Green Lantern Took Away my will to want Another Film and Made Me Fear there would be Another

 Green Lantern (1 1/2 out of 5 stars)

Directed by: Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Mask of Zorro, Goldeneye)

Written by: Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, and Michael Goldenberg

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Robbins, Mark Strong

When you have a film with five writers that scares me.  When it comes to writing a film or television episode the fewer writers the better.  I have the motto too many cooks spoil the pot, and I think that this is where Green Lantern went wrong.  This film falls in line more with Daredevil than films like the latest X-Men or The Dark Knight.

Now, I am an active comic book fan, but i must admit i do not know much about he back story or history of this character.  This films follows Hal Jordan a test pilot, screw up, and ladies man who is chosen by the ring of a dying alien to become a new green lantern.  The green ring and the people though out the galaxy who have them can use these rings to will things into being.  The power of the green ring is will.  As Jordan is taken away he finds out that he will be part of an intergalactic squadron who protect the galaxy.  While there he meets of people who possess the green rings, famous characters from the comic like Sinestro, Tomar-Re, and Kilowog.

Meanwhile on Earth Hal forms has love interest in his childhood and another test pilot and business woman Carol Ferris (Blake Lively).  Carol is the rock that helps give Hal the ability to have the will to fight for his destiny as a green lantern.  The main villain (Paralax) is on of the fallen elders whom created the green lantern that has formed another emotion fear, and create villainy in Hector (Peter Sarsgaard).  Like all first super hero films this film works to fill in the back story and create a good action film.

Alright, so as far as super hero films go this has been the worst this summer.  The directing is not great.  Campbell wants to make an action film, but got lost in the back story.  I think a strong director would have also gotten better performances out of the actors.  blake Lively is so wooden, and I don't buy her emotions once.  Peter Sarsgaard an often brilliant actor is cartoonish.  I also don't think the Ryan Reynolds was the right choice for this character.  I read one graphic novel before seeing this film, and just did not feel a connection between him and the character.  I think that the writing is the weakest part of this film, there were moments when the characters would deliver lines that were supposed to be funny and I just could not muster a laugh.  The lines were also cheesy, and it does not surprise me that wrote this film wrote for the awful television series No Ordinary Family.

I wanted to like this film, but I was just not compelled enough, and did not build a connection to the mythology, the story, or the characters. Sure this film is pretty to look and the action is cool, but that can't save this film. When and if they write a sequel (which I am sure they will) they need to work on the story and get a new director to build this franchise and bring it in a new direction.

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My Favorite Musicals of All Time

This past Sunday night I went to show tunes at Union in Columbus, Ohio.  I sang, I laughed, and well simply put, I had an awesome time.  I love musicals, they can make you happy, you can sing a long, they can be bad and campy, but I just love them.  It made me think about my favorite musicals of all time.  Here is a list of my favorite movie musicals.



1-Moulin Rouge (2001) The movie that made me fall in LOVE with musicals.  I had seen other musicals in my life like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, but when I watched Moulin Rouge on DVD (none of my friends would see it in the movies with me), I fell in love with musicals.  I thought this film took a unique twist on the musical film, using modern day existing music to create a musical film.  There was of course one original song entitled "Come What May" which is one of the most beautiful songs.  In the film Satine (Nicole Kidman) is a courtesan who falls in love with a struggling poet Christian (Ewen McGregor) who is trying to find inspiration, and of course the two fall in love, but not without their struggles.  The story is beautiful, and it began the birth of the modern day musical and its incorporation in television and film today.  "Love is a many splendid thing love lifts up where we belong" and this film inspired my eternal love for musicals.

2-Singin in the Rain (1952) What more can you ask for with the charm of Gene Kelly as he dances down the street with an umbrella in hand and as rain pours down on him.  The film chronicles one of the funniest moments in film history, the switch from silent films to speaking pictures.  In the film Lina Lamont (the hilarious Jean Hagen-and only Oscar nominated performance from the film) has a terrible voice and can't sing or act well in these films, so they bring in another actress to do the speaking for her Kathy Selden (the eternally talented Debbie Reynolds), and the singing and dancing begins.  Gene Kelly and Donald O'Conor are both hilarious and just charming in this film.  You can't help but smile, and whistle every song.  My friend Keith says that the songs don't add to the plot, but in this musical there is enough charm to make it the best musical ever made, and my second favorite musical of all time!

3-Mary Poppins (1964) Practically perfect in every way!  This was  one of my favorite childhood films.  Julie Andrews voice is a gift from God (so sad she can't sing anymore).  I loved to laugh as the characters drink tea on ceiling and sing that wonderful number. Mary Poppins is the nanny who comes to bring the Banks family together.  The family is lost as their father spends all his time at work away from his family.  Andrews portrayal as this wonderful woman earned her an Academy Award (deserving).  From the dancing on the roof tops with the number "Steppin Time", this film is just supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

4-The Sound of Music (1965) Julie Andrews is on the list again as go figure another woman who goes to take care of children, but this time she plays a nun named Maria who falls in love with and ends with the father of the children, Captain Von Trap (Christopher Plummer).  The music is great, and the main cast even fights and rebels against Nazism.  There is not much more you can ask from this musical, which is a film I make sure I watch once a year around Easter.

5-West Side Story (1961) "I want to be in America!"  The story of two star crossed lovers Tony and Maria who come from different cultures meet and fall in love at a dance in the gym.  A modern day re-telling of Romeo and Juliet (not exactly the same details) where Riff (Tony's friend) leads the gang of white Jets and Maria's brother Bernado (Academy Award winner George Chakiris) leads the Sharks (Puerto Ricans).  In the middle of all of this is Anita (Academy Award winner Rita Moreno) who plays Bernado's girlfriend and the one person who above believes in hope and true love.  The dancing is great, the story is beautiful, and tragic.

The 60s spurred some of my favorite, and I think the best musicals of all time, I love watching a good musical.  They make me feel oh so pretty and witty and gay.

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First Day of Summer: Let's Celebrate-Wet Hot American Summer Style!

While in Columbus I watched one of my favorite funny movies, EVER!  My friend's and I were having a hard time picking a movie to watch, and it came to me as soon as I saw it on Netflix, Wet Hot American Summer (2001).  This was the perfect movie for my friend, we began our bonding over the film Best in Show, so I knew that this movie would be perfect to watch.

This is probably one of the most under rated funny films in the last ten years.  I am shocked whenever i bring up this movie how few people have seen it.  The film centers around the last of summer camp at Camp Firewood in 1981, and has one of the funniest casts ever with: David Hyde Pierce, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Ian Black, Elizabeth Banks, and Christopher Meloni.

The film focuses on the funny interactions between the camp counselors and the kids, and amongst each other, and how sex, kissing, crafts, and the kid who never showers are constants at a summer camp.  I never did the summer camp thing when I was kid.  I have a friend who is working at summer camp, and I had to wonder how much of this tuff happens.  There is obvious absurd humor and things that are not realistic like a montage of the campus counselors and director in town mugging an old woman, doing drugs, and just going crazy (hilarious).

On the first day of sumer, the weather is just lovely, and well I am inside typing this.  Summer is the time to  be outside and enjoy summer camp, lay by your pool, go to the beach, have a BBQ, and hell wear white before it gets to be labor day, but instead I think everyone should rent or watch this movie instead tonight.

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Happy Pride: One Big Gay Musical Extravaganza

So my blog has been neglected the last 5 days because I was in Columbus, Ohio for the LGBT Pride 
events.  This was a wonderful grad school reunion (one month later) with my friends Steven and Lindy.  The details of the whole weekend are, well, probably too much to share, but we went out to the bars, enjoyed the parade on Saturday, and went to their show tunes night on Sunday.  I actually was awake for 24 hours (I am very tired), but it was worth it!  We did not just party it up, we relaxed and decompressed.  One thing we did get to do was relax and hang out and play with dogs and watch movies.  I think the best part about this weekend was that not only did we have fun going, out but we were to sit back relax and just chill, and get to enjoy spending time with one another.  I miss my friends already, and hope I get to visit and meet up with them more.

The theme of this weekend was well, everything gay (and meeting people in open relationships-but that is a different story.)  We even watched a gay movie, The Big Gay Musical (2009), which is on watch instant on Netflix.  The movie like most gay films follows two leads both beautiful and ripped on their quest for love.  The "actors" in this movie were a lot of models from the gay male "dating" web site Manhunt, so the acting was not the greatest.  I did not enjoy the story that much either, but they did portray things that were relate able, like being a slut vs. wanting a relationship and the risks, dating guys who are flaky, coming out etc.   The one thing I enjoyed most about this movie was the music, and the musical aspect to the film, it was campy and clever.

On Sunday night, my friend Steven and I went to do show tunes night at the bar Union.  While there they play show tunes songs from television shows, and it is just a great time.  I will give The Big Gay Musical a pass for now, because like show tunes night movies like this are not meant to win awards, they are meant to be fun for a specific audience to enjoy, and they provide a window into a world of issues gay men face, and the fun of the musicals.  Now, I will not be running out to buy this movie, but it fit the mood of the weekend.

Happy Pride to Everyone!

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Oscars will have Varying Number of Best Picture Nominees: I say "Make up your Mind ATAS!!!"

Here are the details which I retrieved from Goldderby.com and from Bruce Davis the outgoing academy executive director, and the producers of the 2008 show Bill Condon and Larry Mark. 

"Bruce Davis, the outgoing academy executive director, explained the change in a statement: "If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number."

Interestingly, eight was the number proposed by Bill Condon and Larry Mark who produced the 2008 Oscars. That was how many that were nominated at the 5th Academy Awards back in 1932; "Grand Hotel" won Best Picture. However, the academy board went with an even 10, which had been the slate of Best Picture nominees from the ninth to the 16th years of the Oscars."

Here are my cents, make up your damn mind.  Stop flip flopping this is not a Presidential debate, you are not John Kerry or Mitt Romney, make up your minds.  I like the fact that there have been 10 nominees in the Best Picture category.  Sure in the first year The Blind Side received a nominated (not deserving of a spot in the top twenty), but overall the nominees have been great.  This system has worked, so where's the problem?

I do think that making sure the nominees are qualified makes sense, but will this flexible number prevent films from being nominated again, like The Dark Knight or films that do not fit within the traditional genre that the ATAS tends to go for.  I know the Oscars are trying to shake things up and continue to make things interesting.  By the time the Oscars happen these days the winners know they are winning, there have been very few surprises anymore.

This random number of nominees is not going to shake things up, rather I think voters should think with their own minds and pick the winners they think SHOULD win, rather than the winners who have been rubber stamped prior.

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Nicolas Cage: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

So I have had a little bit bloggers block the last two days, and so I asked my facebook friends to come up with the subject for today's blog.  Only two people responded, and well it was a great suggestion.  My friend and former co-worker Kelsey Stockton stated that I should do a blog on Nicolas Cage: the Good, the bad, and the ugly.  For those of you who don't know Nicolas Cage was actually born Nicolas Coppola; he is in fact the nephew of fame Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and cousin to Sofia.  Nic Cage changed his name in order to make his own success.  Although in the first major movie he starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982),  Nicolas Cage was billed as Nicolas Coppola.  Regardless of his name, the man has had some career highs, some bad choices, and some huge bombs.

The Good: 

Nicolas Cage's career started pretty strong; he starred in Francis Ford Coppola's film Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) as Charley Bodell the love interest of the title character Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) who goes back to relive her high school days with full knowledge of her future.  This was not huge critical hit, but it was still a good start.

The year after Cage did the Coen Brothers film (before they were as cool as they are now) Raising Arizona (1987).  Cage starred opposite Holly Hunter, and this is a great feather in his cap.  This film is in line with all of the other Coen films, it's dark funny, and just one of those great under appreciated films in the year it was made.

 In 1988 he had another great film on his hand starring opposite Cher in Norman Jewison's Moonstruck.  Of all three of these films Moonstruck was the biggest success and gave Cage the most recognition; he would soon start to give him much more name recognition.  The recognition he wanted to gain by changing his name.

Within these three years Cage worked with great directors and started to build himself a wonderful career.  There were some not so great films for a few years (that will be in he bad), but in reality they were nothing that that would shatter someone's reputation.  In 1995 he did a film that in my mind brought him to the pinnacle of his career.  The film Leaving Las Vegas, brought Cage numerous acting nominations and awards including an Oscar for Best Actor.  Cage played an alcoholic who built an interesting relationship with a hooker (Elisabeth Shue).  This is Cage's best film and best work ever.

In 2002 Cage hit another career milestone playing Charlie and Donald Kauffman in the film Adaptation about, well about Charlie Kauffman trying to adapt the book The Orchid Thief, into a film that would be worth watching.  Cage played the the dual role with such ease and great comic timing; he earned an Oscar nomination for this role.

Cage had two other films in the 2000s that have received some critical support (and have actually been good films) The Bade Lieutenant: Port of Call-New Orleans (2009), and Kick-Ass (2010).  Cage certainly has had some great career moments, but I am not sure if they can correct the bad and the ugly

The Bad: 


In his post Moonstruck years Nicolas Cage mad some bad films.  Here is the thing some of these movies are guilty pleasures for me, I think they are bad, but can't help but watch these movies.

1994 was a busy year for Nic with bad films.; he had Guarding Tess, Trapped in Paradise, and It Could Happen to You.  Guarding Tess is just not good, It Could Happen to You is an interesting premise, but Rosie Perez steals every scene, and Trapped in Paradise is awful, but is one of my biggest pleasures because of its three leading men (which includes Cage,  Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey).

Then there were his action years of 1996 and 1997.  Cage starred in The Rock in 1996 where he had to enlist the help of Sean Connery to help prevent biological weapons from being used on Alcatraz.  Then in 1997 he played a convict on hijacked plane  transporting prisoners in Con-Air (he was the good convict who fought against the bad guys).  The he starred opposite John Travolta in the absurdly bad Face/Off, which was just a mess.

The Family Man (2000) and City of Angels (1998) were his attempt in trying to handle love stories (fail).

 His second attempt at the action/adventure genre happened with with National Treasure (2004) was a less intelligent version of the Dan Brown books.

I would put many of these films in the category of bad, but not unwatchable.  A lot of these films did well at the box office, and had mass audience appeal.  They lacked the quality, but you could tell that Cage was still trying to pick things that interested him.

The Ugly:


With this group of films I don't even want to waster my mind thinking about them, but here is the list of what I would describe as some of the worst films ever (which happened to star Nicolas Cage).

Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)
8 mm (1999)
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
Lord of War (2005)
World Trade Center (2006)
The Wicker Man (2006)
Ghost Rider (2007)
Next (2007)
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
Knowing 
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)
Season of the Witch (2011)
Drive Angry (2011)


14 films that are terrible and poorly made.  Cage has potential to be a great actor with two Academy Award nominations (1 win) to his name and a slew of other well made films he could have a better acting legacy.  Cage has picked some terrible films in the last decade, and has become what I like to call a paycheck actor.  Most of the jobs seem to be for a paycheck, and not to be more successful.  The only problem is many of these films did so poor at the box office, so why are people still casting him in films? I hope Mr. Cage has an agent who surfs the blogs and sees this, realizes that it's time to take a look back at his career and weigh what films to take in the future.

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I Hate a Sweep! When Films Win it All at the Oscars

So tonight's Tony Awards were fun as usual, and Neil Patrick Harris was a great host.  I did not get to see as many shows that were eligible for this season but I did see The Importance of Being Earnest, Catch Me If you Can, and Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown.  I hope to see The Book of Mormon and The Normal Heart (before it closes).  The Book of Mormon basically had a clean sweep only losing in the Lead Actor in a Musical category, choreography and Featured Actor in a Musical.  This looks like a great show, and I am sure it deserves all the awards it won, but I hate a sweep, and this goes for all award shows!

When films sweep it takes away from the anticipation of the nominees.  As Chris Rock presented the award for Best Musical he made a joke stating not knowing who the winner of this award is silly.  Rock stated "You don't need to buy a hooker dinner to get her to go to bed with you."  The hooker is going to sleep with you because no matter what she's a hooker.

There were 3 films that won 11 Oscars:

Ben-Hur (1959)-This film had 13 Oscar nominations, so it only lost 2 awards that evening.  Of the nominees I probably would have picked this film, but this was also the year of Some Like it Hot, a true classic great funny film.  I would have picked Some Like it Hot as the Best Picture winner and would have given a couple of awards.
In those days films about cross dressing were easily bested by a film ancient Rome with amazing technical aspects (although Ben-Hur has lots of homo-erotic moments).


Titanic (1997) -  Titanic received 14 nominations and lost three two in the acting categories, and one for its screenplay.  This film was technical marvel, but could have shared many of its awards with LA Confidential the noir murder mystery film directed by Curtis Hanson.  Titanic was a powerhouse film at the box office, and it commanded the attention of more viewers for an award show.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)-  Was nominated for 11 awards and won all of their awards.  This might be one of the films that came closest to deserving all 11 of these awards on this list, but could have lost film editing to City of God or 21 Grams, lost Best Original Song to A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow from A Mighty Wind, and Costume Design to Girl with a Pearl Earring.



There is no film, play musical, or television show that deserves to win everything.  I love it when films deserve to win for what they deserve to win for.  When you watch an award show, you can't help but wonder if voters get lazy and check the box for the same film or show over and over again.  I hope voters don't get lazy, and they actually do take the time to pick the best rather than play a political game and pick the something because its hip or cool to pick.

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