From “Head” (1968) starring the Monkees, directed by Bob Rafealson and co-written by Jack Nicholson. It’s not exactly your usual rock and roll movie, but it’s not without some fun. If you live in L.A. and aren’t a college football fan (go Bruins), you can see it tomorrow night in a spanking new print with “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Month: November 2009 (Page 3 of 24)
Given the time of year, I’ve been very busy, so that’s why I’m posting my thoughts on the season finale of “Dancing with the Stars” a bit late. I’m still angry at the outcome.
Looking at each of the 16 couples out there, I can’t believe how long I’ve been writing about the show. It’s been a learning experience, that’s for sure. Hopefully this knowledge will be of use someday, but I’m having trouble picturing that scenario.
We haven’t seen Whitney Houston for a while. How many comebacks does one get before they’re just a nostalgia act? An artist can’t fail on their first comeback and then call their return a few years later another comeback. A comeback somehow implies success. I’d call Whitney Houston’s current situation an “attempt.”
Ashley Hamilton looks like a Target model.
I guess it’s exciting to see all these celebrities back on the dance floor. I forgot Macy Gray was a contestant. Watching Natalie kick ass again, it’s obvious that she should be in the finals. She has the strength, flexibility, and finesse that is made for ballroom dancing. She’s the only one who could have given Mya a run for her money. I still have no clue why fans didn’t vote for her.
Kelly Osbourne with Louie Van Amstel (Viennese waltz)
So, Kelly and Louis just made everyone cry. You know, as much as I hate buying into the simple stories of some of these celebrities, Kelly Osbourne’s progress on this show is quite touching. She and I are about the same age, and I specifically remember watching her on “The Osbournes” and thinking she was a terror. She’s redeemed herself on this show in my book. I just hope she doesn’t make a sex tape or land another reality gig.
Mya with Dmitry Chaplin (jive)
Yeah, yeah, we get it — you guys are going to win.
Donny Osmond with Kym Johnson (Argentine tango)
Was this dance this boring the first time? I imagine the steps are virtually the same, but it’s missing the gusto an Argentine tango should contain. Also, Donny nearly dropped Kym at the end.
How in the hell did Donny and Kym get first place for this final dance? Kelly and Louie produced the waterworks and they get third? Not fair.
I didn’t really pay attention to the “Michael Irvin vs. Jerry Rice” segment. You didn’t either.
Aaron Carter is a talented dancer. One could make a case that he belongs in the finals. What is he going to do now that his time on the show is complete? Oh yeah, we didn’t really know what he was doing before he learned to do the rumba.
The group mambo with Joanna Krupa, Steve Wozniak, Jerry Springer, and Cloris Leachman barely kept me awake. Is the finale always two hours? That’s a very long time to make us wait just to find out who the champion is.
More Whitney Houston. She came back. Another comeback.
Kelly and Louis just got third place. When did I start writing these things? Three months ago? Wow. It truly must have been a life-changing experience for Kelly. She brought something new to the table every week and it’s been exciting to witness her success on this show.
Congratulations to Donny and Kym for winning Season 9 of “Dancing with the Stars.” Throughout this competition, I’ve complimented Donny’s ability to be both technical and entertaining.
Mya is a different type of dancer. What are the words I’m looking for? Oh yes, she’s a better dancer. She’s a better dancer than Donny — easily. Every time she and Dmitry took the floor, I would forget about my obligation to critique her routine. Seriously, what are her flaws? I challenge any of my readers to state a convincing argument why Donny deserved to win
Donny owes the state of Utah a huge “thank you.” I don’t know why I’m so angry. Donny seems like a good guy, but he must know that Mya got screwed.
Lap it up, Utah. You have the new “Dancing with the Stars” and MLS Cup champions.
From “Addams Family Values”
By the way, that’s a very young Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, of course, and David Krumholtz (“Numbers”) as the shy fake Native-American. And the song, not too surprisingly, is by Marc Shaiman, who’s wittily combined Broadway-style music with varying degrees of irreverent comedy in everything from the instant classic “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut” to “Hairspray” and, let’s hope, this year’s Oscar telecast.
Anyhow, enjoy your Thanksgiving. Cardigans and highballs, optional.
Now, embedding this particular video today might be in slightly poor taste…okay, it’s actually and definitely in deliriously bad taste…but if I’m going to post Eli Roth’s hysterically disturbing fake trailer for a thankfully non-existent seventies slasher flick called, “Thanksgiving,” what better day is there to post it? You’re probably not at work, but FYI, NSFW. Slasher violence, culinary gore, gratuitous grainy film stock, and gruesomely brief sex and nudity follows.
And here’s a brief but fun little promotional film covering the fake trailers shot for Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse” by Roth, Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead“), and Rob Zombie (“The Devil’s Rejects,”). Shame the damn thing didn’t make any money.
Mr. Roth and I are of similar ethnic/religious background and, though I’d probably be too squeamish to see an actual Eli Roth horror film based on the holiday that kicks off the Days of Atonement — and I’d definitely be too chicken to cross the ADL picket lines that would be set up in front of every movie theater and video store that dared to feature it — but I love his idea for a Rosh Hoshannah-based slasher flick. I even have a tag line ready: “May you be inscribed in the book of…death!” All I need to do know is to figure out the Yiddish for “bwa-ha-ha-ha” and I think we’re halfway to another trailer.
Stephen Lang is having a heck of a good year. Not only did “Public Enemies” find him once again teaming up with his old buddy Michael Mann (the two worked together back in the day, on “Crime Story” and “Manhunter”), but he also picked up a plum role in “The Men Who Stare At Goats.” And how’s he going to be following those two solid gigs? By turning up in one of the most anticipated films of the year: James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Bullz-Eye had a chance to chat with Lang about his experience as a a player in those films, as well as some of the many other roles he’s played in his career, including his work “Gods and Generals,” “Last Exit to Brooklyn,” and others, and you’ll be able to check out that chat in its entirety next week. But as a Thanksgiving treat, here are a few quotes to get you psyched for the full feature…
* On finding his way into “Avatar”: “I’d auditioned for ‘Aliens’ about 20+ years ago, and (James Cameron) talked about that in our conversation, so, y’know, I’ve kind of gone on record as saying that this was the world’s longest callback. But what happened was Margery Simkin, who is his casting director on Avatar, showed him…for my show (‘Beyond Glory’), the ad in the New York Times and other papers is this kind of really hard-nosed military shot, very macho, and Margery said, ‘Hey, Jim, look at this!” And he went, ‘Huh. Lang. Huh.’ And then at the same time, they both kind of went, ‘Quaritch!’ So that was it. It was very fortuitous, you know?”
* On first reading the script: “Because he’s an excellent writer and extremely descriptive and specific, (James Cameron) paints a very, very clear picture of what’s happening and what this world is. And, you know, it never for a moment entered my mind to doubt that he would make it real. I mean, that may be because I have a good kind of reader’s imagination, in a way. You know, I’m able to visualize. Like, I believe magicians. I’m a good audience for magic and stuff. I tend to make that bargain with a writer quite easily, and so it just never occurred to me that it would be anything less than what it said it was going to be on the page. And I look at that now, and I think, ‘God, that was kind of lamebrained of you. This is weird, difficult stuff that doesn’t exist.’ But he’s got such a great team of colleagues and people who are committed to his vision on this thing that it’s all come together.”
* On his character, Col. Quaritch: “He’s an old Marine, and he’s very hard and tough, he’s very skilled, he’s very ironic, he’s very sharp. And he’s something of a cynic, which is never a good thing to be, but he is. He’s got kind of a jaundiced view of the mission now, because it seems doomed to failure on a daily basis, and his job is basically to keep his people alive. It’s a flat-out hard thing to do, y’know? And there’s kind of a hearts-and-minds attitude that he really can’t cope with. It’s difficult to do your job when you’re interested in preserving more than protecting. So I think it’s kind of brought some hardness and change in him. It just makes him into a pretty tough guy. But at the same time, there’s so much that’s admirable about him, which makes him kind of intriguing, because I don’t think you doubt his resolve, you don’t doubt his personal qualities or his courage or honor. He kind of carries the vestiges of the Marines with him.”
* On getting in shape for the role: “I was relatively buff, because I was working in a tanktop half the time on stage, anyway, but I just went kind of into hyperdrive after that and really worked to beat that old body into shape, to get that carcass where…I didn’t want to be looking at it and see anything hanging where it shouldn’t be hanging.”
* On what he’s seen of the film thus far: “When you see it in its final form…and there are many pieces that I’ve seen in their final form…it’s quite stunning. You just kind of go, ‘Oh, yeah. That’s it.’ But, still, even what I’ve seen it in its final form, I haven’t seen it in, say, IMAX, let alone IMAX 3D. I haven’t seen it on the big screen. I haven’t seen it with Horner’s music. You know what I mean? So there are things that I haven’t seen. But what I have seen…I mean, I remember looking at pieces of it over two years ago, when I was looking at some of it in fairly rudimentary form, just sort of animation templates, and even that stuff was exciting to me. You could just imagine what it was going to be like, and to watch the metamorphosis has been totally cool.”
* On how people should approach “Avatar”: “Just approach it like a movie and enjoy it. Buy your popcorn, put on your 3D glasses, and take the ride. And then when you’re done, come out, talk about it, and then go back and see it again, because there’s a lot to see, y’know? (James Cameron) makes films that are popular for everybody, but they’re also very, very much for audiences of sophistication and discernment. There’s a lot to see on his pictures. I mean, look, I think it is unrealistic to think that you can do kind of ‘Titanic’ numbers on it, but nevertheless, that’s what you strive to do. But for my part, I just wanted to play my role in this whole process as fully and as well as I could. I just wanted to hold up my end of it.”
Check out the latest “Avatar” trailer – the three-and-a-half minute one – by clicking here, and be sure to keep your eye on Bullz-Eye for the full-length chat with Stephen Lang!
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