Podcast: The Demented Encyclopedia #16 - Awesome Equals Christopher Nolan In This One.

I know I've already put one thing up today (check out the season 3 review of Avatar: The Last Airbender, if you would!). But I finally got done editing this awesome edition of The Demented Encyclopedia (took a little longer than usual...). So I figured I should put this up, as well.

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For the second week in a row, Travis was unable to join us. Instead, Rachel has returned for another episode in his stead. This week, we discuss the career of one Christopher Nolan due to the recent release of Inception. If you notice something out of place on this episode, it's not your computer... We started the show with a brief plug before moving in to Nolan's body of work in chronological order. After a brief D-Bag, we went into Film vs. Film, or in this case, Scene vs. Scene. And finally, we wrapped it all up with our Mono-Dialogues of the Week. Now, that's how we recorded it... that's not to say that's how it ended up...

Thanks goes out to Kevin MacLeod's Imcompetech Website for the music. As always, you can use the player above to listen to the podcast, or you can search iTunes, where we are also available for download. The earlier episodes are being removed from the player for space, but you can still always download them on iTunes. Also, please become a Fan on Facebook... then you can give us your input for the podcast and will probably end up on the show during the D-Bag segment, as well as vote for which film in Film vs. Film won for the week. But as for now... enjoy!

R2D2's Ultimate Top 10 Countdown Of The 2000s #8 - Action/Thrillers.

[For the last 10 days of the decade, I'm doing a Top 10 list a day, all culminating into an ultimate post of Top 10 lists. We have previously seen Top 10 Comedies, Dramas, Animation, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Foreign, and Musicals. Now we're moving on.]

Top 10 Action/Thrillers of the 2000s

No, they aren't the same thing. But I decided to put them in the same category because they both involve action and both involve thrills/suspense. And there's always a ton of them each year. But are they all good? That's the question. Here's my Top 10 list of action films and thrillers of the past decade.

10. The Fast and the Furious (2001)

Talking about the original, of course (hence the definite articles in the title). It was the first and still the best. The latest of the films did come close, but it lacked the character development of the first. I remember when this film first came out, the theaters were packed, and when it came out on DVD, they had trouble keeping the shelves stocked. I'm not sure I remember another major film where they had trouble keeping the DVD in stock during its week of release. So I think that's a testament to why this film ended up on this list. It's good action with fun characters, and it's also the film that shot Vin Diesel (and Michelle Rodriguez) into stardom.

9. Crank (2006)

This was the action movie to end all action movies. Story? Pfft, who cares? Logic? Throw it out the window. Realism? Nope. It's a live action video game starring Jason Statham as a guy who has to keep his adrenaline pumping to avoid a fatal poison from stopping his heart. And he does everything from headbanging to Achy Breaky Heart to drugs to standing on top of a motorcycle... and on and on. It's an hour and a half of the craziest stuff ever. And it's tons of fun... if you shut your brain off.

8. Taken (2008)

Written (in part) by Luc Besson and directed by one of his new go-to guys, Pierre Morel, Taken shows us why you should never mess with daddy's little girl... especially if daddy used to torture and kill people for a living. Liam Neeson is a forced to be reckoned with. Of course, the film has its flaws, but it's still a lot of fun.

7. Kill Bill (2003-2004)

Fletch of Blog Cabins recently got on to me about putting a "series" in one spot, but I think he'll forgive me for this one, considering it was meant to be one film anyway. Quentin Tarantino's revenge opus gives homage to a ton of other revenge films, samurai films, spaghetti westerns... and who knows what else... all in one (two?) film(s). The two halves are really different in nature, however, and depending on your taste, you probably prefer one to the other. I think both have their ups and downs (and as much of an anime fan as I am, I have to say one of Vol. 1's downs is its anime sequence). But it's still a great (set of?) film(s).

6. Unleashed (2005)

I think this film is incredibly underrated. Another film written by Luc Besson, this film stars Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, and Bob Hoskins. I believe this is one of Jet Li's best American films, because it actually has him acting and showing emotion rather than just being a badass. Bob Hoskins plays the villain, a guy who takes in Danny (Li) as a boy and raises him like an attack dog. But after an accident, Danny escapes and ends up in the home of a blind piano tuner (Freeman) and his daughter, who try to help him be more human. It's a film that plays to Pavlovian psychology (almost literally with the 'dog' aspect). Along with the really good action, it has a lot of heart, and I don't understand why the film isn't as discussed as it should be.

5. Hostage (2005)

Bruce Willis playing a cop! Surprise! But what's even better than that? Ben Foster playing a villain (and he can do crazy real well). Kevin Pollack playing morally ambiguous. This is a great little thriller all around, and it's full of good acting. It's essentially a heist-gone-wrong film, wherein a bunch of kids attempt to steal a car from a rich guy's house, but things spin out of control when their quiet friend (Foster) shoots a cop and forces the other two brothers to take the family hostage. Willis plays a former hostage negotiator turned small-town cop after failing to save a family in the big city... and of course, he's forced to become the negotiator of this little situation. I love this movie, which is why it's in at #5.

4. Memento (2000)

Clearly in the thriller category over action, this movie is another Christopher Nolan masterpiece. Played in reverse, Memento tells us the story of a guy with short term memory loss who is out for revenge on the man who killed his wife. There's really not a lot to say about the movie... great concept, good twist, good acting... overall great film.

3. Training Day (2001)

Give it up to the acting in the movie, or its overall intensity, but this movie is crazy good. One of Denzel Washington's best performances, hands down. There's really not a hell of a whole lot to say about this movie other than that. It's intense, and Denzel is amazing in it. 'Nuff said.

2. Collateral (2004)

Along with The Last Samurai and Minority Report, this is one of my favorite Cruise films. In fact, of the three, it's probably my favorite. Cruise plays a hitman who hires a taxi driver (Jamie Foxx) to drive him around to his hits. But Foxx, the good guy he is, tries to stop Cruise when he realizes what's going on. And from there, it spirals into more than just another night on the town. Great acting, great cinematography, great script... I love this movie.

1. Inside Man (2006)

I'm a total fan of heist flicks, especially when done right. And this one was done very right. Clive Owen is the head of a band of thieves who take over a bank and mess with the heads of the police, including the detective on the case played by Denzel Washington. The first couple times I saw it, I didn't care for the Jodie Foster character, but she eventually grew on me. It's deeper than your average heist film, and it has a great ending. The movie is stylish, well written, brilliantly acted, and total fun. And it's one of my all-time favorite movies.

Short Review: Following.

Premise: A tri-split narrative tells the story of a young man who likes to follow people who meets another guy who likes to burgle homes just to see how people really are... and the blonde woman between them.

Starring: Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, and Lucy Russell.

My Reaction: This was Christopher Nolan's first feature-length film. It's really low budget and black-and-white. It's about the same budget as Kevin Smith's Clerks., though the black-and-white is much darker here. The acting and dialogue is excellent. The movie is very reminiscent of Memento, though to me, not as good. Though this is also the kind of movie one would have to watch more than once to grasp completely. Early on (like, the first 20-30 minutes), I was horribly confused as to what the heck was going on. I think it was mostly due to not realizing at first the split narrative was the same story at different points in time (which was mostly due to not recognizing the main actor's face once he's cleaned up a bit). The split narrative works much better in Memento, mostly because this use of it seems a bit forced. It's just the one story told parallel to each other from different points in time (though the DVD does have the option of watching it chronologically). The movie is barely over an hour long, so taking half the movie to get used to what's going on is too much. However, all that being said, the ending is freaking fantastic. That's pretty much the only reason I gave the movie as high of a score as I did (based solely on a single viewing). It was tough to score already, but the ending was so great, I'm not sure why it isn't talked about more (especially with Nolan's rising popularity). It's not exactly a heist film, but it's a conman film, which follows similar territories... kinda like Lucky Number Slevin. If you're a fan of Memento, I really recommend it, although it's much slower in pace.


A Keanu 'Whoa'

Bizarre Noir #3: Memento.

Welcome to the third of seven posts that will review bizarre noir movies! I hope you enjoy the series. For more information or previous entries, check the posts below this one.

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Memento.

Year of Origin: 2000.

Director: Christopher Nolan.

Why it's bizarre: The chronology of the movie is mixed up (and mostly backwards).

Memento is interesting in all aspects, really… but the strange thing is, I’m sure if the movie was played out in chronological order, it would be boring as hell (or at least infinitely less interesting). It’s about this guy, Leonard (Guy Pearce), who has short-term memory loss (he can’t make new memories). His wife was raped and murdered, and he’s out to find the man who did it to get revenge. Helping him is Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), as well as femme fatale Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss). But the movie’s plot occurs in two fashions: the first is in reverse chronological order, which starts at the end of the movie and goes back toward the beginning; the second is a black-and-white bit that occurs in chronological order, starting at the beginning and working its way forward. By the end of the movie, these two halves meet, and the end of the movie is essentially the middle.

There really isn’t a whole lot to cover on this movie except to say that it is highly original and is really a great work of film by director Christopher Nolan (of Batman Begins and upcoming The Dark Knight fame). The concept of playing the movie out of order, yet still having all the surprises occur at what is basically the beginning (or middle) of the movie is brilliant. I’ve always loved the idea of figuring out things in reverse… it’s a good technique for writers. For instance, you have a broken window. How did the window get broken? A story begins with this distraught character. How did the character get that way? It’s fun stuff. Not to mention that it’s really the epitome of detective work, which can be a staple for noir.

And voice-over narration is another noir classic, and this movie has a lot of it. Most of it is rather funny, such as the scene in which Leonard is running and sees another guy. He thinks “Okay, what am I doing? I’m chasing this guy.” Then the guy shoots at him. “Nope, he’s chasing me.” There are just really clever things they do with it.

The acting was well done all around the board. But the real shout out goes to Stephen Tobolowsky for the role of Sammy Jankis. Even though he’s only actually shown a few times, just the looks in his eyes are packed with both emotion and blankness that is very fitting for the character. On a similar note, I think it’s interesting that Brad Pitt was at one time considered for the role of Leonard, because, to me, Guy Pearce looked like a version of Brad Pitt mixed with Christian Bale in this movie (more Pitt, though). Every time I saw him, I’d think one or the other.

The only downside to the movie is that it is a rather bleak and depressing movie, so repeated viewings are difficult unless you’re either in the right mood or haven’t watched it in a while. This is also due to the fact that if you’ve watch it too much, the effect of the reverse chronology wears off… either that, or it can really become taxing to watch. I’ve seen the movie about five times or so now, but this is over the course of quite a few years, so the movie feels somewhat new to me every time I watch it. And every time I watch it, I always have forgotten about a great twist at the end of the movie, so I’m always surprised when it’s revealed (not the main twist, but that other littler one). So yeah, really, that’s about all I’ve got to say about this movie.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

10 Years, 10 Great Screenplays.

Update: Yeah, I know, there's technically 11 years/11 screenplays. I wrote this near the beginning of my blogging career... it's a big rough, and there's been controversy around it. But... whatever.

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In light of the Writer’s Strike having just ended, I thought it might be a fun idea to write an article based around 10 really great movies within the last 10 years (1 movie per year) that were just incredibly smartly written. Whether it be dialogue, scenario, or just brilliance all around, something about each of these screenplays turned out 10 magnificent movies. Each of these descriptions isn’t overly long, and they say roughly the same thing. I just felt it was important to at least state some reasons why I thought these movies were chosen for their specific year. So let’s get started.

1997 – Chasing Amy.

Written by: Kevin Smith

Arguably one of Kevin Smith’s best movies (though maybe not his wittiest, which would go to Clerks), Chasing Amy is a story about a lesbian and the man in love with her. Whether you are straight, gay, or bi, you can’t deny that Chasing Amy has heart. And its script is really well done, at that. My personal favorite scene would be when Jason Lee is trying to explain to Ben Affleck why the relationship can’t work, using examples with Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and the Man-Hating Dyke. It’s just classic Smith dialogue.

1998 – The Big Lebowski.

Written by: Joel and Ethan Coen

Very quick, smart, and hilarious. It’s a movie full of memorable characters and scenarios. And when the main character is known as The Dude, you know you have a classic (in one form or another) on your hands. Fuck it, let’s go bowling.

1999 – Fight Club.

Written by: Jim Uhls (based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk)

This was the hardest year to choose from. Do you have any idea how many great movies came out in 1999? A large chunk of them, actually. It was almost like everybody was afraid the world was going to end with Y2K and decided to get all their best movies out all at once. From movies such as The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, and American Beauty, it was incredibly hard to pick just one. But I finally decided to stick with Fight Club. Yes, it’s based on a book, but it was just so smart and witty that it was hard not to choose it. There’s so many scenes in this movie that are memorable, dialogue-wise, it’s hard to even pick one thing. And to top that off, you even have that narration about the ‘I am Jack’s’ such-and-such. At the very least, it was intelligent adaptation.

2000 – Requiem for a Dream.

Written by: Hubert Selby Jr.

On the other hand, 2000 was the year of a lot of crap, with such gems as Battlefield Earth. It seems that in getting out all their best ideas in 1999, and upon realizing the world didn’t end come 2000, they realized “Well hell, we still have movies to make… um…” I’ll be honest, I haven’t completely watched this movie all the way through because I didn’t care for it while I was watching it. It’s possible that it was because I was watching it after midnight, but still… this was one of the only highly acclaimed movies of the year, so I chose it.

2001 – Memento.

Written by: Christopher Nolan (based on a short story by Jonathan Nolan)

(See what I did there?). And that scene where he’s running from somebody thinking he’s chasing somebody and realizes he’s being chased instead is classic. The idea behind this movie was brilliant in and of itself. This movie can’t get enough recognition. So what can I say about Memento?

2002 – Donnie Darko.

Written by: Richard Kelly

This movie is such a mind-freak (sans Chris Angel). It still boggles the minds of us years later. It’s twisted, dark, and smart. Time travel is tricky business, and this movie handles in a great way.

2003 – Adaptation.

Written by: Charlie and ‘Donald’ Kaufman (based… around?... a book by Susan Orlean)

After the first time I saw this movie, I couldn’t watch another movie without it messing with my brain. This is the movie about movies that will forever alter the way you see movies. Love or hate Nicolas Cage, this is one of his best flicks. Not to mention it was written by Charlie and Donald Kaufman about Charlie and Donald Kaufman… and Donald Kaufman doesn’t even exist. Seriously… a movie about adapting a book that cannot be adapted so he adapts his own life and merges it with the story of the book he can’t adapt… all of this being based on the true story of how Charlie Kaufman being unable to adapt a book that cannot be adapted so he adapts his… yeah, you get it. My brain hurts, too.

2004 – Shaun of the Dead.

Written by: Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg

This movie has one of my favorite scripts in existence. I continue my claim that this movie was one of the most brilliant things ever written. Everything in this movie is either said or done at least twice in two different circumstances. And everything that happens in the latter half of the movie is foreshadowed in the first half. It had to have taken ages to plan this movie out to the degree it was. I still catch stuff in this movie after countless times of seeing it. It’s a hoot.

2005 – Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

Written by: Shane Black (based on a book by Brett Halliday)

Regardless of the entirely overcomplicated and confusing ending, this movie was insanely quick-witted and smart. The story is tight and the characters are vibrant. It’s funny and it’s just good all around.

2006 – Brick.

Written by: Rian Johnson

Originally, this year had gone to Stranger than Fiction. But then I realized that Brick came out the same year, and I already had one movie that was somewhat similar to Fiction in premise (Adaptation). So Brick it is. It has a great idea: Take a classic Noir Film with your basic 20s detective or whatnot… and set it in a present-day high school with the same type of dialogue and everything. You have to know what you’re in for before watching the movie or you’ll be utterly lost and confused, but once you get into it you realize how well and smartly written this movie really was.

2007 – Juno.

Written by: Diablo Cody

Possibly not the best film of 2007, but it was certainly one of the most original and funny. The characters are round (in the literature sense), the dialogue was fast and snappy, and everything about this movie screamed “love me, I’m brilliant.” You can’t help but love the character of Juno and her quick wit.