Did Nicole Kidman think she was going to simper through award season without the "Bad Movies We Love" treatment? Eyes wide shut, indeed, lambs. Though we're all excited for the million and one laughs of Rabbit Hole (which I keep mistakenly calling The Velveteen Child-Slaying), it can't possibly compare to the fun of Nicole's 1990 quest into NASCAR cinema, Days of Thunder. It stars her nephew Tom Cruise, too.
While James Franco's performance in 127 Hours has him on the likely-to-be-nominated list this year, his other real-life turn -- as Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in Howl (out this week from Oscilloscope Laboratories) -- deserves as much praise, even if the film itself was little-seen. The narrative debut of documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Times of Harvey Milk, The Celluloid Closet), Howl succeeds both at capturing the milieu in which Ginsberg wrote his most famous work and at bringing the poem itself to dazzling, cinematic life. So with Howl (one of my favorite films of 2010) coming to DVD and a long-awaited film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road slated to hit later this year from director Walter Salles, here's a few of our favorite big-screen beatniks.
As awards season kicks into high, and pundits and audiences alike unpack their adjectives to describe Colin Firth's performance in The King's Speech, it seemed like the right time to mention one of his wonderfully charming and funny turns that was barely seen in this country -- his starring role in Fever Pitch (out of print on DVD but available from Netflix). No, not the Drew Barrymore/Jimmy Fallon Fever Pitch, although both films were based on the same novel.
You've probably heard this quote from eighth century BC philosopher Hesiod in some high school valedictorian's speech: "I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint." And so it goes, with each generation bemoaning the horrors of the new brats snapping at their heels.
Whether or not you were down for George Clooney's somber and nearly-silent turn as a hitman looking to retire in The American (out today from Universal Studios Home Entertainment), it's easy to understand why so many opening-weekend moviegoers felt like they'd been duped. Anton Corbijn's film is quiet and cold and precise and so subtle that it felt like an arthouse movie. But Focus Features sold The American like it was another action-packed George Clooney shoot-em-up. But selling the sizzle and not the tofu is something that Hollywood has done since the nickelodeon days. And they certainly did it this year. Ahead, the most mis-marketed films of 2010.
It's Dec. 27, and you've got a gift card for Amazon or iTunes or Barnes & Noble or wherever burning a hole in your pocket, but dither no more over how to spend it: Pick up Archer: Season One (out this week from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment), since the chances are decent that you missed this spectacularly hilarious show during its initial run on the FX network.
One of the most welcome resurrections in recent TV history has been the Futurama revival on Comedy Central, and if you missed the show's brilliant comeback, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is stuffing your stocking with Futurama: Volume 5 just in time for the holidays. That timing is key, not only because the set makes a great gift for the animation/comedy/Groening fan in your life, but also because it features the three-part "Futurama Holiday Spectacular," in which the gang learns the true meaning of Xmas, Robanukah, and Kwanzaa. All of which got me to thinking about some other favorite sitcom viewing worth checking out at home this holiday weekend...
You didn't honestly think we were going to feature 12 films from Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas without talking about this one, did you?
Clarence (Henry Travers), an angel who hasn't earned his wings, learns all about the life of George Bailey (James Stewart) so that he can help the man on the darkest night of his life. George dreamed of seeing the world, but wound up staying in his small town of Bedford Falls, N.Y., to run his father's Building and Loan company, lest the city's crotchety rich man Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore) take over everything. George falls in love with Mary (Donna Reed) and raises children with her, and under his direction, the Bailey Building and Loan builds homes for lots of working-class people in town who never thought they could afford one.
Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas includes the best of the worst of holiday cinema, and this one certainly fits the bill:
While on the campaign trail, politician Patrick Dalton (Dudley Moore) strikes up a friendship with young Nicole Dreyfus (Katherine Healy) and her mother Charlotte (Mary Tyler Moore), a wealthy cosmetics magnate. Nicole spends her time training as a dancer but begins applying her energy to Patrick's campaign. When Patrick wonders why Nicole isn't in school, Charlotte discloses that the girl has leukemia and isn't expected to live long.
This vintage Hollywood rom-com, listed as a holiday favorite in Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, features one of American film's most legendary couples:
When efficiency expert Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) starts sniffing around the research department of the Federal Broadcasting Company TV network, the librarians naturally get suspicious. That department's head, Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn), knows that Sumner is the inventor of an "electronic brain" called EMERAC, and she worries that if he installs one of his super-computers, she and research librarians Peg (Joan Blondell), Sylvia (Dina Merrill), and Ruthie (Sue Randall) will all be out of a job.
This selection from Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas gives us a horror hit that forever changed portrayals of Christmas -- not to mention the MPAA:
On a trip to New York City, unsuccessful inventor Rand Peltzer (Hoyt Axton) searches for a Christmas present for his son Billy (Zach Galligan), and in Chinatown he finds an adorable creature known as a mogwai. The old shopkeeper (Keye Luke) refuses to sell it, but his grandson secretly lets Rand have it for $300. There are rules to be followed in keeping the creature: Keep it away from bright light, don't let it get wet, and don't feed it after midnight.
One of the unique facets of Christmas, American-style, is that every neighborhood has at least one house where the people do the holiday up big, hanging up thousands of lights and filling their yards with Santa, snowmen, and Nativity scenes. In Los Angeles, people drive from miles around to see the house that has eight replicas of Michelangelo's David wearing Santa caps on a lawn that's been covered with cotton batting, and for years in Atlanta, folks trooped out to Stone Mountain to see the Townsends' annual shrine to both Christmas and Elvis.
This holiday favorite from Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas shows us a new spin on a classic story:
In England on the eve of World War II, an impoverished Yorkshire family must sell young Joe's (Jonathan Mason) beloved dog Lassie to the Duke (Peter O'Toole). Lassie escapes the Duke's estate over and over again to return to her beloved Joe, who must eventually lie to the dog and tell her he no longer loves her so that she will stop escaping. The Duke then takes her up to Scotland, but Lassie escapes the Duke's cruel kennel-man and begins the long trek back to Yorkshire, and to Joe. Along the way, she encounters everything from the Loch Ness monster to a traveling entertainer (Peter Dinklage). Will Lassie make it home in time for Christmas?
Who says a Christmas movie can't also be a twisty crime caper? Certainly not this excerpt from Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas:
Bank teller Miles (Elliott Gould) realizes that mall Santa Harry (Christopher Plummer) is casing the bank for a robbery, so Miles arranges for Harry to steal what amounts to pocket change from the drawers while Miles stashes the big bucks away for himself, knowing that Harry will be blamed for the missing money. Unfortunately for Miles, Harry knows what he's up to, and now he's forcing Miles to hand over the stolen loot. Can Miles outwit this dangerous criminal -- as well as his bright and flirtatious co-worker Julie (Susannah York) -- and get away with the perfect crime?
A recent family film that went mostly unnoticed by both critics and audiences gets a little love in this excerpt from Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas:
Winter storms trap a whole bunch of children traveling alone -- "unaccompanied minors," in airline-speak -- on Christmas Eve at Hoover International Airport. Spencer (Dyllan Christopher) leads a group of kids who escape the bunker-like "U.M. Room" and explore the airport.
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