  co-workers, the film was, and still is, a hell of a ride.

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8 – No Country for Old Men (2007)

Tommy Lee Jones is great as a small town Sheriff pulled into a game of cat and mouse between two men, one a drug dealer’s hired gun, the other an average guy who happens to find something that’s not his to take in west Texas circa 1980.  Directed by Joel and Etan Cohen, a “film” that’s actually deserving of all it’s hype.

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7 – Donnie Darko (2001)

Hauntingly disturbing, Richard Kelly’s dark sci-fi lullaby is actually a love story about destiny and divine intervention.  Staring then 19 year old Jake Gyllenhaal as a schizophrenic teenager coming of age in 1988, the cult classic never took off initially with critics or audiences due to it’s release date, Sept 14, 2001.  (I’ve always liked the underdog)

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6 – Quantum of Solace (2008)

Loves me some Daniel Craig.  He made James Bond a total bad ass again.  Picking up minutes after Casino Royale left off, the revenge driven story introduces us to a sinister organization called Quantum, a bevy of villains, including the completely loathsome Mr Green (brilliantly played by Mathieu Amalric) and a possible arc leading to the introduction of Blofield?  Time will tell.

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5.  The Bourne Identity (2002)

Did anyone ever picture Matt Damon as a lethal spy?  I sure didn’t.  Now I can’t picture anyone else in the role of Jason Borne but him.  Based on the books by Robert Lulum, the mystery unfolds as a man seeks to discover who he is while the trying to avoid being captured or killed by various Government and “black ops” organizations.  One of those cases were the sequels are just as good as the original (but the first one always stays with you).

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4 – The Incredibles (2004)

Pixar and Brad Bird’s brilliant ode to superheroes is amazing.  Half the fun for me was trying to figure out which Marvel or DC superhero the various characters that populate this world are based on.  It’s also a great story about family, and the villain of the piece gives an interesting line “When everyone is special, no one will be“.   Something to think about.

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3 – Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Completely dark as it is brilliant, Darren Aronofsky’s tale of addiction, delusion and ultimately, self destruction is film making at it’s best.  The four leads were fantastic in their roles as well.  I said I tend to like movies more than films.  This one is a true exception.

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2 - X2: X-Men United (2003)

The very rare sequel that’s actually better than the first movie (which was very good itself), and proof that Bryan Singer knows what he’s doing when it comes to these characters. Action, drama, humour, it’s all here in spades.  Directors of future superhero flicks, take note. 

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1 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Peter Jackson pulled it off (while I’d say the whole trilogy is once giant, 12 hour movie, the obsessive compulsive within me will balk) and this introduction to Middle Earth and it’s main protagonists was and is remains, The Wizard of Oz of our generation.

So that’s a wrap.  Did I miss anything?  Agree?  Disagree?  Sound off in comments.  Love to hear from you.

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It’s that time of year again.  List time.  The best of this, the worst of that, in every magazine, blog, and entertainment show.  Even more so this year because it’s the end of the decade.

Strange, it seems like only yesterday the looming possibility of Y2K was everywhere you looked.

Speaking of things that don’t live up to their hype and fizzle, here’s a list of the biggest flops in film for the past ten years as per the Hollywood Reporter.  While any list is of course subjective at best, these 10 contenders kept the movie going public away in droves, lost studios money, and actually destroyed some business partnerships and careers.  Now that’s  bad.

#10 – The Spirit (2008)     cost $60 million/domestic gross $19.9 million 

Maybe it was the dialogue.  Maybe it was the acting.  Actually, it was probably both.  Brought to us by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300), the premise sounded good on paper, but the result was an extremely over the top, melodrama heavy on the camp (Personally, I loved it).  The partners at the company behind the production, Odd Lot Entertainment,  went their separate ways after 23 years.

#9 – Grindhouse (2007)      cost $67 million/domestic gross $25 million

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s ode to early 70′s era drive-in B movies clocked in at over three hours, and since there’s only so much purposely bad, well, everything people can take, people stayed away.  The two films within a film, Death Proof and Planet Terror,probably would have actually found an audience had they been released individually (which is what Harvey Weinstein did internationally with it/them to recoup losses).

#8 – Rollerball (2002)        cost $70 million/domestic gross $19 million

Some remakes are better left unmade.  The original 1975 movie was a comment on violence, spectacle, and corporatism (we call it reality TV now) whereas the remake was just a misconceived mess.  The studio behind it, MGM, likely knew what they were dealing with too, changing the release date four times and re-editing it from an “R” to a “PG-13.”

#7 – The Invasion (2007)     cost $80 million/domestic gross $15.1 million

Audiences weren’t too keen on seeing a fourth retelling of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and having Nicole Kidman star in it after appearing in a string of movies that got a response of “meh” both commercially and critically, didn’t help matters any.

#6 – Catwoman (2004)     cost $100 million/domestic gross $40 million

This is why we still don’t have a Wonder Woman movie in the works, and probably won’t for quite some time to come.

#5 – Town & Country (2001)      cost $90 million/domestic gross $6.7 million

Warren Beatty tried another stab at a sex comedy, some 25 years after Shampoo.  The movie took well over a year and ten months to complete. Filming actually started in June 1998, but filming took so long stars Diane Keaton and Gary Shandling had to leave to  fulfill other comittments, putting production on hold.  Once finally done, no one cared.

#4 - Gigli (2003)       cost $54 million/domestic gross $6.1 million 

Some  have blamed the plot, ”boy meets girl meets the Soprano’s”, others the hard to pronounce title, but it was probably constant over-saturation in the media of “Bennifer”, co-stars and then real life couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck that did this one in.  It’s taken him years to get his career back on track, J-lo is still trying.

#3 – Land of the Lost (2009)     cost $100 million/domestic gross $65 million

Based on the ultra cheesy mid-70′s Syd and Marty Kroft show of the same name, this movie failed to find it’s audience by trying to appeal to everyone.  Parents were concerned over the PG-13 rating and when word got out about some of the toilet humor and body part jokes, so they stayed away with their kids, older movie-goers simply weren’t interested in what seemed to be a kids movie, and purists of the original show (really? purists for that?) didn’t like the tongue in cheek tone. 

#2 – Battlefield Earth (2000)      cost $75 million/domestic gross $21 million

Travolta put his name and some of his own money on the line when he promised that the film adaptation of Scientology founder Ron L Hubbards 1972 novel would be “like Star Wars, only better“.  He should have used Plan 9 From Outer Space instead.  Even then, still a bit of stretch.

#1 – The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)     cost $100 million/domestic gross $4.4 million

The release date being pushed up by 14 months indicates the studio knew what it was dealing with, the type of bomb anyone associated with making can’t recover from.  However, not only does Eddie Murphy still get hired, he also gets his asking price for salary.  Those Shrek films have proven to be his salvation.

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Did you see them?  The AMAs (American Music Awards) were on last night and as didn’t fail to make a spectacle of themselves.  Biggest thing to get on my nerves though, was the constant use of the mute button throughout various performances, Eminem’s duet with Fifty Cent in particular. Protecting people from what?  Language that third graders even use on occasion when parents and teachers aren’t around?  Change the lyrics or pick a different song to perform if the FCC is determined to act prudish.  Cripes.

Janet Jackson started the proceedings with a pretty good medley of some of her biggest hits (her No 1′s album is soon to be released).  Lady GaGa was her usual over the top self, performing Bad Romance and a new ballad while playing on a burning piano.  Looks like it’s also still “on” between her and Rihanna in terms of trying to outdo each other.  Strong performances were also given by Kelly Clarkson singing her hit Already Gone, as well as Alicia Keys and Keith Urban.

Whitney Houston performed for the first time on live TV in the States in years with I Didn’t Know My Own Strength, although her voice is definitely not what it used to be.  Jennifer Lopez, singing her new song Louboutins (fail) landed on her rear when she jumped off a dancer (the whole over blown dance number was supposed to look like a boxing ring match).  The choreographer responsible for it is probably already in the witness protection program as we speak.  To her credit, J-lo just continued on singing as if it didn’t happen.  Would have loved to have been backstage after she was done though.

Timbaland performing his new song along with Too Shy and Nelly Furtado was also imprssive, but vampires?  Again???  Even I’m starting to get sick of them, and I like the genre.

Adam Lambert closed the show with his song For Your Entertainment.  Although he wasn’t dressed in leather and chains, a male back-up dancer was whom Adam simulated oral sex with.  The singer then went on to French Kiss the (I think) female keyboardest of his backup band.  Regardless, take that, Out, AFA and PTC!  Cue the Lambert backlash from them in 5, 4, 3…

Surprisngly, Taylor Swift beat out Michael Jackson for top honors at the end of the night.  Frankly, I was a little relieved, I read somewhere that one person was concerened it could become an evening of “Sorry we made fun of you and that your dead.  Here’s a bunch of awards”. 

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