Top 10 Random Dance Scenes.

I know I just posted up my review of Charlie Bartlett, but I really want to post this, as well, so you get a twofer tonight.

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Have you ever been watching a movie, a movie that was neither a musical nor related to dancing whatsoever, and suddenly, as if out of nowhere, one or more characters on the screen suddenly burst out into dance and/or song? If done right, those random dance scenes can be funny and entertaining. If done wrong, you have Spider-Man 3. But this article is going to concentrate on 10 of the more memorable random dance and/or song moments from film. The further down the list we get, the more random and enjoyable the scenes are.

10. American Wedding

Scene: Looking for a dressmaker named Leslie, Stiffler accidentally insults one of Leslie’s friends. In order to prove himself worthy, Stiffler decides to have a dance-off against a large gay man in a gay bar (not all of the posted videos are this long, either... I just couldn't find a shorter version).

9. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

Scene: After accidentally stumbling into a private biker bar, Pee-Wee Herman tries to prove himself (and keep from getting beaten up) by dancing on the bar.

8. Beetlejuice

Scene: Trying to get their house rid of annoying new owners, a ghost couple possesses the new family and friends at dinner, making them lip sync and dance.

7. Billy Madison

Scene: Feeling sorry for himself, Billy gets beaten up by his girlfriend, mulls over his life, and breaks out into song/dance.

6. The Breakfast Club

Scene: The kids are bored; they put in some music and just dance away in the library.

5. Shaolin Soccer

Scene: For no real apparent reason whatsoever, a bunch of people just start going all Thriller.

4. Austin Powers in GoldMember

Scene: The opening credits for the movie. After the fake opening with a bunch of Hollywood stars, Austin talks to Steven Spielberg and then breaks out into a long dance number which involves a back-flipping Spielberg and a head-exploding Britney Spears.

3. Napoleon Dynamite

Scene: When it looks like all hope is lost for best friend Pedro to win over the crowd and become class president, Napoleon walks out on stage and shows everyone his sweet dance skills.

2. The Mask

Scene: There are actually two in this movie, but the one I’m focusing on is Cuban Pete. To try and avoid getting arrested, The Mask turns the entire street into a full song and dance, including a conga line.

1. Clerks 2

Scene: Dante doesn’t know how to dance, so he gets a little help from Rosario Dawson’s boo… I mean, her character…. Yeah. Anyway, everybody in Mooby’s gets in the dancing mood and joins in.

Honorable Mention:

- MirrorMask, when Helena is being transformed by the robot women into Dark Helena and the women are singing and dancing a cover of “Close to You” as they do it. That scene is just too trippy weird not to mention.

CHARLIE BARTLETT.

Charlie Bartlett is a pretty simple movie: Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has gotten kicked out of every private school, so his mother (Hope Davis) enrolls him in public school. It starts off bad for Charlie Bartlett, as he’s plagued by a bully, Murphy (Tyler Hilton). But soon, Charlie Bartlett becomes the most popular kid in school, acting as a psychiatrist to the students and prescribing them medications. Unfortunately, he’s also started seeing Susan (Kat Dennings), who happens to be the daughter of the troubled alcoholic principal (Robert Downey Jr.).

First, I might as well get it out of the way… there can be two different drinking games played during this movie: First, anytime somebody uses the full name of “Charlie Bartlett” instead of just “Charlie.” Second, anytime Robert Downey Jr. downs some liquor himself.

Okay, so on to the review. The movie is rather predictable, and you can pretty much figure out what’s gonna happen by the end of the movie. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good movie. Honestly, I really enjoyed it. It started off rather slow, as it feels it takes ages to get to the psychiatric stuff. But overall, it was really good and entertaining. And it had heart.

The acting was actually really good. Anton Yelchin (you might recognize him from Alpha Dog) does rather well, really, except for the really forced closing line of the movie. Kat Dennings (you might recognize her as the daughter in 40-Year-Old-Virgin) is the movie’s eye candy (and plays it well), but she acts her part out nicely, too. The props go to Robert Downey Jr., though, who was really able to pull off that whole down-on-his-luck drunk really well (…hmm…*cough*).

There were some really funny scenes, some really heartfelt scenes, and some really sad scenes (and it’s pretty easy to figure out which characters those might emit from very early on in the movie). I really don’t see the comparison people have been making to Ferris Bueller (granted, those are typically the people who have yet to see the movie). Oh, and I probably would have really rolled my eyes at the whole Ritalin segments had I not actually known people who have been on it and heard some Ritalin-induced horror stories. Anyway, it’s a great movie all on its own. I’d recommend it to anybody that doesn’t get easily annoyed by Anton Yelchin’s voice.

I Am McLovin!

R2D2... The Ones with Books to Movies.

For this Random Ramblings, I don't have too much to note, but I have a few minutes before I gotta get ready for class, so I felt I could share a thing or two...

- Any anime and/or manga fans out there? Akira is being remade as two live-action movies starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tetsuo and Leonardo DiCaprio as Kaneda. Similar to my Most Bizarre Cast Ever post, it's odd that they have two white guys playing two Asian guys, but it should be pretty awesome. I can't wait to see Kaneda's motorcycle live action.

- I just finished reading the teen romance/vampire book Twilight, and I still have a hard time picturing Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory of Goblet of Fire) as Edward... I guess he works, but that's still slightly off from how I pictured him.

- Similarly, I just read that a companion book is coming out for the Twilight series where the first book, Twilight, is going to be retold, but through Edward's point of view this time. I think that's awesome.

- For those who don't follow Harry Potter movie news, it was just confirmed recently that a brand new scene that is not from the books is being added to the next movie in which a bunch of Death Eaters are going to attack the Burrow (The Weasley house) and there's going to be this big fight there. I both can and cannot see this working well. I guess I'll just have to wait it out and see.

- The author of the book The Giver let it slip not too long ago that David Yates, who directed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and is currently directing Half-Blood Prince, had to turn down directing the film version of her book (at least for now, pushing it back), because he wants to finish out the Harry Potter series. Hooray! I loved Order of the Phoenix. Though it hasn't officially been confirmed, it's a pretty reliable source.

Really, that's about all I have. I told you I didn't have much. And I gotta go. Later!

The Oscars: Wants, Wills, and Wins.

So the Oscars are over for another year... and boy did at least half the winners come from left field. The following is the list of movies I wanted to win, movies I thought would win, movies I thought would win after I'd actually seen most of them and/or just second guessing myself (AKA Second Choice), and the actual winner...

Best Actor
Want: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Will: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Actual Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)

Best Supporting Actor
Want: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Will: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Actual Winner: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)

Best Actress
Want: Ellen Page (Juno)
Will: Ellen Page (Juno)
Second Choice: Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Actual Winner: Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose)

Best Supporting Actress
Want: Saoirse Ronan (Atonement)
Will: Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Second Choice: Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)
Actual Winner: Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

Best Animated Feature
Want: Ratatouille
Will: Ratatouille
Actual Winner: Ratatouille

Best Art Direction
Want: Atonement
Will: The Golden Compass
Second Choice: Atonement
Actual Winner: Sweeney Todd

Best Cinematography
Want: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Will: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Actual Winner: There Will Be Blood

Best Costume Design
Want: Atonement
Will: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Actual Winner: Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Best Directing
Want: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Will: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Second Choice: The Coen Bros. (No Country For Old Men)
Actual Winner: The Coen Bros. (No Country For Old Men)

Best Documentary
Want: War/Dance
Will: Taxi to the Dark Side
Second Choice: Sicko
Actual Winner: Taxi to the Dark Side

Best Documentary Short
Want: Salim Baba
Will: Sari's Mother
Second Choice: La Corona
Actual Winner: Freeheld

Best Film Editing
Want: No Country For Old Men
Will: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Second Choice: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Foreign Language Film
Want: 12
Will: 12
Actual Winner: The Counterfeiters

Best Makeup
Want: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Will: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Actual Winner: La Vie En Rose

Best Musical Score
Want: Atonement
Will: Atonement
Actual Winner: Atonement

Best Original Song
Want: That’s how you know (Enchanted)
Will: That’s how you know (Enchanted)
Actual Winner: Falling Slowly (Once)

Best Picture
Want: Juno
Will: There Will Be Blood
Second Choice: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: No Country For Old Men

Best Animated Short Film
Want: Peter and the Wolf
Will: Peter and the Wolf
Second Choice: I Met the Walrus
Actual Winner: Peter and the Wolf

Best Live Action Short
Want: The Mozart of Pickpockets
Will: The Mozart of Pickpockets
Actual Winner: The Mozart of Pickpockets

Best Sound Editing
Want: Transformers
Will: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Sound Mixing
Want: 3:10 to Yuma
Will: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum

Best Visual Effects
Want: The Golden Compass
Will: The Golden Compass
Actual Winner: The Golden Compass

Best Adapted Screenplay
Want: No Country For Old Men
Will: No Country For Old Men
Actual Winner: No Country For Old Men

Best Original Screenplay
Want: Juno
Will: Juno
Actual Winner: Juno

So I called at least 50% of them, depending on how you look at it. I have to say, a lot of these came out of nowhere for me. I'm still upset that Jesse James didn't win Cinematography. Not even Atonement won it. But There Will Be Blood? Somebody was bribed. I mean, it's a great movie... but the previous two were still much better in the cinematography category.

Also, for those of you who read my Art Direction segment for the LAMB Devours the Oscars... I think it was funny they had a section devoted to explaining what the hell Art Direction actually was... it was like they read my article... and they STILL didn't really explain it very well.

VANTAGE POINT.

I will warn you now that there is going to be quite a bit of comparison in this review. The reason is because the idea behind this movie’s technique is rare, but has been done a few times before… imagine seeing a new movie that plays backwards: it would be impossible to review it without comparing it to Memento.

Anyway, like a few movies before it, such as 11:14, Go, Rashomon, and even the first half of Atonement, Vantage Point’s technique has the audience see an event from one perspective, rewind, and then see it all over again from another perspective until all the truth is out on the table. This time, the President (William Hurt) is shot during a peace conference, and the movie takes us through every important Point of View (POV), from a secret service agent (Dennis Quaid) to a tourist in the crowd (Forest Whitaker) to the bad guys at the end, until we know the entire story.

The one thing that this movie does differently than its predecessors (except maybe Atonement) is that it only shows a character’s POV up until right before their big climax, then it stops, rewinds, and starts again from somebody else’s POV, waiting to use all the climaxes together at the end. Another difference is that this has to be the most action-packed attempt at this technique I’ve yet to see. The action almost literally never stops, and it all culminates into a really cool car chase scene at the very end.

One of the improvements and drawbacks happens to be in when they do the rewinds. The point of multiple POV movies, at least in the past, has been to conceal a mystery until the final POV. But in doing this, each POV is fully completed upon their turn. This is the innovation and creativeness with this technique: having the ability to write a story where you can tell a full story from different POVs completely without giving anything away until the end. This movie simply stops right before something vital is revealed and keeps the viewer waiting until the very end of the movie when it compiles all of the climaxes into one uber-climax. It is an improvement because it keeps the audience in suspense until the end of the movie to find out what exactly happened with each character’s story. However, it’s a downfall because it can potentially annoy its audience (quite a few in my theater were very vocal about it, even after the fourth or fifth rewind). It also seems to say “we can’t write it well enough to keep everything a surprise if we finish each story individually.” I have to admit, though… the climax was rather suspenseful, and everything did come together fashionably well. It’s really a double-edged sword the way it was done.

Also, because the movie simply revolves around an action-packed sequence of roughly 10 minutes each (except for the longer climax POV), there’s very little time for character development… as there is none… but that’s really not the point of this movie, either. Along with no character development, the acting tends to be kinda bad every now and then, specifically from Dennis Quaid (moreso toward the end of the movie, where he really has some cheesy lines).

I found that the best POV and character was Forest Whitaker’s. He seemed to be the easiest to latch on to and connect with, probably because he’s the everyday tourist, the most human and relatable. He also, I believe, gives the best performance of them all in the movie. Though that is to be expected; I mean, come on, it’s Forest Whitaker.

The ending isn’t too predictable unless you paid attention to the movie trailer. But seriously, I even had it spoiled for me a few months back and I still didn’t expect it, mostly because I had both forgotten and gotten too wrapped up in the action to really think about it. The only bad thing about the big reveal is that it’s not really explained much, so it almost doesn’t make much sense, but I went with it anyway.

So overall, it was a great action movie that took a cool idea and put it to decent use (the thing that bothered me most is that it’s seemingly taking credit for creating this technique, when it’s been done a few times already, but with less commercial films). The acting could have been better, but this wasn’t made to be an Oscar winner. It’s a summer blockbuster that was accidentally released about 4 months early, apparently. And if you liked how Vantage Point was done, go see it done better with Go and 11:14 (they’re like this movie, but with less action and deeper characters). Time to rate this bad boy…

I Am McLovin!

ATONEMENT.

Finally came here, finally saw it, so here goes: My feelings on Atonement are quite mixed, really. But before I get into that, here’s the rundown: Robbie (James McAvoy) and Cecilia (Keira Knightley) are in love. Cecilia’s little sister Briony (Saoirse Ronan), in a fit of (supposed) jealousy and rage, accuses Robbie of a major crime he didn’t actually commit. This lie disrupts everybody’s lives, which are sent into disarray, making Briony grow up trying to be forgiven for what she did.

It’s really that simple. I also say supposed jealousy, because she at one point admits to having had a crush on Robbie, so I just figured that had something to do with it. But anyway, to the review. I enjoyed the first act (pre-war) of the movie the most. Saoirse Ronan was utterly engaging (those eyes were just captivating). Just everything that occurred in that first act made for some good drama and entertainment. The second act (war and 18-year-old Briony) started to lose me. It wasn’t bad; it just didn’t keep me nearly as entertained as the first act. The quite short third act (future Briony) was just bizarre, taking a big turn with a not-so-surprising reveal (I was already raising my eyebrow to the fact it was 3 weeks in the past during act two and Robbie was home from the war).

I really loved the rewinding and re-showing of scenes from different perspectives, but after the first act, that really slowed to a halt. Yet another reason I liked the first act the most.

As far as acting is concerned, Saoirse Ronan did amazingly well. Keira Knightley was okay, as was James McAvoy. However, I really wasn’t feeling the romance part of the story, which is really bad considering the movie is centered around their romance. I never cared if Robbie and Cecilia would ever get back with each other, nor did I really care if they would end up with each other in the first place. I felt almost no chemistry between them. Let me put it this way, I felt about 20x more chemistry between Dane Cook and Jessica Alba in Good Luck Chuck than I felt between these two. As for the character of Briony, Saoirse’s version was the best version. I didn’t give a hoot about the 18-year-old version, or really even the old version at the end. Neither were even close to being as captivating or watchable.

However, there were some excellent, excellent things about this movie. For starters, the music was amazing. I loved how, at least half the time, the props or noises from the sets ended up adding to the music (such as opening a door, lighting a cigarette lighter, or banging on the police car). Then, of course, the typewriter was the best. But on top of the music, the movie was visually stunning, as well, especially in the first act. However, after the first act ends, the movie seems to be more selective where it wants to be pretty or artsy. The most notable parts from the war sequence were walking down the grass and seeing the planes fly by in the stream next to them, and, obviously, the nearly five minute continuous shot on the beach. The last real cool shot of the movie was seeing 18-year-old Briony on what I’m assuming to be a train, and the lights flickering on her face.

Personally, I believe the music and the visuals make up for some of the issues, much like how the visuals of The Assassination of Jesse James made it a better movie for all its flaws. It’s a difficult movie to score, honestly, but I suppose I have to give it something…

A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. Is a woman really going to keep the exact same haircut for her entire life? Seriously now...)

Quick Update: IMDb Hit List!

Now THAT'S a birthday present! R2D2 has been featured on IMDb's Hit List for my 10 Years, 10 Great Screenplays article.

Also, fellow blogger Fletch over at Blog Cabins is up on the Hit List right along side me with his 20 Best Movie Characters in the Last 20 Years (Part II).

It seems there's a theme going along with that between the two of us. Anywho, just felt like sharing! Have a great day and all that.

Off Topic: Apologies.

Just wanted to update by apologizing and saying I have nothing to update with right now. Sorry for not having anything since this past weekend, but this week is proving to be quite busy. Tomorrow (2/20) is my birthday, and I don't even have time to celebrate it (I'll actually be working until 7 PM. The previous year was similar, in which I had classes from about 8 AM to 9:15 PM). I have 5 classes (4 of which are online, which means a lot more reading is involved. And 3 of my classes are already Reading classes, one of which has me reading about 6 books in and of itself. Another is a humanities class with another 6 books or so. Ironically, I'm actually rather caught up and/or ahead with those two classes. The fifth class, if you were curious, is a communications class)... and I have a job. I have Tuesdays off from work because I have my one face-to-face class then, but the professor was sick so I had the day off... and I worked on homework the entire day, and I *maybe* hit the halfway mark, but probably not, on what I have left for this week (just for it to reset on Sunday and start all over again).

On top of that, I have to take the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities (PPR) test this Saturday... which is basically a qualifying test so I can become teaching certified. I have to take a Content test at some point, too, but I'm not worried about that at the moment. And I also still need another 21 hours of Observation to do before the semester ends.

I think once I have this dang test behind me, the load will start to lighten off of me... Spring Break can't come fast enough. As for right now, somebody hold me...

DEFINITELY, MAYBE.

The selling point of this movie to me was Ryan Reynolds. I’ve loved him in everything he’s done. It’s a little different with this movie, as he’s playing something I don’t believe I’ve seen him do before: a dad. The premise is very simple: Maya (Abigail Breslin) has Sex Ed one day at school and goes home with her divorcing father Will (Ryan Reynolds) and asks about how she came to be. At first he refuses because it’s too complicated, but he decides to do it as a love story mystery type thing in which he changes all the women’s names. So thus begins the intertwining love adventures between Will and Emily (Elizabeth Banks), April (Isla Fisher), and Summer (Rachel Weisz).

As far as romantic comedies go, this one was pretty good. While it was predictable at times and had a by-the-book ending, it threw in a unique twist to the story, being the flashback-laden story, which the majority of the movie takes place in. For the most part, the acting was actually done very well, though it got pretty sappy and a bit cheesy toward the end. I still loved Ryan Reynolds in this, as he kept his usual Ryan Reynolds wit and charm. Rachel Weisz was okay, but her character was pretty boring to me. Elizabeth Banks was good, too, but my favorite, of course, was Isla Fisher (which is probably because the movie sets it up that way. In other words, if this had been your average Rom Com with only one main female to fall in love with, it would have been Isla Fisher).

The props, however, have to go to Kevin Kline’s horny professor, Hampton Roth. It was an interesting role for Kline, but it worked. He was entertaining every time he was on screen. Actually, he was probably the good half of the Rachel Weisz part of the story. On the other hand, Abigail Breslin, for the little bit of movie she was actually in (as I said, a huge chunk of the movie was in flashback), did very well. She actually had some of the funniest lines in the movie, but that could be because you don’t really expect a girl of her age to say some of the things she does. It catches you off guard.

All in all, I didn’t think the ‘mom’ was as predictable as everybody is saying, but the ending itself was quite predictable. But it fit, too, as this is a Rom Com. So yeah, it was pretty good for what it was. Ryan Reynolds wins me over again (it really sounds like I have a crush on the guy).

I Am McLovin!

(P.S. Did anybody else who saw it suddenly get the strange urge to go out and read Jane Eyre afterward?)

JUMPER.

Remember that movie a few years back called The Covenant? This movie is basically like that movie: a simple and relatively unimportant plot, really freakin awesome action, and an ending that makes you feel they’re setting it up for a trilogy that might never come. Except this one has Hayden Christensen in it.

The basic movie is thus: 15 year old David (Max Thieriot) is all crushing on 15 year old Millie (AnnaSophia Robb). He gives her a snow globe as a gift, but a bully throws it out on the ice. When he goes out to get it, he breaks through and is about to drown when he suddenly teleports to safety. His home life sucks as his mom (Diane Lane) ran off when he was 5, and his dad (Michael Rooker) is a drunk. So he runs away and starts a life of independence and bank robbery. So 8 years pass and David (Hayden Christensen) is living the good life, but decides to make a trip back home. He meets up with his old crush, Millie (Rachel Bilson) and decides to take her on a trip to Rome. However, he also meets up with a Paladin, people who hunt Jumpers, named Roland (Sam Jackson), as well as a fellow Jumper named Griffin (Jamie Bell). Griffin informs David that Paladins will kill everybody he knows and then him and welcomes him to the war. Action ensues.

Now, the premise is very cool, which made me super excited about the movie. However, besides the premise, all the movie has going for it is the action, unfortunately. As far as acting goes, it really isn’t the best, especially with Hayden, who seems to be channeling his performance as Anakin. His voice-over at the beginning couldn’t sound any more unenthused and dry. His acting in some of the scenes literally made an image of a piece of cardboard flash into my mind.

As for Millie, I liked AnnaSophia’s portrayal more than I did Rachel Bilson’s. They should have just left them 15 years old and let the two 15 year olds play the part. It would have been much better. And David and Millie’s first meeting after 8 years of being missing is bordering ridiculous. David’s dad and even Millie’s mom are all brought to tears because he’s just been missing and presumed dead for 8 years. But Millie is just like “Hey, what’s up?” like they had never been apart. Not to mention he shows up out of nowhere in 8 years, asks her to go to Rome after talking for about 10 minutes, and she accepts immediately.

And Sam Jackson wasn’t really in the movie a whole lot, to be honest (I mean, he had his fair share of scenes). But when he was, he said a lot of the same lines over and over again (“I’m from such-and-such government agency” and “Only God has the right to be everywhere at once!” and “He got away!”).

Oh, and Diane Lane’s subplot was almost completely irrelevant unless they plan on using it for a sequel. She literally only has 2 scenes in the entire movie, and one of them only lasts about 15 seconds at most.

The one character who did save the show, though, was Griffin. He was funny, witty, and a pretty neat character. Ironically, from what I’ve heard, he’s the only character that’s not from the original book (he was added just for the movie). The only thing I disliked about Griffin’s character was that he seemed contradictory with himself. The whole beginning he’s following Hayden around all stalker-like. But once they finally meet and he tells him about the Paladins, he no longer wants anything else to do with Hayden’s character whatsoever and complains because Hayden won’t leave him alone. It’s almost like “what’s the point, then?”

But what was really cool was the action. The visual effects and just the action in general is worth seeing this movie, especially toward the climax. It’s just super fun to watch. Unfortunately, a lot of things were left hanging and unanswered. You don’t know what happens to a handful of characters. Everything is just left with you asking “…but what about…?” And the screenplay was co-written by the same guy who did Fight Club, which is interesting. Oh, and for those interested, the soundtrack was on-again-off-again with me. Sometimes it had some really cool orchestral stuff, other times it was rather forgettable… so it mirrored the movie nicely.

So really, the only thing going for the movie is the action and such, which is insanely cool. If it weren’t for that, it’d probably have gotten a lower rating from me, but the action itself is worth seeing the movie.

Feed Me, Seymour!