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Your Tuesday Threes

We're running late today (my fault: head cold and getting caught up in the terrific comments sections on redblog today), so let's get right at your Threes!

You get three actors, you tell me what film all three were in together. Post your guess in the comments section directly below, and if you're first with the right answer you win a homemade construction-paper medal! (Made by you, in your own home.)

I won't publish any guesses until tomorrow when I put up the correct answer.

So, what film featured:

Johnny Depp

Forest Whitaker

Kevin Dillon

Dr. Ian Malcolm: "Chaos Theory Strikes Again!"

Late last week after quintessential sidekick Ed McMahon, actress Farrah Fawcett and pop star Michael Jackson passed away, a bizarre trend kicked into high gear on social networking sites: death announcements of celebrities who were still very much alive.  Two such rumors that gained substantial momentum were that Harrison Ford had perished in a boat accident off the coast of the French Riviera, and that Jeff Goldblum had suffered a fatal fall on a film set in New Zealand. 

I witnessed the online equivalent of hyperventilation and mass hysteria over these stories for several hours on Twitter, as people linked to very real-looking news reports that supported the gossip and/or used their 140 characters to claim to be connected to those "in the know" who had received confirmations that the two beloved actors were no longer with us.

Except that they were. 

Both Ford and Goldblum were perfectly fine, but for some unknown reason, people wanted to perpetuate the rumors, prompting Kevin Spacey (among other Twitter-loving celebs) to try and put a stop to the madness by Tweeting, "Jeff Goldblum is alive and well. I just talked to his manager. Stop these stupid rumors." 

Alas, even faux news anchor Stephen Colbert trusted randoms online so thoroughly that he refused to believe The Fly was alive... despite his physical presence on the set of The Colbert Report last night. 

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jeff Goldblum Will Be Missed
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

The irony of it all is that Jeff's actually filming Morning Glory with Harrison Ford right now (along with Diane Keaton, who just suffered a nasty fall and bump on the head while on set...)  At least Jeff's a good sport about the whole mess, huh?

It's an Original Movie Concept for Once, No Lie

I'm always hollering about the lack of unique ideas coming out of Hollywood, so whenever I see a trailer for a film that isn't some sort of adaption, remake, sequel or prequel, I can't help but get excited and hopeful. So much so that I can even make peace with the fact that Jennifer Garner is supposed to be Ricky Gervais' love interest in the preview for The Invention of Lying and just be thankful that its premise seems extremely promising.

It's kind of like a reverse take on Liar Liar, eh?  I'll admit that I didn't think the trailer was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen (though I did laugh out loud at the final line), but since I love love love Gervais' sense of humor and he, along with Matthew Robinson, wrote the screenplay, I'm willing to bet that this is a case where all of the best parts of a movie aren't actually given away beforehand.  Besides, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor, Christopher Guest and one of my biggest celeb crushes, Jason Bateman, all pop up in this Alternate Universe of Truth, on top of Patrick Stewart serving as "The Narrator" (which I'm really curious about since his voice wasn't heard in the trailer), so it's got to be at least halfway decent.  Plus, Star Trek and Lost master J.J. Abrams saw The Invention of Lying in its entirety, loved it and has been singing its praises, and surely he wouldn't lie to us, right? I guess we'll find out when the rest of us can see it on September 25th.

Public Enemies

Public Enemies, the latest from director Michael Mann, fits in remarkably well with Mann's other movies like Heat, Collateral and Miami Vice -- not just for the cops-versus-crooks plot (long before it opened, some film fans were dismissing Public Enemies as "Heat in Tweed") or its intimate, immediate shot-on-digital-video look and visual style, but more importantly in its tone and theme and tenor. With its guns-and-guts storyline, Public Enemies has some of the swagger and rhythm of a summer blockbuster action-crime film, but it's as smart and thoughtful as it is flashy and full of action. Public Enemies, like Mann's other crime films, only looks like a shoot-'em-up. It's an exciting and visceral film, to be sure, but the bright and frequent muzzle flashes from the .45's and Tommy guns can't eliminate the darker shadows and shades of grey in the script and the film, part of what the critic F.X. Feeney has called Mann's ongoing mission of presenting a "profound, interactive, philosophical history of the United States."

Putting that on the marquee, of course, wouldn't do a lot to sell tickets, so Public Enemies is being sold as a guns-a-blazin' action flick, with the double-barreled punch of Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger and Christian Bale as top cop Melvin Purvis. That's what is being sold, but there's much more up on the screen, and the question is if audiences will accept getting more than they expected when they don't get what they were told to expect. Yes, you do get Depp in a suit taking loot, but you also get a look at what happens when Purvis is tasked by the head of the Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) to bring Dillinger in, prove that a federal police force could stop crime and keep Hoover from looking bad. Hoover declares a "war on crime," and the appearance of victory becomes just as (if not more) important as victory. As the desire to bring in Dillinger grows more and more fevered, the tactics of the men working alongside Purvis grow more and more desperate, it's hard not to hear echoes of the here-and-now.

A Freeze Frame First

Um... oops?

Please allow me to apologize to you, dear redblog readers, for I made this weekend's Freeze Frame challenge way too hard.  For the first time since we began running the game back in April, nobody guessed all three films correctly.

However, both Donna and Dwight Barnes knew that the first image featured "The Tone Rangers," the hilarious a cappella group from the Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn comedy The Break-Up.  As for the second image... alas, not a soul recognized the scene with Rob Lowe stalking Demi Moore in front of the Biograph Theater after they broke up in About Last Night.  (Are any of you out there smacking your foreheads?)  But at least Donna was joined by Megan Ice in correctly identifying the run-down station wagon in the third still -- it was from Adventures in Babysitting.  And despite not being able to crack the trio of images, these two Freeze Frame players did deduce that the common thread between all of the movies was their Chicago setting.  I was trying to give a little shout-out to my hometown, which is touted as the epicenter of the Depression-era crime wave in this week's Public Enemies (starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, the infamous bank robber who was eventually gunned down in front of the Biograph Theater).  

In The Break-Up, Chicago-area native Vince Vaughn plays a Windy City tour guide whose bitter split with girlfriend Aniston turns their condo into a war zone.

Hey, Who Wants to Talk About Racism in Transformers? Wheee! (Come On, It'll Be Fun! There's a Poll!)

Most critics--and more than a few filmgoers--who saw Transformers: Revenge of Jimmy Fallon came away from the super-mega-huge flick with a bad taste in their mouths, a ringing in their ears, loose fillings, and the feeling they'd been repeatedly mugged by a giant metal lizard brain.

I get why everyone rushed to make Transformers 2 one of the biggest-opening films ever. (After all, I was there midnight Tuesday, and I didn't really even like T-Formers1 that much.) And I do get why some fans are saying it was awesome, they loved it, it's just a fun summer movie, escapism, don't think too much about it.

But the point most of us are trying to make is that we like big, loud, fun summer escapism, but not poorly made summer escapism--great effects, but sloppy, lazy storytelling and characters. And just because it looks cool and gives you a momentary rush, doesn't mean it's good for you or your mind or your artistic taste buds.

Many critics who hated TF:ROTF(L) have also zeroed in on the film's perceived racism in the portrayal of the twin comic-relief Autobots, Skids and Mudflap. It raises a chicken/egg question: does the presence of what many of us consider to be minstrel-show-style racial stereotypes make TF:ROTF worse, or are they merely one of many bits of ickiness in the film, but make for an convenient broad target for our ire?

Here are the arguments for and against Skids and Mudflaps being racist:

Why we see them as racist:

--They speak in robo-gangsta "jive" or Ebonics, including rapper-style insults and threats of violence. (Calling others "pussy" and saying they'll "put a cap in your ass.")

--They are more simian-shaped than the other Autobots, with bulging eyes, and one of them has a gold tooth.

--When pressed, they admit they don't know how to read.

All this, many of us say, makes the characters little more than minstrel clowns, playing off cheap, negative African-American thug stereotypes. The movie site CHUD has labeled them "Little Black Sambots."

Now, the defense of the characters from some quarters:

--They're just comic relief, for fun, and not meant to be taken so seriously. Stop being so overly-PC and sensitive and laugh at them!

--They're robots, not human, so how can robot toys be racist?

--These kinds of stereotypes are often used to humorous effect by black film makers.

--The characters grew out of the voice acting done by Reno Wilson (who is black) and Tom Kenny (a white voice actor-comedian who is also the voice of Spongebob) and the actors were playing off the idea that these two Autobots learned about human culture from gangsta rap on the Internet and are just silly wannabees.

What say you all? Pick as many of the following poll options as you like and by all means elaborate on your opinions in the comments section directly below this post!

Online Surveys & Market Research

More about the controversy, the response of the film makers, and my take on it all over the jump!

All Together Now: "Well, DUH."

I'm sure that you are not wondering which movie claimed victory at the box office this weekend, are you?  Since you must have access to the Internet in order to be reading this post in the first place, that rules out any chance that you've been living under a rock or in deep in a jungle, and therefore you've already heard that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has earned more than $201 million since its debut on Wednesday. Its Friday through Sunday ticket sales of $112 million beat out its closest competitor (The Proposal, with about $18.5 million over the weekend) by an absolutely huge margin. 

If you read my review then you know how displeased I was with this sequel, but it's not like I doubted that it would be an enormous money-maker.  And as Locke pointed out, we really should've figured that Michael Bay would go ridiculously over the top in every way, shape and form this time around -- what else was he supposed to do when given a $200 million budget to play with?  What I wasn't prepared for, however, was to learn that Transformers: ROTF's five-day take was the second largest of all time, behind only The Dark Knight.  You know, The Dark Knight, the Academy Award®-winning movie that audiences and critics alike agreed was actually great?  In a fair and just and rational world, Transformers 2 and The Dark Knight would never be mentioned in the same breath let alone be vying with each other for any sort of box office record, so allow me to take a few moments and weep.

[I weep.]

I'm not going to be able to stop the flow of tears this morning I'm afraid, because there's another Transformers on the horizon and of course The Powers That Be want it in the can as soon as possible.  They're talking summer 2011, and I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I'll be recovered by then.

So let's change the subject and check on the status of other movies playing in theaters this weekend, shall we?  The Hangover lingers; now in its fourth week, it earned another $17.2 million.  Up swapped places with Star Trek to reclaim the Highest Grossing Film of 2009 title, its $13 million haul over the last three days helped it to pass the $250 million mark in total ticket sales.  Alas, Transformers 2 will be eclipsing that amount very shortly... d'ah!!!  I can't take it!!  Up is so much better!!!  Breathe, Erika, breathe...

The only other new title to arrive at cineplexes this weekend was My Sister's Keeper, which came in fifth place with $12 million. 

I am pretty sure that the big bad transforming alien robots will continue to dominate the theatrical landscape until Harry Potter shows up in two and a half weeks and pushes them out of the way with a flick of his wand.  Poor Harry now has to not only save the wizarding world from He Who Must Not Be Named, but he also has to save us mere Muggles from the likes of Skids and Mudflap.   July 15 can't arrive soon enough.

Where the Trek Began...Will Begun...Keeps Beginning......Or Something...

When J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot launched last month, I wrote about my lifelong Trek experience, including in the mid '80s when Riverside, Iowa--just a few miles down the road from my own hometown--declared itself the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk in 2228. Inspired by an offhand mention by series creator Gene Roddenberry in The Making of Star Trek book (that Kirk was born in Iowa) and led by Steve Miller, the town elders contacted Roddenberry's people and got the official go-ahead.

(It turns out, the greatest hero of the Federation and Starfleet will be born in the empty lot behind a small former barber shop. The new film does, alas, remove the "birth" part of the place--in the new continuity young Jim Kirk is born in space but still grows up raising hell in Riverside.)

A few years later, Riverside began holding its annual TrekFest the last weekend in June and has continued to host TrekFests every year now for several decades. Of course this was a very big year--Abrams' successful feature film reboot has Star Trek back in the public's eye, spawning a new generation of fans, and removing some of the (both fair and unfair) geek tint from loving Trek.

Plus, this year saw the Fest pony up the dough to bring in some of its biggest Trek stars so far: George Takei (Sulu), past Fest attendee Walter Koenig (Chekov), and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura). As a result, it's believed Riverside's TrekFest had its biggest attendance numbers this year.

(No, the original James T. Kirk, William Shatner, has never attended the actual TrekFest proceedings. As I noted in my piece last month, the Shat did drop by Riverside a few years ago as part of a SpikeTV reality show hoax called Invasion: Iowa, which is now finally available on DVD. Also, none of the new Trek film stars have popped in...yet...)

Black-market phaser sales: "Okay now listen, I've filed the stun pin off this baby, so I'm not even supposed to be selling it. But I'm going to let you have it cheap. No waiting period, no paperwork..."

At TrekFest you can buy baked goods alongside tribbles, watch a talent show of Sparkle-Motion-esque dance routines or a costume contest that includes dozens of rubber Vulcan ears and half-naked green Orion slave girls. There was a pet show that sought to crown the animal that looked the most like Mr. Spock. Plus there was a demolition derby, a street dance with a party-rock cover band, and for the first time, a rodeo (tagged "Kirk's Stomping Grounds"). The parade featured, like all small-town Iowa parades, more Shriners than Vulcans, more tractors than tractor-beams.

The sentient Tractors of Orion, from the award-winning Trek episode "Who Plows the Star Fields?"

A few years ago, a big, new casino opened in Riverside and it's done a lot to pump up the town's economy. But in fact, TrekFest has been raising Riverside's spirit and pride for more than two decades now. It's a totally goofy and fun thing, even when 90-plus degree temperatures make wearing any sort of polyester--not to mention full body costumes--a near-fatal error.

Klingons on Parade. The male sports the rare Shades of Mauk-to 'Vor, gained from killing a worthy foe in battle. The female appears to be holding either a sno-cone or a fuzzy-tipped pen.

This was my first time stopping by TrekFest since I moved to Chicago more than a decade ago and I have to say, it truly warms my heart to see the festival still going strong, still embraced by even those Riversidians who couldn't care less about what my father used to mistakenly call "high sci crap." I've been to my fair share of small-town festivals, and a few comic-book conventions, and it's a hoot to see the two worlds mesh bemusingly and charmingly in the middle of June Iowa heat, surrounded by cornfields.

Join me over the jump for more photos!

Make Like J. Geils, 'Cause It's Time for Freeze Frame

OK, people... here's the deal: I've chosen stills for this weekend's Freeze Frame challenge that are a little more difficult than they've been over the last month.  Why?  Because it's hot out and I'm sweaty and cranky, that's why!  No, actually I chose to make them a bit harder so as to separate the women from the girls, the men from the boys.  Who out there in the universe of redblog readers really knows movies?  

We're going to find out on Monday, when the first person to correctly enter in the titles of the three films below will see their name in lush, lavish, sultry, sexy bold right here on this site.  And of course they will also get to craft an aluminum foil trophy for themselves to commemorate the occasion.

Remember that although you don't need to call out the common thread between these movies in order to win, it never fails to bring a smile to my face when people attempt to guess what it is.  And it's all about making me happy, right?  This time I even gave you a huge clue.  So start inspecting...

Movie #1

Movie #2

Movie #3

So were these hard?  Or are you falling out of your chair guffawing over how even a kindergartner would know what these movies are?  (They wouldn't, but you get my point.)   Either way, it won't hurt to take a guess, so just do as I command: point your mouse to the comments link right below this post (aahhh, you went too far... up a bit... yes, right there), enter in your guesses, fill out the word verification thingy and then hit submit and you're good to go. 

Check back on Monday to see who'll get to be interviewed by their local news team for winning the coveted self-made Freeze Frame trophy! 

(I made up the part about being on TV.  Unless your local news team really has nothing going on next week.)

Confessions of a Shopaholic

It's only appropriate to start off my review of Confessions of a Shopaholic with a few confessions of my own: I hate to shop, I couldn't care less about fashion or designer clothes, and I've never read any of Sophie Kinsella's best-selling Shopaholic books.  All that being said, I still appreciate the occasional lighthearted rom-com and had high hopes for this one as it stars Isla Fisher, whom I absolutely adored as Wedding Crashers' "stage five clinger."  Her Shopaholic character, journalist (in the loosest sense of the term) Rebecca Bloomwood, is only slightly less neurotic than the woman last seen driving off into the sunset with Vince Vaughn.  Instead of going ga-ga over men, however, Rebecca's obsessed -- and I do mean obsessed -- with buying the latest and greatest shoes, dresses, bags and accessories that call to her from high-end department store windows.  That's all fine and dandy (well, not really, but I'll save my preaching for later), until her job suddenly vaporizes and she has no way to pay off thousands of dollars in credit card bills... and aggressive debt collectors start breathing down her neck. 

So she sets her sights on her dream job at the glamorous Alette magazine, where everything revolves around fashion and all employees look like runway models.  Unfortunately they're not hiring at the moment, but Rebecca learns that if she gets her foot in the door at one of the other magazines owned by Alette's parent company, she'll have a much easier time reaching her ultimate goal.  Through a comedy of errors, Rebecca does in fact land a gig at sister publication Successful Savings (oh, the irony), where she is almost immediately hailed as the savior of the company after she writes one (one!) article comparing a fake cashmere sweater to high-APR credit cards.  And that's where things start getting really unbelievable.