SHAZAM - DC realizes it doesn't have to go dark and gritty to have a good superhero movie

I've been wanting to see this movie since I saw the first trailer a few months ago, mostly because it looked fun and happy and I'm tired of seeing all these dark takes on superheroes.  I mean, Avengers : Infinity War wrecked me...for WEEKS.  I still can't watch the scene with Spider-Man at the end without tearing up.

Evidently DC has realized the same thing...people don't want morally ambiguous superheroes anymore...we want good guys.  And this film does a great job of mixing Superman with Big.  

I'm a sucker for body-switching comedies, and this is probably one of the better ones out there.  I'm also a Zachary Levi fan, ever since Chuck, and I'm always pleased when he pops up in something I like.  He does a great job of acting like a teenager while in the body of a full grown man...the beer scene killed me.  And I'm more excited to see what happens to the future of the DC Cinematic Universe with characters like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam! in them.  The MCU started off with Iron Man, which I don't think was a flagship character at the time.  Maybe it's better to go smaller.  

Anyway, the movie was enjoyable and had a bunch of heart, which I'm starting to realize I appreciate more and more.  After watching this, I feel like I might want to check out Aquaman now.

Oak Cliff Film Festival 2018 recap

As I've done the past few years, I did a little work for the Oak Cliff Film Festival this past weekend.  Not only did I get to hang out with some of my friends, but I also got to see some really spectacular films.  This year was no exception.

The opening night film was Bad Reputation, a documentary about Joan Jett directed by music video master Kevin Kerslake.  We got a chance to talk to Kevin about the film, his career, and the amazing musicians that he's gotten to work with over the years.  The film was excellent, and reminded me about Jett, who doesn't always get the love that she should.  I forgot about all the songs she has that are some of my favorites.

Friday was spent following the filmmakers around town, from Dot's Hop House to Bishop Cidercade to the Turner House VIP Happy Hour.  We interviewed a number of filmmakers at the historic Turner House, then headed back to the Texas Theatre to see Meow Wolf : Origin Story, a documentary about the artist collective in Sante Fe.  It was another fantastic and well done documentary, and definitely made me want to check out the permanent space the next time I'm in New Mexico.

Saturday was spent shooting more interviews with filmmakers, running up and down the stairs of the Texas Theatre, and eating nachos at Top Ten Records for another festival sponsored happy hour.  I went back to the Texas Theatre and settled in to watch a film I hadn't heard much about, but needed to shoot the Q & A for.  That movie was Skate Kitchen.

This film blew me away.  I think it was probably one of my favorite films of the festival, and hope that everyone goes to see this film when it comes out in August.  It gave me the same feeling that I had when I first saw Kids by Larry Clark, which was the first independent film that I saw in a theater.

But instead of dealing with the issues of sex and AIDS, this film focused solely on the young women of Skate Kitchen, and their lives and relationships and skating.  Or boarding.  Or skate-boarding...I don't know what the kids call it these days.  The acting was raw and powerful, especially considering that most of the young people weren't actors before this film...they were found on the subway by the director, and had a hand in crafting the dialogue and story elements of the movie.  It was an awesome experience and I'm glad I got to see it and tell the creators how much I enjoyed it.

The next film, however, was not so good.  Damsel by the Zellmer brothers was a film that I kept expecting to get better, but it never did.  I always like it when a filmmaker takes the piss out of the western genre (Rustler's Rhapsody is one of my favorite films) but this seemed like it was trying to be too many things at once, and it ended up just confusing me.

Sunday was the Awards Brunch at Small Brewpub, and then off to the Kessler Theater for the Documentary Shorts block and Birds Without Feathers, a film by Wendy McColm.  This year's selection of documentary shorts was excellent, especially the film My Dead Dad's Porno Tapes.  Though the title is a bit misleading, it's actually the story of the relationships between parents and their children, and the stuff you carry without, both physical and emotionally, throughout your life.

Back at the Texas Theatre, we sat down with Penelope Spheeris and Daniel Roebuck to hear about the making of Dudes, and then watched the film.  I can understand why it was hard to market this film back in the 80s; it's a bit all over the place.  Is it a punk rock movie or a western or a serious revenge tale?  It's all of that and more!  I liked it better when they remade it as The Wraith starring Charlie Sheen.
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After the screening of Dudes, they asked everyone to head outside so they could get ready for the closing night film, Never Goin' Back by Augustine Frizzell.  There were hundreds of people lined up outside, and the line went all the way down Jefferson Avenue.  The film was a semi-autobiographical comedy about growing up poor and young, and was fantastic...the buzz that preceded this movie was warranted.  It was hilarious and touching and kinda eye-opening too...it never talked down to it's characters, even when they were doing something wrong.

Good times were had after the screening, with a Skype Q & A with the director, music and dancing in the lobby, and drinks from the VIP lounge.  The quality of films and the atmosphere that the Oak Cliff Film Festival people curate make it one of the best film festivals in town!

OSCARS 2013...Lighten up, Hollywood, it's not like you're curing cancer

The Oscars were Sunday night, and thru the haze of the wine-drunk I was experiencing, some thoughts came to me that I thought would be good to share...

- Jennifer Lawrence is probably my favorite actress of all time now.  Not only did she start the night off by looking into the E! Mani-cam (yes, that's a real thing) and saying "Your ass is mine, Stone!" to Emma Stone, but she tripped on the way up to get her Oscar for best actress and then made a joke about it.  And then after the awards, this happened...

Not only is this girl talented, but she's funny & beautiful too.  Winter's Bone was an amazing piece of work for someone so young, and Silver Linings Playbook was one of my favorite movies of the year.

-Speaking of Silver Linings Playbook, it's a travesty that Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper didn't win their respective Oscars, with the awards going to former winners Daniel Day-Lewis & Christoph Waltz.  While I think that both Day-Lewis & Waltz are great actors, I didn't think their roles as Abraham Lincoln & Dr. King Shultz were better than De Niro & Cooper.

-I thought Seth MacFarlane did an okay job as Oscar host, and I thought his opening song "We Saw Your Boobs" was hilarious.

Different news outlets are saying that he's sexist and disrespectful of these great actors, but my argument is this...have you ever seen Family Guy?  You knew what you were getting, just like the 2 years that they hired Ricky Gervais to host the Golden Globes.  Hollywood takes itself way too seriously...if you're getting millions of dollars for your job, and it's not teaching children or saving lives, you can afford to have a little fun poked at you once in awhile.

-I was happy that Argo won, because I thought it was a great film.  The only other one that I thought should win was Silver Lining Playbook (though, to be honest, I haven't seen Les Miserables, Amour, or Beasts of the Southern Wild yet)  And I think it's bullshit that Ben Affleck didn't get nominated for Best Director.  And that Ang Lee won AGAIN.  Life of Pi was a beautiful, sad movie, but shouldn't the Best Director of the year be for directing actors, not one guy and a CGI tiger?

In my opinion, Affleck is turning into one of the great directors.  I thought it was a fluke that he and Matt Damon won for Good Will Hunting, but with the track record those two have of making great movies now that they're a bit older and wiser, I don't think it was.  But think about it...Affleck has basically been going to film school since he was a kid.  He's been directed by some of the best directors in the world.  And he seems to be a reasonably intelligent guy (except for that whole dating J Lo thing).  Why shouldn't he be a great director?

-the 50th Anniversary of James Bond tribute was awful.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

That's about all I can remember of the Oscars.  I might watch the show again on DVR later in the week and update this blog post, but all in all, it was a pretty good Oscar show...much better than the past couple of years.  And for the first time, I saw MOST of the Best Picture nominees...which is a good idea for a movie blogger.

Mutants, Lightsabers, and Boobs

It was a pretty big day in movies today.

First off, Bryan Singer has stepped in as director of the new X-Men movie "Days of Future Past", which is excellent news.  As much as I liked "First Class", it'll be good to have the man behind the camera that first introduced the cinematic world to the X-Men.

Oh, yeah, and this happened...

Disney buys Lucasfilm for $4 billion

The Mouse House is consolidating their grip on all the things I loved during my childhood.  First, they bought Pixar.  Then, the bought Marvel.  Now, they've bought Star Wars.

I think this is a good thing, because it means that George Lucas will get out from behind the drivers seat of what was once my favorite franchise of all time. 

I wonder who they're going to get to direct one of the new Star Wars movies....

In non-geek related yet still Star Wars related news, Natalie Portman is in Austin filming a new movie, and she and Michael Fassbender were at the t.u. game a few weeks ago.  Here's a gif....

Evidently, motherhood has been very good to her...at least to her chest.

Just a quick note...

Just got seeing The Amazing Spider-Man, and I've got to say, it was pretty good.  I went in with pretty low expectations, but I was impressed.  The story was a lot more emotional than any of Sam Raimi's movies, and I can't wait to see what they do with the story from here on out. 

Last week, I went and saw an advance screening of Hit & Run.  It was an okay movie, with great car chase scenes, but no real plot to speak of.  It's obvious that Kristen Bell & Dax Shephard are a real life couple...their chemistry is great.  But there wasn't much to the story, and there was no ending to speak of.  Parts of Bradley Cooper's character were great, but again, no real development. 

I'm probably going to go to the dollar theater tomorrow and catch some films that I didn't get to see when they were out, like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter or Snow White & the Huntsman.  It all depends on what the GF wants to see. 

I'll post more in-depth reviews later, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the last couple of movies I saw.  And there's news that Disney might be rebooting The Rocketeer...that makes me excited.  It's probably one of my favorite movies from childhood. 

LET THE NERDGASMS COMMENCE

I've got to post these trailers on here, because they are to three movies that I'm really looking forward to this summer...I bet you can guess why.

I'm not even going to comment on them...just let their awesomeness wash over you...

UPDATE: the futility of TRAILER PARK TRASH

As much as I love the idea of TRAILER PARK TRASH, I can see it's inherent flaws.  Case in point...yesterday I watched In Time, a movie that had it's trailer reviewed here on Movie Dork as part of the TPT segment.

You murdered me by 109 minutes, Amanda

This movie is probably one of the worst pieces of garbage I've ever seen.  The only reason I kept watching was because 1) I was bored, and 2) I kept hoping to see more of Amanda Seyfried's cleavage.

The movie seemed like it had one plot at the beginning of the film, and an entirely different plot at the end.  Did they play Mad-Libs to try and figure the story structure on this one?  And what I thought was a cool story point (the idea that TIME is used like money) turned out to have so many holes in it, it was like a piece of Swiss cheese that had been eaten by rats & shot with a shotgun...in other words, LOTS OF PLOT HOLES.

I'm looking forward to tonight, hoping to get into a sneak peak of Rampart starring Woody Harrelson.  And I'm hoping to write on this blog more.

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE:
Again, the futility of Trailer Park Trash has been proven to me by seeing the first 10 minutes of One for the Money, which I couldn't even sit through the free showing of the first ten minutes.  It was that bad.  Even Katherine Heigl as a brunette couldn't make me watch more of that garbage.

And I hear she's a lovely person

TRAILER PARK TRASH : One For The Money

Oh, why'd you have to grow up to be so bitchy?

Now, I know a lot of people hate on Katherine Heigl, and it's probably justified...she seems like she's a pretty uptight, opinionated, not-very-well-informed individual who doesn't mind spouting off to the media about her troubles.  However, I've always been a Katherine Heigl fan, ever since My Father the Hero.  And no, it's not creepy, because we're both around the same age.

Anyway, here's the trailer for her new film, which doesn't look like the typical rom-com fare we usually see her in.  This actually looks like an action movie, and not just an action movie, but the FIRST movie in an action franchise.



During my bookseller career, we had a ton of people come in for the new Janet Evanovich books, which are incredibly popular.  And it looks like she's trying to bring her character Stephanie Plum to the big screen.

I'm going to admit it...I want to see this movie.  I like the girl action movie formula, especially when you have someone as hot as Heigl as the main character.  And with Jason O'Mara playing the antagonistic love interest and Daniel Sunjata playing what looks like another love interest, those are two of my favorite television stars and I like seeing them pop up in different things.  While I don't think this movie is going to be an instant classic, I do think it'll be an enjoyable night at the cinemaplex.

I'm going to give this trailer...

3 trailers...I'll go see it just for Katherine Heigl's boobs