Pop Culture Buzz

This movie doesn’t come out until March of 2008 but man, does it look super cool or what? This is my hands down favorite book by Dr. Suess and this concept of computer animation is already looking much better than those shitty live action movies with Mike Meyers and Jim Carey (”The Cat in the Hat” & “The Grinch that Stole Christmas”).

I love how loyal this clip is to the actual story. The voice work is pure genius and fitting. All of these elements will make for a fun time in the theater next spring. I cannot wait to this finished product.

Here are the much hyped pics (they are small, but you can kinda get a picture of the drama) of the OK! Magazine photo shoot with Britney Spears. The word from the set is that Britney showed up to the shoot “out of it”.

Employees of OK! Magazine were uncomfortable and worried by what they had seen (so much so they did a full spread, what douchebags). Witnesses from OK! Magazine say Britney made several trips to the restroom and each time she came back on set was in a “different mood”.

This is the same photo shoot that Britney also used an expensive gown to wipe her mouth on after eating. Not to mention her dog shit on a designer dress worth $20,000.

Troubled singer Britney Spears caused further worry to fans when she struggled through a raunchy pole dance routine looking dishevelled and disorientated at an L.A. night club performance.

Scantily-clad Britney wore revealing leather hot pants and torn fishnets as she tried to strut her stuff, but she moved ungraciously as she clung on to the pole. The images fuel fears that the singer is spiralling out of control.

The pictures below are from that performance in L.A. and much to her fans dismay, her lip syncing and dance moves came off amatuerish and were embarrassing. If a picture tells a thousand words, than we all know what these pictures are SCREAMING, “Britney is a mess”.

At one point during the filming the 25-year-old stared vacantly into the camera while she clutched her Yorkie puppie. An onlooker said that the star sobbed hysterically at the end of filming. Wow, we are actually witnessing a star crashing down to earth before our very own eyes, what a shame!

Check out this cool action shot of Heath Ledger in the “Batman Begins” sequel called “The Dark Knight” coming out next summer. I love that The Joker is being played by a young, cool Hollywood actor. This franchise has once again become super cool. I mean, who didn’t love the most recent film “Batman Begins” with Christian Bale?

TOTAL THIS WEEKEND / TOTAL SO FAR

1.) The Simpsons Movie $71,850,000 / $71,850,000

2.) I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry $19,063,000 / $71,610,000

3.) Harry Potter 5 - Order of the Phoenix $17,070,000 / $241,776,000

4.) Hairspray $15,550,000 / $59,307,000

5.) No Reservations $11,760,000 / $11,760,000

6.) Transformers $11,524,000 / $284,558,000

7.) Ratatouille $7,234,000 / $179,683,000

8.) Live Free or Die Hard $5,350,000 / $125,128,000

9.) I Know Who Killed Me $3,400,000 / $3,400,000

10.) Who’s Your Caddy? $2,900,000 / $2,900,000

#1 - “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

Tim Burton’s mind blowing trippy claymation tale serves up a two punch holiday treat, which is great for watching starting at Halloween all the way to Christmas! Every inch of this film is unique and creative down to every memorable song to the minor background details. This cartoon gets the most repeat viewings than any other title on this list.

#2 - “The Iron Giant”

When “The Iron Giant” came out cartoon fans around the world were in the midst of a bad period in Hollywood feature film animation. The lush hand drawn images (which is no longer used as a format of animation) from “The Iron Giant” are breathtaking. Director/Screenwriter Brad Bird has gone on to create “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” for Pixar. The simple story of a boy and a giant robot in Cold War era U.S.A. will tug at your heart strings and leave you warm and fuzzy afterward.

#3 - “The Emperor’s New Groove”

This film makes me laugh out loud the hardest and it never fails to amuse me after multiple viewings. “Emperor” is one of the last hand drawn cell animated films that Disney made, which is a shame because the colors and backgrounds in this film are beautiful. The outstanding vocal talents of David Spade, Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton are some of the best animated comedic vocal work ever! This movie has more laughs than any other title on this list and that is saying a lot.

#4 - “Finding Nemo”

One of the best animated comedies ever, and in my opinion the best Pixar and computer animated film ever created. “Finding Nemo” gives a shout out to all of the single father’s in the world with a touching tender dad and son story and gorgeous animation. Ellen Degeneres is remarkable and hilarious as Dory. I use so many one liners from this movie it isn’t even funny…..”shark bait”.

#5 - “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut”

The best adult cartoon EVER made is hands down “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut”. The movie even garnered a best song Academy Award nomination. Critics and fans alike loved the nasty, over the top humor and side splitting cultural references. This movie will shock you and then make you laugh uncontrollably. This movie is not for kids, thank god!

#6 - “The Spongebob Squarepants Movie”

Here is a cartoon feature that is more for kids but has a lot of subversive humor for adults to chuckle at. For instance when Patrick and SpongeBob get drunk off of ice cream it is too funny for words. Spongebob is one of the best animated characters of all time and this movie perfectly embodies the silly, love-able tone that the t.v. show has.

#7 - “The Secret of Nimh”

My love for rats as a child made this movie an obvious choice. This was the first glimpse I got of animal cruelty and lab animals as a child and it haunts me still to this day. The gorgeous and classical hand drawn animation by genius Don Bluth could not be recreated by computers from today’s animation studios. This movie is a good way to introduce children to respecting little creatures, even the gross ones.

#8 - “The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb”

This disturbing, warped analogy of modern society, genetics and science is an emotional roller coaster. With no dialog and multiple forms of animation techniques used this is the most bizarre film on my list. It is a hidden gem and not many people know of it, so if you like odd demented fairy tales than this is your film. “The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb” is a marvel to look at. It is fun to count the many ways in which the creators used various types of animation in just one scene, you will be amazed and scared.

#9 - “Fantasia”

This movie has always been considered one of the best animated films of all time. Ahead of its time, “Fantasia” was at the same time seen as high art and as drug propaganda when it came out. I can see why, the classically drawn animation and color pallet are remarkable and tease the eye. The music and animation are perfectly matched. This is like an extended Mtv music video, before Mtv was even around. This film is one of Walt Disney’s most brilliant ideas ever.

#10 - “Beauty & The Beast”

The songs on this film are some of my favorite from an any animated film. The mix of hand drawn animation and CGI was ahead of its time when “Beauty & The Beast” was released. This is still the first animated film to ever be nominated for best feature film by the Academy of Motion Pictures. It swept the music categories at the Oscar’s in 1991 and has gone down in history as one of the crowning jewels of one of Disney’s golden periods.

#11 - “The Last Unicorn”

This early 80’s era cartoon is a bit heavy and has a haunting message. As a kid some of the images in this film scared the hell out of me. As an adult I have learned to love the harsh underlined moral and sad premise. This film is another hand drawn masterpiece with so much detail and energy put into the lush backgrounds and the scenic details. The music is corny but for any fan they will bring you back to when you first saw this movie.

#12 - “Fantastic Planet”

This is my favorite Sci-Fi animated movie, and one of all time favorite Sci-Fi flicks ever. This movie is definitely “trippy” and weird, but also a refreshing change of pace from the soft cheesy Disney-esque animation we are used to. This film also doesn’t have much dialog which is made up for with it’s bizarre martian landscapes, odd creatures and somewhat horrific premise. This has to be seen to be believed.

#13 - “The Fox & The Hound”

This movie taught me more about friendship and about the differences in people more than any other cartoon growing up. The cute as hell animated main characters resemble school yard kids going through the growing pains of youth. The mellow, soft animation and terrific narration make this a subtle family classic.

#14 - “Alice In Wonderland”

This film was the wackiest and silliest Disney cartoon around growing up. I love the faithfulness to the story book classic and the huge cast of characters. I still find myself singing the songs from this animated film to this day. I watched this movie a bit too much as a kid. The drug references were lost on me as a kid, but now as an adult, it is worth viewing once again. It is a timeless cartoon that never loses its charm.

#15 - “Heavy Metal”

I picked this film because it is one of the best adult cartoons ever drawn. This movie is at times scary, gory, funny, subversive and silly like a Looney Toons cartoon. The music hasn’t stood up to the test of time but the silly stoner charm has kept up after the years. Where else can you see animated aliens snorting cosmic cocaine? Classic!

HONORABLE MENTION:

“Princess Mononoke”
“All Dogs Go To Heaven”
“The Jungle Book”
“Gay Purree”
“The Phantom Tollbooth”
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
“The Hobbit”
“The Incredible Mr. Limpet”
“Shrek”
“A Bugs Life”
“Charlotte’s Web”

Wes Anderson’s best film is hands down the dark comedy “Rushmore”. I liked both “Bottle Rocket” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”, but was more impressed by the style than the substance. “The Life Aquatic” was a pretty mess, but a mess none the less. So far this movie has a great vibe about it and I am impressed by this sweet trailer. Check out the quirky clip below:

I have lost faith in the “Saw” movies. The first was a revelation of gory proportions, then it went the way of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” films and became a gimmick. You have to give it to them though, the posters are always brilliant. Check out the new poster for this October’s “Saw 4?.

I like Luke Wilson much more than I do Owen. Luke is the less irritating and more hot of the two Wilson brothers. I liked “Bottle Rocket” but loved “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”. I was left wondering what the heck “The Life Aquatic” was even about. Even though the director and screenwriter is different on “The Wendell Baker Story” I don’t have much faith that this film will be that big of a critical hit or financial success.

This music video and song are all over the place, and I think I like it. Here is another example of a song that just wouldn’t translate well on American radio. And of course, this song is making it’s way up the Euro-pop charts as we speak.

What will be this years “Napolean Dynamite” or “Little Miss Sunshine”? “Rocket Science” looks sweet and funny enough by the looks of this trailer. I love dark comedies with a subversive hero and quirky setting. This movie could end up being quite the little charmer, check out the trailer below:

I am not sure if this is a superhero movie or not, but I am intrigued at this trailer. Of course this could be another crappy macho snore-fest like “Ghost Rider”, “The Punisher” or “Daredevil”. I may just have to go by the reviews on this one!

*** STARS

The Harry Potter book and movie series is the most consistent and beloved children’s fantasy story ever created. Each movie breaks a new box office record each time. Adults and kids alike show up in droves to the midnight book releases and movie premieres. The phenomenon has remained a fixture on our pop culture radar with no end to the craze on the horizon.

The last book in the series has already blown away sales expectations and the new movie “Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix” has similarly followed suit. I loved the newest addition to the Harry Potter franchise more than I thought I would, the “Potter” movies just keep getting better and better.

“The Order of the Phoenix” is the most mature and enthralling film of the series so far. My favorite of the franchise “The Prisoner of Azkaban” was more gorgeous to look at but this latest addition has a much stronger story and plot. As Harry and the gang mature so do the themes and underlined tension in the story. The franchise needed a boost of life and this story in the series gives the collection a solid connection and cohesiveness. Watching “Phoenix” got me pumped for the final two installments. As the film ends we are left knowing that there is much more of the story to tell and we are left hungry to see what happens next.

I stopped reading the “Harry Potter” books shortly before “Order of the Phoenix” was released because the movies became more entertaining and rewarding to experience in the end. The directors, talent and screenwriters involved in these productions know that the fans want consistency.

The wealth of British talent and style gone into these films leaves the viewer satisfied the series has not gone into corny territory. The movies producers are always faithful to the story and characters which makes the films more authentic and leaves the impression that each film is handled with care. Never before has this been more true than with “The Order of the Phoenix”. “Potter” author J.K. Rowling and her fans should be proud that their hero has stood up to the test of time and all of the fantasy movie fads. This series is as classy as it gets and I am glad I’ve been along for the ride.

I love the surge of British alt-rock bands that are pouring through the American air waves these days. The Thrills song “Nothing Changes Around Here” is another slice of pop heaven from across the pond.

The beginning melody of the song and the opening scene in this music video remind me of Morrissey’s “Everyday Is Like Sunday” video. Whatcha think?

I am a huge fan of dry, witty adult “talkie” comedies like “Margot at the Wedding”. My favorite film of this genre is “Flirting With Disaster”. If this movie is anything like that dark comedy masterpiece, then we are in for a treat.

The last time we saw Nicole Kidman in such a role was the sharp and shrewd “To Die For” which was a critical success and the breakthrough role Kidman needed at the time. I am looking forward to some adult laughs after the summer of silliness we are currently in.

Jodie Foster has one of the best track records in Hollywood at the moment. A majority of her movies make good money and entertain a wide range of film watchers. This movie looks like another home run for Foster, and another suspenseful fun romp at the theater too. Check out the trailer below: