Enjoy!
Anticipating which movies will blow us out of the water is exciting, but it generally doesn't say much about what the must-sees are. After all, this blog - and more or less everyone else - thought Public Enemies was going to be epic.
Instead, director Michael Mann succeeded only in doing what no filmmaker had ever thought possible: put the audience to sleep in the middle of a fight between Dillinger's gang and the FBI. No less impressive was his innovative strategy for accomplishing this: film it in total darkness so all we can see is a black screen with occasional flashes of CGI gunfire.
My point is, it's that time of the summer for someone to look back and tip their hat to the movies that actually delivered on their promises, and then some.
This isn't that post.
For one, I'm not wearing a hat.
More importantly, and in the spirit of 500 Days of Summer, you should know upfront that this isn't an honest blog post. Rather, it's my whorish attempt to bury unsubtle promotions for my own movie, Salad Daze http://www.betheshoe.com/salad_daze.php, into a high quality, honest film/music/sports blog.
Speaking of 500 Days of Summer, that's first on my list.
500 Days had a great trailer that gives away absolutely everything, and doesn't hurt the movie at all by doing it.
Most filmmakers, myself included, go to great lengths to include their trailer doesn't give too much away. For example, the http://betheshoe.com/shoe_theater/theater-sdtrailer.php trailer for Salad Daze gives virtually nothing away.
So we walk into Summer knowing the entire plot: boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn't, boy is sad and mopey. It's a familiar story that sounds a lot like a friend of mine from High School, which is exactly the point. The writing is dead on hilarious, and all the characters are eerily similar to people you've met. Your drunk friend who talks too much? Check. Cold hard bitch? Check. This is a movie that's made to resonate, and makes good on the promise.
Away We Go
It's not a movie for everyone, by any means. Away We Go is an awkwardly-funny, kind of touching (but in a guy-friendly manner) film about a couple trying to find their place in the world. They go from town to town and friend to friend in search of something that suits them.
And the great thing about Away We Go is that we're in the boat with them as they discover that more or less everyone they know is absolutely fucking crazy.
Speaking of fucking crazy, I actually got carded when I went to see this movie. Perhaps it was the fact that I have a full beard that made them think I was 16 or younger? Considering most bartenders don't bother asking me for ID, it leaves me to wonder what the theaters hope to accomplish by ensuring 22-year-old producers who make R-rated movies (well... Salad Daze http://www.betheshoe.com/salad_daze.php would be if we were MPAA rated) aren't just freakishly bearded and unusually tall 12-year-olds.
The Hurt Locker
If you like things that explode, intense things that explode, and really chill quasi-cowboy-esque guys who are addicted to things that explode, this movie is made of awesome.
Jeremy Renner plays the Jeff Tweedy of bomb technicians, with no regard for authority, remarkable talent, and a little recklessness. The only downside of this movie is a 20 minute digression, during which the film tries to bring a few more genre-esque elements in. Bad call on the director's part, since what makes the movie stand out is how it always feels so real.
Salad Daze has no things that explode. They're out of my budget. But exploding things don't really belong in a comedy about loss, relationships, and other things that certainly aren't funny.
Funny People, Funny Movie
If you haven't heard of director Judd Apatow, he's had a hand in every comedy that's crossed the screen in the past decade. Known for 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Apatow has proven that the key to good comedy is great characters.
Funny People pushes his theory to its limit. The lengthy movie gets inside the lives of people who tell dick jokes for a living, and what it finds offstage isn't so light-hearted. It's morbid, sad, distressing, and... hilarious. While we still have no idea if the film is as box office friendly as Virgin, you can't leave the theatre without tremendous respect for Apatow's bold (and successful) attempt to create the world's first heavy comedy.
My own group, Be The Shoe Productions http://www.betheshoe.com/ agrees with Apatow's philosophy that movies shouldn't live in genre boxes. Our dramas are funny and our comedies have dramatic elements. As Mary-Louise Parker about her show, "I never treated [Weeds] as a comedy. I thought it was a drama. They’re the same thing; life is life, and you shouldn’t play things for tears or laughs."
Now, for the last slot
I almost have to leave this one open. After all, we still have to wait and see about Taking Woodstock, Inglourious Basterds, District 9 and Adam.
But that would force me to miss a chance to mention the underdog film of the summer...
Salad Daze
Created by independent filmmakers in St. Louis on a shoestring budget, Salad Daze tells the story of Alex Kaufman. He just got dumped, his grandfather just died, and he's about to witness the breakdown of his dysfunctional family.
Audiences are calling it Be The Shoe's best work to date, and reviews on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454538/ call the film "a glimpse into a promising future for comedic film-making."
It's available now from ProjectShoestring.com, which is our new state-of-the-art digital distribution platform.
In the meantime, I need to find a chance to go see Adam this week.
Instead, director Michael Mann succeeded only in doing what no filmmaker had ever thought possible: put the audience to sleep in the middle of a fight between Dillinger's gang and the FBI. No less impressive was his innovative strategy for accomplishing this: film it in total darkness so all we can see is a black screen with occasional flashes of CGI gunfire.
My point is, it's that time of the summer for someone to look back and tip their hat to the movies that actually delivered on their promises, and then some.
This isn't that post.
For one, I'm not wearing a hat.
More importantly, and in the spirit of 500 Days of Summer, you should know upfront that this isn't an honest blog post. Rather, it's my whorish attempt to bury unsubtle promotions for my own movie, Salad Daze http://www.betheshoe.com/salad_daze.php, into a high quality, honest film/music/sports blog.
Speaking of 500 Days of Summer, that's first on my list.
500 Days had a great trailer that gives away absolutely everything, and doesn't hurt the movie at all by doing it.
Most filmmakers, myself included, go to great lengths to include their trailer doesn't give too much away. For example, the http://betheshoe.com/shoe_theater/theater-sdtrailer.php trailer for Salad Daze gives virtually nothing away.
So we walk into Summer knowing the entire plot: boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn't, boy is sad and mopey. It's a familiar story that sounds a lot like a friend of mine from High School, which is exactly the point. The writing is dead on hilarious, and all the characters are eerily similar to people you've met. Your drunk friend who talks too much? Check. Cold hard bitch? Check. This is a movie that's made to resonate, and makes good on the promise.
Away We Go
It's not a movie for everyone, by any means. Away We Go is an awkwardly-funny, kind of touching (but in a guy-friendly manner) film about a couple trying to find their place in the world. They go from town to town and friend to friend in search of something that suits them.
And the great thing about Away We Go is that we're in the boat with them as they discover that more or less everyone they know is absolutely fucking crazy.
Speaking of fucking crazy, I actually got carded when I went to see this movie. Perhaps it was the fact that I have a full beard that made them think I was 16 or younger? Considering most bartenders don't bother asking me for ID, it leaves me to wonder what the theaters hope to accomplish by ensuring 22-year-old producers who make R-rated movies (well... Salad Daze http://www.betheshoe.com/salad_daze.php would be if we were MPAA rated) aren't just freakishly bearded and unusually tall 12-year-olds.
The Hurt Locker
If you like things that explode, intense things that explode, and really chill quasi-cowboy-esque guys who are addicted to things that explode, this movie is made of awesome.
Jeremy Renner plays the Jeff Tweedy of bomb technicians, with no regard for authority, remarkable talent, and a little recklessness. The only downside of this movie is a 20 minute digression, during which the film tries to bring a few more genre-esque elements in. Bad call on the director's part, since what makes the movie stand out is how it always feels so real.
Salad Daze has no things that explode. They're out of my budget. But exploding things don't really belong in a comedy about loss, relationships, and other things that certainly aren't funny.
Funny People, Funny Movie
If you haven't heard of director Judd Apatow, he's had a hand in every comedy that's crossed the screen in the past decade. Known for 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, Apatow has proven that the key to good comedy is great characters.
Funny People pushes his theory to its limit. The lengthy movie gets inside the lives of people who tell dick jokes for a living, and what it finds offstage isn't so light-hearted. It's morbid, sad, distressing, and... hilarious. While we still have no idea if the film is as box office friendly as Virgin, you can't leave the theatre without tremendous respect for Apatow's bold (and successful) attempt to create the world's first heavy comedy.
My own group, Be The Shoe Productions http://www.betheshoe.com/ agrees with Apatow's philosophy that movies shouldn't live in genre boxes. Our dramas are funny and our comedies have dramatic elements. As Mary-Louise Parker about her show, "I never treated [Weeds] as a comedy. I thought it was a drama. They’re the same thing; life is life, and you shouldn’t play things for tears or laughs."
Now, for the last slot
I almost have to leave this one open. After all, we still have to wait and see about Taking Woodstock, Inglourious Basterds, District 9 and Adam.
But that would force me to miss a chance to mention the underdog film of the summer...
Salad Daze
Created by independent filmmakers in St. Louis on a shoestring budget, Salad Daze tells the story of Alex Kaufman. He just got dumped, his grandfather just died, and he's about to witness the breakdown of his dysfunctional family.Audiences are calling it Be The Shoe's best work to date, and reviews on IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454538/ call the film "a glimpse into a promising future for comedic film-making."
It's available now from ProjectShoestring.com, which is our new state-of-the-art digital distribution platform.
In the meantime, I need to find a chance to go see Adam this week.
MRI's the ish.
ReplyDeletegood 5 picks. funny people was indeed a good movie. hope it gets big(ger).
ReplyDeleteIf you had to pick one movie t see, which would it be?
ReplyDelete500 Days of Summer. Quick, before the hipsters claim it as their own.
ReplyDelete