With “Kick-Ass” raising just a little bit of controversy, below are two trailers and a Siskel & Ebert review for the three movies for which the term “ultraviolence” was originally coined, though I suppose author Anthony Burgess might get the credit for the actual words. Though “A Clockwork Orange” and “Bonnie and Clyde” are both obviously more serious films than an action-black-comedy like “Kick-Ass,” its worth noting that, as is the case now, the juxtaposition of violence and humor in those films was a big part of what so disturbed some critics. As for “The Wild Bunch,” it was just the sheer savagery of the thing.
Given his review of “Kick-Ass,” I think Roger Ebert’s remark about the children in “The Wild Bunch” is worth noting. I’ll be discussing that some more shortly.
As guest blogger, I will open in the only way I should: by offering my sincerest apologies for not getting the blog for last night’s “American Idol” completed in a more timely fashion. I’ve been battling an allergy attack since yesterday (the result, I feel certain, of all the dust I kicked up in my office while scouring the joint for tax receipts), and, quite frankly, I feel like crap. But I know Mike’s got a lot going on these days, what with his big move and all, so I was always going to do this for him. I just had to build up my strength, which I have now done, so with my cup of hot lemon tea with honey sitting by the keyboard, let’s get to talking about who got the boot.
Things kicked off last night with a medley of Elvis Presley songs – “Burning Love,” “Teddy Bear,” “Return to Sender,” and “Viva Last Vegas” – which neither did damage to the reputation of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll nor did it any favors. The best part about “Burning Love” was the cute moment where we saw Katie working her knees for all they were worth, and Lee’s vocals on “Teddy Bear” sounded like those of a lounge singer, but I actually kind of dug it. Otherwise, though, I was pretty underwhelmed by the performances, and when “Viva Las Vegas” kicked off, all I could think of was how much better the Dead Kennedys did the song.
From there, the program went green for a minute or so as we were treated to a Ford-sponsored commercial with several of the contestants performing a version of…wait for it…the Polyphonic Spree’s “Light and Day / Reach for the Sun.” How completely and utterly surreal, but it sounded a damned sight better than any of those Elvis covers.
Moving on to the first of the night’s departures, Cap’n Seacrest narrowed down the playing field to three contestants:
* Casey, whose version of “Lawdy Miss Claudy” Mike described as “not bad at all vocally, but just a so-so rating on the entertainment meter.” * Aaron, who offered a take on “Blue Suede Shoes,” which Mike called “cheesy but not horrible.” * Andrew, who Mike buried in the Not So Good column last night, saying, “It wasn’t awful, but not at all star quality and easily the worst of the night.”
So long, Andrew…and, really, was there ever any doubt that you’d be one of the two players leaving the game tonight? But, hey, at least we got your version of James Morrison’s “You Give Me Something” as a farewell, which served to remind us that, all things considered, America probably made the right decision.
It’s quite late, or quite early, here on the west coast, so this edition will be swift.
* Captain America has got his girlfriend, and I’ve never heard of her! However, those of you who keep up with your TV may know Hayley Atwell, who’ll be playing Peggy Carter, Cap’s WWII era love interest. Among other shows, she was featured on the not-so well received AMC redo of “The Prisoner.”
* The folks over at Dreamworks have been busy beavers. First, they began the roll out of their “Kung Fu Panda” “virtual theme park” — basically a collection of Panda-based games for kids. Also, their gearing up for the May release “Shrek Forever After.” Today, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg spoke at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) confab about, naturally, 3-D conversions on the first three “Shrek” productions and how they won’t suck like certain live-action 3-D conversions.
Still, there was a fly in the family-friendly ointment, and that was a photo spread that’s coming out in the glossy Vman Magazine that apparently caused some unhappiness at Dreamworks Animation. I could explain why, and you may definitely read the Paul Bond’s THR article about it. On the other hand, I don’t have to tell you how many words a picture is worth.
The news that Martin Scorsese will, as previously hinted, be filming “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” in 3-D could be cynically interpreted as simply a case of an artistic but shrewd director jumping on a popular bandwagon. However, I’m not really a cynic and to me it brings to mind the last time that a truly great director made a film in 3-D. With all due respect to James Cameron and his undoubted huge technical achievement with “Avatar,” that was when Alfred Hitchcock took up the huge challenge of shooting in three dimensions with 1954’s “Dial M for Murder.”
The trailer below doesn’t mention the process because, despite the enormous trouble taken to film it in three dimensions, by the time the thriller, an adaptation of a wildly successful play, came out interest was already waning in the process — probably largely due to sub-standard films generated by the 3-D fad (modern day executives take note). Therefore, “Dial M for Murder” was, for the most part, released “flat.” Nevertheless, check out the way Hitchcock uses the (extremely huge) camera and the care he takes with the art direction.
If that phone seems a bit odd to you, it’s because Hitchcock actually had, as per this TCM synopsis by Jeff Stafford, a giant dial constructed to get the exaggerated look he wanted. Mr. Hitchcock was prone to exaggeration and a perfectionist, but one who always had a reason. For example, here’s his note about the portrayal of the film’s main weapon:
This is nicely done but there wasn’t enough gleam to the scissors, and a murder without gleaming scissors is like asparagus without the hollandaise sauce – tasteless.
Someone has probably already said this, but Hitchcock wasn’t always tasteful, but he was never tasteless, if you follow me.
Last night’s episode of “The Biggest Loser” showed the workings of karma, but not the way you would think. It started out with Alison Sweeney giving the contestants a pop challenge, in which they had to balance a tray of quarters with one hand, and for each quarter they would get 10 bucks. The person still holding their tray won that amount of quarters times 10. They all showed that it was much harder than it looked, and after a grueling 45 minutes, Michael won the challenge and with 100 quarters won $1000. Total cereal, the sponsor, doubled that money and also gave runner-up Sunshine $650 for having 65 quarters on the tray. Then CNBC’s Suze Orman, a financial whiz, tutored the contestants on how financial health parallels physical health in many ways. She said how she predicted Danny to win last season and that this season she was predicting Sunshine to win. Then Danny made an appearance and worked out with everyone, and he looks great still!
