TV's Fall 2009-2010 Premiere Dates

No matter what’s going on in our lives my buddy Mike and I can always fall back on a few specific topics, TV being one of those. While I have certainly cut down on the number of shows that dictate my weeknight viewing, television still runs my life during the fall and early spring.
And to make matters worse, networks have stopped showing reruns through the summer to let viewers catch up on what took place the previous season. Instead, they test out new shows on audiences, giving me no relief at any point during the year.
Some shows have already begun their run for the fall, others will premiere within a week or two and then others like 24 or Lost won’t have new episodes until early next year, but I don't know a specific date for Lost.
Here is a list of dates for when shows will start up again.

Tuesday, September 8
90210 – The CW
Melrose Place (new series) – The CW

Wednesday, September 9
America’s Next Top Model – The CW
So You Think You Can Dance (two hours) – Fox
Glee – Fox

Thursday, September 10
Vampire Diaries (new series) – The CW
Supernatural – The CW

Monday, September 14
One Tree Hill – The CW
Gossip Girl – The CW

Tuesday, September 15
The Biggest Loser – NBC

Wednesday, September 16
America’s Next Top Model – The CW
The Beautiful Life (new series) – The CW

Thursday, September 17
Survivor – Samoa – CBS
Bones – Fox
Fringe – Fox
Parks and Recreation – NBC
The Office – NBC
Community (new series) – NBC

Friday, September 18
Brothers (new series) – Fox
‘Til Death – Fox

Monday, September 21
Dancing With the Stars – ABC
Castle – ABC
How I Met Your Mother – CBS
Accidentally on Purpose – CBS
Two and a Half Men – CBS
The Big Bang Theory – CBS
CSI: Miami – CBS
House (two hours) – Fox
Heroes (two hours) – NBC

Tuesday, September 22
The Forgotten (new series) – ABC
NCIS – CBS
NCIS: Los Angeles (new series) – CBS
The Good Wife (new series) – CBS

Wednesday, September 23
Modern Family (new series) – ABC
Cougar Town (new series) – ABC
Eastwick (new series) – ABC
The New Adventures of Old Christine – CBS
Gary Unmarried – CBS
Criminal Minds – CBS
CSI: NY – CBS
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – NBC
Mercy (new series) – NBC

Thursday, September 24
FlashForward (new series) – ABC
Grey's Anatomy – ABC
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – CBS
The Mentalist – CBS

Friday, September 25
Ghost Whisperer – CBS
Medium (new network) – CBS
Numb3rs – CBS
Smallville – The CW
Dollhouse – Fox
Law & Order – NBC
Southland – NBC

Sunday, September 27
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two hours) – ABC
Desperate Housewives – ABC
Brothers & Sisters – ABC
The Amazing Race – CBS
Cold Case – CBS
The Simpsons – Fox
The Cleveland Show (new series) – Fox
Family Guy – Fox
American Dad – Fox

Monday, September 28
Lie to Me – Fox
Trauma (new series) – NBC

Thursday, October 1
Private Practice – ABC

Sunday, October 4
Three Rivers (new series) – CBS

Friday, October 9
Ugly Betty (two hours) – ABC

Thursday, October 15
30 Rock – NBC

Sunday, January 17, 2010
24 (two hours) – Fox

Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth From Name Power? (Part Three)

The following is the final portion of a three-part series/countdown of the top paid actors and their most recent movies. See whether or not name power equates to box office success and critical appeal.

3. Christian Bale
It is safe to say that although Bale has been appearing in movies since he was 13 years old, he wasn’t a household name until given Batman’s cape and cowl. Not counting the Batman series, Bale’s track record of big box office hits is not very good. However, when he hits big, he hits REALLY big. The Dark Knight earned more than a billion dollars worldwide last year, so Warner Bros. is likely OK with paying Bale his salary for future Batman films.

The Dark Knight (2008)
Domestic Gross – $533 million
Worldwide Gross – $1.001 billion
Budget – $185 million
IMdb – 8.9/10 (third highest ranked film on the movie Web site)
Rotten Tomatoes – 94%; 8.4/10
Netflix – 4.3/5
Box Office Mojo – A

I’m Not There (2007)
Domestic Gross – $4 million
Worldwide Gross – $12 million
Budget – $20 million
IMdb – 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 77%; 7/10
Netflix – 2.9/5
Box Office Mojo – B

3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Domestic Gross – $54 million
Worldwide Gross – $70 million
Budget – $55 million
IMdb – 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 88%; 7.5/10
Netflix – 3.9/5
Box Office Mojo – B+

2. Robert Downey Jr.
After dabbling in drugs a couple of times, Downey Jr. has made more than one comeback in his career, but it is his most recent success with director Jon Favreau (who will always be Mikey from Swingers to me) and the Iron Man series that makes him a hot commodity these days.

Tropic Thunder (2008)
Domestic Gross – $111 million
Worldwide Gross – $188 million
Budget – $92 million
IMdb – 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 82%; 7/10
Netflix – 3.2/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Iron Man (2008)
Domestic Gross – $318 million
Worldwide Gross – $585 million
Budget – $140 million
IMdb – 8/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 93%; 7.6/10
Netflix – 4.3/5
Box Office Mojo – A-

1. Will Smith
Blockbuster Brother is a suiting nickname for the man who producers throw tons of cash at to be in their summer action flicks. From Independence Day to the Bad Boys series, Smith is the modern-day action hero for a new generation.

Seven Pounds (2008)
Domestic Gross – $69 million
Worldwide Gross – $168 million
Budget – $55 million
IMdb – 7.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 27%; 4.6/10
Netflix – 3.8/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Hancock (2008)
Domestic Gross – $228 million
Worldwide Gross – $624 million
Budget – $150 million
IMdb – 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 40%; 5.4/10
Netflix – 3.6/5
Box Office Mojo – B

New Way To Review Movies

Janie Mo over at Madatoms.com has brought up an interesting idea with movie reviews. After more than 100 years of movie making, the audience has sort of gotten tired of reading long reviews that might spoil something even if it is not written with spoilers. My buddy Danny likes to know as little as possible about a movie afer seeing the trailer once. If it interests him then he will ignore all other promotional ads and critic reviews and just go see it.
Mo has boiled down reviews into simple "If you like blank, then you'll like blank" statements.
Click here and check out some of what she is talking about.

Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth From Name Power? (Part Two)

The following is the second portion of a three-part series/countdown of the top paid actors and their most recent movies. See whether or not name power equates to box office success and critical appeal.

6. Adam Sandler
King of Unfunny Comedy. That is the title that Adam Sandler has been crowned in recent years. He makes one awful movie after another filled with the same jokes and the same actors as previous movies. The ex-SNL cast member who was in the midst of the shows heyday in the 90s now produces his own movies, so until he runs out of money we are going to be stuck with garbage like Bedtime Stories, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

Bedtime Stories (2008)
Domestic Gross – $110 million
Worldwide Gross – $212 million
Budget – $80 million
IMdb – 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes –24%; 4.4/10
Netflix – 3.8/5
Box Office Mojo – B

You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (2008)
Domestic Gross – $100 million
Worldwide Gross – $200 million
Budget – $90 million
IMdb – 5.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –36%; 4.6/10
Netflix – 2.9/5
Box Office Mojo – C

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
Domestic Gross – $120 million
Worldwide Gross – $186 million
Budget – $85 million
IMdb – 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes –13%; 3.6/10
Netflix – 3.5/5
Box Office Mojo – C

Reign Over Me (2007)
Domestic Gross – $20 million
Worldwide Gross – $22 million
Budget – $20 million
IMdb – 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes –63%; 6.3/10
Netflix – 3.7/5
Box Office Mojo – B

5. Harrison Ford
This is an interesting case because discounting the fourth Indiana Jones movie released in 2008, Ford hadn’t made a financially relevant movie since 2000’s What Lies Beneath. Although Ford is a big name and garners a lot of respect when it comes to pushing a movie title, the paycheck really was for the Indy name, not Ford’s.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Domestic Gross – $317 million
Worldwide Gross – $787 million
Budget – $185 million
IMdb – 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –76%; 6.9/10
Netflix – 3.4/5
Box Office Mojo – B

4. Shia LaBeouf
I’m a fan of this goofy kid and like most wasn’t aware of his existence prior to Transformers. So no, I didn’t watch much Even Stevens.
Besides repeatedly being cast in big-budget action movies that are generally well liked by audiences, my favorite thing about LaBeouf is his involvement in one of the top-five funniest SNL skits ever. When you’ve got the time, check out Sofa King. It is worth it.
Note: I’m omitting the 2007 animated movie Surf’s Up. LaBeouf only did voice work for the film and was so far down on the list of talent for that movie, so I am not counting it.

Eagle Eye (2008)
Domestic Gross – $101 million
Worldwide Gross – $178 million
Budget – $80 million
IMdb – 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –27%; 4.6/10
Netflix – 3.8/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Domestic Gross – $317 million
Worldwide Gross – $787 million
Budget – $185 million
IMdb – 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –76%; 6.9/10
Netflix – 3.4/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Transformers (2007)
Domestic Gross – $319 million
Worldwide Gross – $710 million
Budget – $150 million
IMdb – 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes –57%; 5.8/10
Netflix – 4/5
Box Office Mojo – B+

Disturbia (2007)
Domestic Gross – $80 million
Worldwide Gross – $118 million
Budget – $20 million
IMdb – 7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –67%; 6.2/10
Netflix – 3.7/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth From Name Power? (Part One)

Frequently movie advertisers will tease a film by enticing the audience with an actor or actress’ name. Producers believe the celebrity’s name power will get people in the seats. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
Running across a list of the top-paid actors and actresses of 2008, I decided to do a check on the latest movies the top 10 were in and whether they were any good or not. So here is the list with some financial stats and numerical ratings from four Web sites.
The percentage that goes along with Rotten Tomatoes measures the positive reviews of approved Tomatometer critics.
It should also be noted, since most people don’t rate a movie unless they like it, the scales are always rated a little high. So therefore, a movie is average at about 6.5 on a 10-point scale and 3.5 on a 5-point scale. Anything above those numbers means audiences generally liked them and below is a negatively received film.

10. Daniel Craig
Since being named James Bond in 2005, Craig’s paychecks (and name) have become increasingly larger. In 2008, Craig was in two films (one of which was a 007 movie) that both received mixed reviews and ratings.
Defeating megalomaniacs and their evil henchmen while bedding the hottest women in the most exotic locations around the globe onscreen doesn’t always mean success in the real world for the actor as can be seen in Craig’s recent filmography.

Defiance (2008)
Domestic Gross – $29 million
Worldwide Gross – $$50 million
Budget – $32 million
IMdb – 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 55%; 5.8/10
Netflix – 3.9/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Quantum of Solace (2008)
Domestic Gross – $168 million
Worldwide Gross – $586 million
Budget – $200 million
IMdb – 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 64%; 6.1/10
Netflix – 3.6/5
Box Office Mojo – B

The Golden Compass (2007)
Domestic Gross – $70 million
Worldwide Gross – $372 million
Budget – $180 million
IMdb – 6.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes –42%; 5.6/10
Netflix – 3.4/5
Box Office Mojo – C+

The Invasion (2007)
Domestic Gross – $15 million
Worldwide Gross – $40 million
Budget – $80 million
IMdb – 6/10
Rotten Tomatoes –19%; 4.3/10
Netflix – 3.2/5
Box Office Mojo – C+

9. Angelina Jolie
An Academy Award winner, humanitarian and collector of babies, Jolie is synonymous with sex appeal. It seems nearly all of her movies are geared toward her physical assets and when movie trailer voice guy says her name, the men in the audience are automatically supposed to think, “Well, I’m definitely going to see that movie if Angelina Jolie is in it.” However, getting her naked in a movie doesn’t necessarily mean box office success as Robert Zemeckis learned after releasing an animated Jolie lizard monster in 2007’s Beowulf. Since a disappointing 2007, she has rebounded and done a good job of earning her paycheck by getting people in the seats and having them leave liking what they saw.

Wanted (2008)
Domestic Gross – $135 million
Worldwide Gross – $341 million
Budget – $75 million
IMdb – 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes –72%; 6.6/10
Netflix – 3.6/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Changeling (2008)
Domestic Gross – $38 million
Worldwide Gross – $113 million
Budget – $55 million
IMdb – 8.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes –61%; 6.3/10
Netflix – 3.9/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Domestic Gross – $215 million
Worldwide Gross – $632 million
Budget – $130 million
IMdb – 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –89%; 7.2/10
Netflix – 4/5
Box Office Mojo – B+

Beowulf (2007)
Domestic Gross – $82 million
Worldwide Gross – $196 million
Budget – $150 million
IMdb – 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes –71%; 6.5/10
Netflix – 3.1/5
Box Office Mojo – B

A Mighty Heart (2007)
Domestic Gross – $9 million
Worldwide Gross – $19 million
Budget – $16 million
IMdb – 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes –77%; 6.9/10
Netflix – 3.3/5
Box Office Mojo – B-

8. George Clooney
The man who temporarily killed Batman, Clooney is a likeable guy who has slowly risen to become adored by female fans of his ER doctor role and envied by men for the coolness he portrayed in the Ocean’s series. Although Clooney is the eighth highest paid actor in Hollywood, the movies he stars in aren’t exactly blockbusters, but audiences generally like his movies (excluding Leatherheads).

Burn After Reading (2008)
Domestic Gross – $60 million
Worldwide Gross – $161 million
Budget – $37 million
IMdb – 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes –77%; 6.8/10
Netflix – 3.1/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Leatherheads (2008)
Domestic Gross – $31 million
Worldwide Gross – $41 million
Budget – $58 million
IMdb – 6.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes –52%; 5.8/10
Netflix – 3/5
Box Office Mojo – C

Michael Clayton (2007)
Domestic Gross – $49 million
Worldwide Gross – $93 million
Budget – $25 million
IMdb – 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes –90%; 7.6/10
Netflix – 3.6/5
Box Office Mojo – B

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
Domestic Gross – $117 million
Worldwide Gross – $311 million
Budget – $85 million
IMdb – 7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –69%; 6.3/10
Netflix – 3.6/5
Box Office Mojo – B

7. Reese Witherspoon
Girl-next-door-cute Reese Witherspoon has two honors on this list: being the highest-paid female in Hollywood in 2008 and being the most overpaid person in Hollywood in 2008. The two movies she made last year received awful reviews and ratings. In her defense however, for Rendition she did take a pay cut to help keep the budget low. Had she only taken it a step further with Four Christmases and bowed out completely we might have been saved another horrible holiday movie.

Four Christmases (2008)
Domestic Gross – $120 million
Worldwide Gross – $164 million
Budget – $80 million
IMdb – 5.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes –24%; 4.3/10
Netflix – 3.7/5
Box Office Mojo – B-

Rendition (2008)
Domestic Gross – $10 million
Worldwide Gross – $27 million
Budget – $27.5 million
IMdb – 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes –47%; 5.5/10
Netflix – 3.5/5
Box Office Mojo – C

Are You Kidding?

Trolling around on the Internet today I came across an article that listed 10 respectable horror movie sequels. The writer, Jeff Giles, gives his take on why he feels the sequels to Blade, Scream, Frankenstein and Alien were deemed acceptable. So be it.
Not only is Aliens one of the few sequels to rival its predecessor, but it also has the greatest sequel name of all time. Do you add a numeral on to the end of one of the greatest sci-fi horror films of all time to name the sequel? No that is too easy. So what makes sense? There is more than one alien this time, so why not add an “S” to show that the threat has been multiplied. Genius.
As for Scream 2, The Bride of Frankenstein and Blade II, I have always thought the second movie in the Scream trilogy was underrated, Frankenstein is on of my favorite movies and I love the sequel and the more I view Blade II the more I like it.
Yet, the rest of the sequels on this list are far from respectable. Giles starts right off the bat with Psycho II. Not able to say it better myself, “critics were generally less than thrilled to be revisiting a story that seemed to be wrapped up pretty neatly in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 original.” Hitchcock didn’t seem to wrap things up. He had wrapped things up. Psycho was wonderfully executed and Norman Bates was a character that had been perfectly formed by both Anthony Perkins and Hitchcock to never need further examining. He should have been left alone to rot in his padded cell at the insane asylum.
The next head scratcher is Gremlins 2: The New Batch. I get that it was supposed to be a farce on the genre of horror movies in general, but when the director who created the character of Gizmo and his wicked counterpart Gremlins returns for the sequel, you expect a sliver of similarity. The difference between Gremlins and its sequel is like the differences between Christopher Nolan and Joel Schumacher’s direction of the Batman series. It was just too much of a divergence for the audience to have a chance at enjoying it. I’m not going to say there aren’t parts to love about the Gremlins sequel, but to say it is respectable is just poppycock.
The problem with 28 Weeks Later is it starts out pretty good but quickly dumbs itself down to just another zombie thriller with good guys shooting their way through legions of the undead.
I’m not going to waste much time describing why Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn is not a respectable sequel. That is because it is a remake of the original. Director Sam Raimi may have intended for it to be a sequel, but having the exact same action and characters go through the same events with better effects doesn’t make it a sequel. That would be like having Peter Parker fight the Green Goblin a couple of years after Spider-man came out simply to cash in on better special effects (which now that I think about it, maybe that is what he was trying to do with Spider-man 3). Plus, the Evil Dead series is just too campy for me.
I haven’t seen The Devil’s Rejects or the original Dawn of the Dead, so I can’t comment on whether these stand a chance to be on Giles list.

Thoughts On Last Night’s Rangers Win

Like many Texas Rangers fans, I am new to cheering for a durable, competitive team that finds ways to win. Usually by this point in baseball season I am scouring the Internet for the latest football news to finalize my fantasy player list. Yet, I am still enthralled by what the Rangers are able to do right now, finding ways to win ballgames and stay in a wildcard (and pennant) race.
Playing the Yankees is a tough thing, especially in New York. When coaches and analysts talk about a home field advantage with the fans being that deciding factor for a game, Yankee and Red Sox fans are exactly what they mean. It is awful going into their cities to play series or even a single game. The same can be said for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
With that said, a lot of Ranger fans would be happy to win one game in the current series with the Yankees, who are playing lights out right now. I will admit, I teeter on being a realist and believing that winning one game in Yankee Stadium would be a momentous event for this team as it continues its battle to hang with the Angels, Red Sox and Rays, but I’d like to also be the eternal optimist and think that a sweep is possible.
Well, last night’s win was that momentous event fans were hoping for, and boy was it a nail biter. With a Ranger lead of 10-5, many Yankee fans had left the stadium for the night expecting a quiet end to the game. Boy, were they probably kicking themselves when they got home and watched SportsCenter.
It looked like Frank Francisco was going to give the Yankees a nice win they certainly didn’t need since they had about a seven game lead on the Red Sox. There were no outs and the boys in the pinstripes had crawled back into the game being down by one. With runners on first and second, it seemed hopeless.
Adding an additional mountain to climb for the Rangers was that half-gone Yankee fan base. The booming thunder they generated to lift their team up was deafening and could be heard over the play-by-play from Josh Lewin. I sat on my couch repeating, “I can’t believe they are going to lose this.”
But everything came together for the Rangers within a two-minute timespan. Michael Young caught a popped-up bunt and then Elvis Andrus pulled off an unassisted double play to end the game. Amazing.
This Rangers team has shown multiple times that they aren’t going to give up and neither should the fans. As I type this, Andrus made a great play to throw A-Rod out at home with a sliding groundball grab behind second base.

To bring this around to movies since that is the new focus of this blog, does anyone find it frightening that Frog from Smokey and the Bandit is the new face of osteoporosis commercials? I don’t want to think of the charming Sally Field, able to get Smokey to find a reason for taking his hat off, pushing Boniva on senior citizens to help with their bone loss. It just makes me feel old.

Greatest/Abominable Best Picture Oscar Winners According To Me

I've been working to view all the movies that have won the Academy Award for Best Picture and I have only four movies to go. Being that I love lists and I am in the mood, I have ranked my top five favorite and least liked movies that won the highest honor in Hollywood. Although I still have four movies that could creep in to the top five on either side, I will update this if I need to at a later date. However, here they are.

Favorite:
1. The Godfather
2. Casablanca
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. Gone With the Wind
5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Honorable Mention: There are plenty of movies from Braveheart and It Happened One Night to My Fair Lady and The Bridge on the River Kwai that deserve to be among the top five favorite Oscar winners, but a movie that nearly cracked my top five was On the Waterfront.


Midnight Cowboy, Tom Jones, Gigi, The English Patient and Annie Hall
Despised:
1. Midnight Cowboy
2. Tom Jones
3. Gigi
4. The English Patient
5. Annie Hall
Honorable Mention: The Deer Hunter has never excited me like it does some. The only reason it beat out Annie Hall to not be on my top five least favorite Best Picture winners was because the Russian roulette scenes are pretty thrilling. That accolade alone makes it more eventful than the bore-fest that is Annie Hall.

Sad Day

This is upsetting news for Scorcese fans. His new movie Shutter Island has been moved back from October to February.
The initial report was that financing couldn't be found to promote the film that quickly and the film's star, Leonardo DiCaprio, wouldn't be available for a promotional tour. Later it was stated the economy was to blame for the move and the movie will help with a thin 2010 slate for the company.
Whatever the reason, I am saddened by this news. I saw the preview when I went to watch District 9 and it showed extreme promise. Hopefully the extra wait will be worth it.

Summer Blockbuster Guessing Game

My wife and I have had an ongoing bet for several years now that includes the summer blockbuster movie season. We guess which film is going to bring in the most money in a nine-week time period. We combine domestic gross with foreign markets, which factors in the decision making process because some movies (such as the Harry Potter franchise) are huge overseas.
This summer was the fourth time we’ve made the bet and sadly I have yet to get a win. I’m the movie guy in the family and yet I can’t even pick the top grosser of the summer. I wouldn’t equate Joanna’s wins each year to a woman sitting down with her boyfriend while he is watching a baseball game and her rooting for the guys in the red shirts because they look nicer, but I certainly should have an edge in this competition. It would be like me making a five-course meal that would have the judges of the Next Food Network Star salivating over, despite Joanna being the master of the kitchen.
The previous summers I have received every kind of defeat possible. I’ve come within millions of winning but also I have seen a blowout of epic proportions, thanks to Nolan’s success with The Dark Knight. The following are our earlier bets and how I came out.

2006:
Joanna – X-Men: The Last Stand – $459 million
Matt – Superman Returns – $391 million
Biggest Moneymaker – The Da Vinci Code – $758 million

2007:
Joanna – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $960 million
Matt – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – $938 million
Biggest Moneymaker – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $960 million

2008:
Joanna – The Dark Knight – $948.5 million
Matt – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – $748 million
Biggest Moneymaker – The Dark Knight – $948.5 million

Our 2009 bet includes Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Although it is not yet complete, it is looking like I will get my first victory in our annual guessing game. Yea, go me!

Has A Remake Ever Been Better Than Its Predecessor?

One of the biggest complaints from moviegoers recently is the lack of fresh ideas coming out of Hollywood. It seems that for every new film that gets made, an additional four are done that are either remakes, reboots or revisions of a previous movie or television show.
I wanted to take a look at some of the more recent remakes and see how they measured up to their original predecessor. Now, when I went to research this topic, my trusty friend Wikipedia found hundreds of titles that are considered remakes. If I tried to cover every movie that’s been redone and shown to a modern audience I would either kill myself halfway into the project, or you would kill yourself halfway through reading about it. So we will just stick to a few guidelines. I only picked movies that are enough well known that a major star was attached to the picture or most people could figure out one of the movies made when given the plot. I’m also not considering conversions from foreign markets (excluding the UK) like Japan’s The Seven Samurai to America’s The Magnificent Seven or Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs to our The Departed.
Here is a list of all the movies recently remade that were either complete failures or forgotten 20 minutes after being released. I have made notes beside some of the movies mentioned.

3:10 to Yuma (1957) made as 3:10 to Yuma (2007) – The only great thing about the remake is the poster of a train seen underneath the legs of a cowboy. It’s a very cool shot. And what is with the Luke Wilson cameo out of nowhere?
Alfie (1966) made as Alfie (2004)
All the King’s Men (1949) made as All the King’s Men (2006) – The first version won an Oscar for Best Picture but both are equally boring.
The Amityville Horror (1979) made as The Amityville Horror (2005)
The Bad News Bears (1976) made as Bad News Bears (2005)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) made as The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
Get Carter (1971) made as Get Carter (2001) – The original is considered one of the best British gangster films of all time, so why mess with greatness.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) made as Guess Who (2005)
Hairspray (1988) made as Hairspray (2007) – Four words will settle this: John Travolta in drag. Enough said.
Halloween (1978) made as Halloween (2007) – I don’t need to know why Michael Meyers is a killer and I don’t need obligatory gore to be scared. Just give me suspense.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers made as The Invasion
King Kong (1933) made as King Kong (2005) – While Peter Jackson’s remake is good, it doesn’t compete with the original.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) made as The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Omen (1976) made as The Omen (2006)
Planet of the Apes (1968) made as Planet of the Apes (2001) – Tim Burton’s remake is almost always mentioned in conversations of bad remakes. It just doesn’t make any sense.
The Poseidon Adventure (1972) made as Poseidon (2006)
Psycho (1960) made as Psycho (1998) – Making a movie shot-for-shot of the previous one doesn’t impress me.
Rear Window (1954) made as Disturbia (2007)
Shaft (1971) made as Shaft (2001)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) made as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
The War of the Worlds (1953) made as War of the Worlds (2005)
The Wicker Man (1973) made as The Wicker Man (2006) – Could anything be worse than the remake. I nearly walked out of this one and that would have been a first.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) made as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) – Another Tim Burton remake that didn’t come close to its original.

I’d be surprised if you made it through that long list, but if you did then congratulations. It makes you wonder if any remake has ever been better than its original. Well, here are a few that do (and might) make that list:
Ben-Hur (1925) made as Ben-Hur (1959) – A little unfair considering the second was made after talkies were introduced, but nonetheless.
Cape Fear (1962) made as Cape Fear (1991) – I prefer the first, but some believe Robert De Niro’s performance alone makes the remake superior.
The Italian Job (1969) made as The Italian Job (2003)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) made as The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – This one is interesting in that it was directed by the same master of suspense: Alfred Hitchcock.
The Mummy (1932) made as The Mummy (1999) – This one depends on if you prefer action to suspense.
Ocean’s Eleven (1960) made as Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Upcoming Movies Worth Considering

Summer is nearly over and along with students and teachers moaning about having to go back to school, it is also upsetting for me because most of the really great summer blockbusters have come and gone.
Up, Star Trek and Harry Potter were all really great movies. Terminator Salvation, while getting a lukewarm reception from fans and critics alike, at least took the series in a different direction than robot is sent back in time, tries to kill human, human/robot is sent back to protect human, Judgment Day sucks for all mankind. The really awful movies that still made a boatload of cash were X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. From everything that trailers and advertisements are showing, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is likely going to join that last group of garbage.
But we’re not here for an outlook of the depressing future of films. We want something to look forward to as we roll into the final months of the year. Here is a preview of some of the more exciting prospects Hollywood has to offer.
August 14 – District 9: The producer and director of this movie were brilliant to go with a documentary style of filmmaking, especially when the trailer is presented as a hard-hitting feature that focuses on a South African government harboring a group of outsiders on the country’s dime. Interviews with locals talk about how they don’t like them and they don’t want them around. Things get really interesting though when it is revealed that the outsiders aren’t illegal aliens in the sense of Mexicans crossing the Rio Grande, but rather illegal aliens crossing the Milky Way to land on Earth. With each new commercial that is aired I get more eager to see this movie. It doesn’t hurt the chances of this movie being great in that Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is one of the producers.
August 21 – Inglorious Basterds: I will say that I don’t trust Quentin Tarantino any more. Sure, he wrote and directed Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. They are both great movies from the 90s, but that’s just it. They were made in the 1990s. He hasn’t been associated with anything relevant or interesting for 15 years. And if you say Kill Bill was any good then you’re an idiot. It was mindless violence that wouldn’t stand up to a B-rated samurai flick from 1950s Japan. With all that said, I will say Tarantino’s latest movie, a World War II picture starring Brad Pitt, Eli Roth and Diane Kruger, looks to not only be entertaining but also in the vein of great war/action flicks from the 60s like The Dirty Dozen and The Guns of Navarone. For me, Tarantino is on a short leash and this is either going to make or break his entire career. If it’s a hit then I’ll concede that he’s still got it, but if it fails then it will further prove he was a flash-in-the-pan guy who rose too high, too fast.
September 9 – 9: Despite the cheesy promotion they are going with by releasing this movie on 9/9/09, everything about this movie looks good to me. You might have seen a preview with little burlap bag characters using sporks and other utensils to fight giant mechanical creatures (no, I’m not talking about Transformers). The action takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where mankind has disappeared, likely being killed off by the industrial monsters it created. The movie is likely a prequel to a short film by the same name and done by the same director, Shane Acker. Voice talent includes Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer and Crispin Glover.
September 25 – The Invention of Lying: What if everyone in the world always told the truth. Besides a lot of hurt feelings from some of the honest things said, I imagine it would be a pretty boring place. So to spice things up, have one guy create the first-ever lie and see what ensues. And to make things even more interesting, have that one guy be the person who created The Office (the original one from the UK) and the little-known HBO show Extras. I guarantee you this will be some laugh-out-loud comedy throughout that will be like the opposite of Jim Carrey’s Liar, Liar: the jokes will actually be funny, stupid faces will be kept to a minimum and the morality won’t be completely shoved down our throats for the final 30 minutes of the picture.
October 2 – Shutter Island: Never heard of this movie before? Well, all you need to know is Martin Scorsese is directing and Leonardo DiCaprio is starring in this crime drama. DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play U.S. Marshals who chase after a psychotic killer that escapes from a mental institution. Scorsese finally won his first directing Oscar after 2006’s The Departed, starring DiCaprio, and the two also had success in 2004 with The Aviator. All things considered, this should be a hit for the duo.
October 16 – Where the Wild Things Are: When thinking of children’s books made into live-action movies, your memories most likely go to flops like Jim Carrey’s Cat in the Hat or the Jason Lee starring Alvin and the Chipmunks. So hearing that a movie would be made out of Where the Wild Things Are didn’t have me giving much more than a disinterested shrug, however, when I saw the preview a couple of weeks ago I was stunned to actually find myself emotionally invested in the trailer. Director Spike Jonze, while worshiped by many, has never been that appealing to me, but I will certainly give him a chance if this turns out to be anything close to what the trailer shows it could be.
October 16 – The Road: I dig post-apocalyptic flicks like The Road Warrior and 28 Days Later, so this Viggo Mortenson starring vehicle is intriguing to me. The story follows a father and son as they travel alone through a ravaged America. It is cold and dark and the duo is searching for a warmer climate to the south, but they don’t know what awaits them. All they carry is a pistol, the clothes on their backs and a shopping cart of scavenged food. The film also stars Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron, who both have shown flashes of talent over the years.
November 6 – A Christmas Carol: The only thing that interests me about A Christmas Carol is seeing how far the technology used in 2004’s Polar Express has come. When Robert Zemeckis first started using the computer motion-capture equipment, what was seen of Tom Hanks was much creepier than that old stop-motion Christmas movie with Rudolph from 1964. It got a bit better in 2007’s Beowulf, but still was too odd looking to give the viewer a sense of security while watching. The entire time I am thinking about the animation and not the story. Hopefully things have progressed to where the story can be told without the technology being a hindrance, but I guess if you’re going to pick a movie that the viewer might not pay attention to plot then it’s a good thing the filmmakers decided on a story that has been filmed about a thousand times.
November 13 – 2012: Roland Emmerich has pretty much covered every possible disaster from the world freezing over and a giant lizard monster attacking New York to aliens invading our skies. So to spice things up he is combining every possible ecological catastrophe available into one movie. Nothing new to see here, but it will still make $200 million.
November 13 – The Fantastic Mr. Fox: It’s sort of odd that some of the best and most original movies are animated. Pixar is showing us that great movies can be made with animation. With the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Michael Gambon, Angelica Huston, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman under the direction of Wes Anderson, who helmed The Royal Tenenbaums, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, this should be quite enjoyable.
November 20 – The Twilight Saga: New Moon: I haven’t read these books. I don’t comprehend the fad. From all the things I’ve heard about this series it is utter garbage, but the women who follow it don’t care. Personally, I need my vampires to be a little more villainous and less sparkly.
December 11 – The Princess and the Frog: I am hoping for the old-style magic of Disney to come back in this 2D film set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the Jazz Age. Disney hasn’t made a classic, let alone good, animated movie since 1994’s The Lion King. Disney’s latest attempt at another animated classic is the story of the frog prince with a twist that when the princess kisses the frog to change him back into a prince she instead transforms into a frog as well. The film includes a voodoo villain and the first-ever black princess in Disney’s collection.
December 18 – Avatar: I know nothing about this movie except that it is James Cameron returning to sci-fi and he waited to make this until the technology caught up to his imagination. I don’t want to know anything else. I saw some artwork from the movie, and while it didn’t knock my socks off, I am combining that information with the little bit of news that occasionally is reported about how amazing it is going to be. I believe in James Cameron and am confident he can deliver another huge success on the level that is Aliens, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
December 25 – Sherlock Holmes: Hollywood constantly tries to shape movies into shallow, generic things that will offend the least number of people in their homes of appealing to the widest audience possible. It just makes sense from a business point of view. So why shouldn’t they dumb things down when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. Instead of the brainy sleuth who battles the criminal element with his wit and cunning, Robert Downy Jr. and Guy Ritchie have decided to turn the most famous detective into a lover, a fighter and an adventurer who leaps out of windows and gets handcuffed to beds naked. Instead of building to a climactic “the butler did it” moment at the end of the movie, Ritchie will use the star power of Downey Jr., the beauty of Rachel McAdams and the charm of Jude Law to beat us into submission with a Lock, Stock, and Snatch style of movie throughout. It will be great, it just won’t be the Holmes I know from the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Favorite Films By Decade

I have listed the top movie from each decade starting in 1910 that I most enjoy. Keep in mind that while almost all of these movies are critical and box-office hits, they are not necessarily the best the decade has to offer. They are simply my personal favorites.
To give credit where credit is due, I got this idea from the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons.
Along with each favorite movie, I have included some close runners-up that I felt needed some deserved praise.
Now on with the list:
1910-1919: Birth of a Nation (1915) – While other countries were making films that were multiple reels long, America’s Hollywood was sticking to short, one-reel wonders. D.W. Griffith’s Civil War epic showed local moviegoers that stories could be woven among numerous movie reels and still hold our attention for more than 12 minutes. This is the film that changed movie making in Hollywood like Citizen Kane did three decades later. Honorable Mention: Intolerance (1916)
1920-1929: Metropolis (1927) – You will see when you get to the other titles given honorable mention in this decade that the best directors of this decade were not in America. Metropolis is a story that tackles a serious issue of the working poor vs. the prosperous capitalist owners and put it to a science fiction theme. It has great visuals and is a classic in silent film cinema. Honorable Mention: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligeri (1920), Nosferatu (1922).
1930-1939: King Kong (1933) – The 1930s and 1940s are considered the Golden Age of filmmaking, and from the list of movies to choose from for my favorite from these two decades it is easy to see why. A 9-year-old child watching the 1933 classic King Kong today would probably think he could do a better job of special effects and stop motion photography, but at the time it was akin to today’s animation in a Pixar film and the Star Wars prequel CGI. I could watch Kong and original scream queen Fay Wray hours upon end because it illustrates the creativity Hollywood had to use before computers. Honorable Mention: Frankenstein (1931), Gone With the Wind (1939)
1940-1949: Casablanca (1942) – This film has everything: drama, comedy, romance, songs and it’s all set during World War II, adding another genre. The chemistry among all the actors from Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Raines on down to Paul Henreid, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Conrad Veidt and Dooley Wilson. The dialogue and cinematography is some of the best you will find in film, with iconic quotes and shots having become a part of pop culture. I can safely say this film is about as perfect as it gets. Honorable Mention: The Great Dictator (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1942), The Third Man (1949)
1950-1959: The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – This is likely the most obscure film on this list. A dark, methodical crime drama that shows the inner-workings of planning and executing a heist, The Asphalt Jungle is outstanding in its storytelling and acting. If you are into movies like Heat and The Italian Job, then check this out and the payoff will be worth it. Honorable Mention: On the Waterfront (1954), North by Northwest (1959)
1960-1969: From Russia With Love (1963) – Of course I am going to have a Bond movie somewhere on this list. Its utilization of fewer gadgets lets Bond use his wits rather than an Omega watch with built-in laser. There are twists and turns throughout the film, which begins during the first Bond pre-title sequence where our hero is hunted down by a homicidal assassin, fabulously played by Robert Shaw. I enjoy this film more than the formulaic Bond movie because it is more authentic than any other film in the series. Honorable Mention: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
1970-1979: The Godfather (1972) – This is the quintessential mafia movie. It is the litmus test of other gangster flicks. From the first glimpse of the title being held up by a puppeteer to the final scene of Diane Keaton having the door closed on her to hide a meeting between the other family, you are shown the greatest thing ever put to celluloid. Every time I watch The Godfather I want to start it over and watch it again. Honorable Mention: The Godfather: Part II (1974); Jaws (1975); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
1980-1989: Back to the Future (1985) – From a pure entertainment point of view, this and From Russia With Love are my two favorite movies to watch. The amount of quotable lines from this movie is endless. I sometimes even find myself walking around just saying them out loud, with no context whatsoever. I’m sure when I am mumbling, “Save the clock tower! Save the clock tower!” it gets me a few quizzical looks from passersby. My brother and I wore this movie’s videocassette out at our house when we were younger. Another great aspect of this movie is that it doesn’t lose value from its sequels. Despite the third movie not being near what number one and two are, all three mesh together very well for a quality trilogy. Honorable Mention: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
1990-1999: Saving Private Ryan (1998) – This movie was robbed at the Academy Awards of a Best Picture Oscar. There is no way if voting was held again on all the movies from that year that Shakespeare in Love would beat out this superior work. Although the scenes tacked on to the beginning and end seem a little cheesy, they are perfect bookends to what is – in my humble opinion – the greatest war movie ever made. The 20-minute storming of Normandy rocked moviegoers and proved that war really was hell in those days. Beautiful cinematography, well-paced storytelling, and exceptional performances from every actor makes this movie a must see for any fan of film. Honorable Mention: Forrest Gump (1994); Swingers (1996)
2000-2009: The Incredibles (2004) – I discovered in my mid- to late-20s that I was a comic book geek. I had a small stash of comic books when I was a kid, but I wasn’t really into the whole scene of waiting outside the store for the latest edition of Spider-man or Superman. However, once the genre blew up in movie theaters in the late 1990s I was scouring Wikipedia wanting to know all about these characters I was watching. Then Pixar came along with their superhero family. The greatness of Pixar has been well documented and it would be a waste of time to go into great detail about what makes their movies superior to everyone else’s. Let’s just say Pixar makes movies for themselves and their fans. They don’t do it for advertising dollars. The Incredibles is my favorite of the Pixar movies, not because it is the best, but because it leaves me laughing and entertained every time I watch it. Edna Mode alone is worth coming back for more. Honorable Mention: Finding Nemo (2003); The Dark Knight (2008)

Top Movie Studios Of 2008

One of the biggest film industry surprises in 2008 was The Dark Knight (a widely revered film by both critics and fans) breaking the billion-dollar mark after about 30 weeks in theaters. Since Warner Bros. made a killing off the superhero in 2008, I was interested to know how that company, along with several others, made out for the year. The following are some numbers to make your head spin that calculate how much money the top 10 production companies grossed last year.
The entire film industry grossed $9.63 billion in 2008, with nearly half of that going to Warner Bros., Paramount and Sony/Columbia.
Thanks mostly in part to The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. grossed $1.767 billion, or 18.4 percent of the market share. Paramount was close behind with $1.577 billion (16.4 percent) and Sony/Columbia rounded out the top three grossing $1.267 billion (13.2 percent).
Universal — which is owned by NBC — grossed 11 percent of the market share, receiving 1.054 billion. The last two companies to receive more than a billion each were 20th Century Fox ($1.014 billion) and Buena Vista ($1.011 billion). Both grossed approximately 10.5 percent of the market share.
Rounding out the top 10 were Lionsgate ($436 million, 4.5 percent), Summit Entertainment ($226 million, 2.4 percent), Fox Searchlight (214 million, 2.2 percent) and MGM/UA (160 million, 1.7 percent).
All of this is great, but what does it really mean? Well, if you look at each production company’s slate of movies released, studios like Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox and MGM/UA don’t really come off as well as they might originally have looked. Keep in mind that the rule of thumb for movie making is a film has to gross approximately twice its budget to break even, but that is combining both domestic and international box office money. So although production companies might make more than a billion dollars in one year, their profits don’t necessarily show that they had a great year.
Take Lionsgate for example. It came in as the seventh highest grossing company earning $436 million, but it also released 19 films in 2008. Paramount tracked 17 movies in 2008 — three of which were released in 2007 and the gross from those films were taken from a certain amount of weeks after its initial release — and made nearly four times as much money. Per film, Lionsgate made $22.95 million for 2008. Paramount grossed approximately $92.76 million in the same amount of time.
Lionsgate wasn’t the lowest performing movie studio in 2008, however, MGM/UA earned somewhere between $9-13 million per picture.
As daunting as these figures are, I’m not even taking into account what the budgets for each film were, so really Lionsgate and MGM/UA might have made movies on shoestring budgets while Paramount lost money on every single one of its movies because of blockbuster budgets that didn’t ever pay off, but that is unlikely.
Maybe one of these days I’ll do the extra work and figure out exactly who was the big winner for 2008, but since I’m exhausted after all of this I’m just going to pretend that since The Dark Knight kicked butt both monetarily and literally this past year, Warner Bros. is the big winner. Warner Bros. wins. Now let’s go down to the Dresden and be all happy that some girl is wearing a backpack.

Why I’m A Fan Of James Bond

For those who love movies, there are certain milestone moments in life that cinema gives us. It might be the first flick a person was watching when they made it to second base. Maybe for you it is when a special effect or CGI innovation makes your eyes bug out and you can’t hold back a “wow” in the theater.
For me I have a few highlights in cinema. Take for example the animated/live action classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit? That is the movie I saw the most times in theaters (13 if you were wondering). Like many other 1993 summer moviegoers, Steven Spielberg made me believe dinosaurs could be resurrected from millions of years of extinction with fossilized mosquitoes and frog DNA because of the realism his effects portrayed in Jurassic Park.
When I was 17 I had another one of these moments that involved my cinematic hero, James Bond.
While working at a video store in high school, my coworker and I had a pretty slow summer afternoon shift and we discussed watching a movie (which was a no-no with corporate management). After bouncing around some ideas of movies to watch, we settled on starting with Dr. No and watching all the films in the series every time we had a shift together. A couple of hours later I was leaving work and with me were From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice.
I have never been so hooked on something so fast before. I had a new shiny toy and I wanted to play with it until its batteries died or Daddy took it away because I wouldn’t come to the dinner table.
Within a matter of days I had watched every James Bond movie available and was already on my way to purchasing the entire series on video (yes, this was way back in the day of the VCR).
Although at times (and certainly with the reboot of 2007’s Casino Royale) the series’ creators throw a curve ball at the audience to keep things fresh, the James Bond movies pretty much follow a formula that has been laid out since From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. You know exactly what you are going to get from a 007 picture, but that is sort of what makes me love the series even more.
The elements are always there: action, a dashing leading man, beautiful women, megalomaniac villains, gadgets, fast cars, exotic locales, henchmen with a distinctive characteristic and sidekicks who play the sacrificial lamb. Also, you can almost always rely on a scene or two with your favorite MI6 allies in the forms of M, Moneypenny and Q.
This repetition bothers some people who think the series is played out and should be put down for lack of originality, but every entry in the series brings something new to cinemagoers, whether it is a fresh take on how to hold the world ransom or simply a new stunt that excites the audience like never before. James Bond is going to win in the end and the credits usually scroll as our favorite British spy has his arms locked around some international beauty. I don’t go to the theater or buy the DVDs to be surprised by Bond. No, I go because I want to live vicariously through this man and his over-the-top, out-of-this-world, no fear lifestyle.
Just think that if James Bond were a real man, he would have contracted a venereal disease with one of his many partners, smoke and drunk himself a tumor or died by the third or fourth adventure because bad guys in the real world don’t invite their rivals to dinner.
So why would we want James Bond to be a realistic character? Real spies don’t drive fancy cars or wear tuxedos. They sneak around offices and organizations obtaining information from e-mails and late-night rendezvous. Occasionally gunplay is involved I’m sure (I don’t really know because the CIA won’t get back to me about my application), but in general it is a pretty low-profile occupation that involves high risk and very low reward.
Have I covered anything that hasn’t already been said before? Not really. We all know who James Bond is. We know the routine going into the theater. That doesn’t mean though that the ride isn’t still going to be fun.

Pixar's Up Raises Standards In Animated Storytelling

Go see Up! Right now! I'm not joking. It is awesome. I won't even go into detail about what was great about it. The only minor complaint from me would be the weak villain. He was menacing. He was cruel. But he also seemed to be played out before in other animated (and live-action) films prior to this masterpiece. Initially I gave Pixar's 10th movie a 10 out of 10, but I am reconsidering it a nine with the weak antagonist.
Overall though, it is incredible. Great storytelling. Visually stunning. Funny, sweet and genuine all in one. My updated rankings of all the Pixar films (who have made one great movie after another) are as follows:

1. The Incredibles
2. Toy Story
3. Finding Nemo
4. Up
5. WALL•E
6. Ratatouille
7. Monsters, Inc.
8. Toy Story 2
9. A Bug's Life
10. Cars

Small Mistakes Lead To Big Issues

I came to the realization at a young age that people learn and retain valuable life lessons through experience rather than from being told by authority figures what not to do.
I believe it was after I stuck a paperclip in an electrical socket – subsequently sending a five-minute numbing effect through my arm up to my shoulder – that I finally figured out that I need to pay attention to the warnings my parents, teachers and other elders were trying to give me to avoid such events. Nevermind the fact that I learned all of this at 16 years old and could have saved myself a very worthwhile lesson earlier in my existence.
When I was 13 I spent a Sunday afternoon with my brother and his friend – Nick – playing in a field next to Nick’s house. In this field was an abandoned barn that we were told was never used and would be torn down some day.
Since we saw no harm in playing in the barn, we decided to light hay on fire and watch it burn. My only explanation for this is that in all honesty, pretty much every little boy is a pyromaniac at heart.
However, in our defense, we were the most cautious pre-teen pyromaniacs possible. The three of us would light a pile of hay, watch it burst up into a ball of flame and once it quickly singed to a crisp we would powder the ashes with dirt to make sure all the heat was smothered and no smoke remained. It was a dangerous way to kill an hour, but we thought we had controlled all the variables.
Well, about eight hours later while my brother and the rest of my family were watching “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” we received a phone call with the distressing news. The barn we were playing in was now a smoldering heap of burnt wood.
Apparently, one of the boys involved (I will keep his name private for reputation’s sake) had put a match that failed to light when struck inside a cabinet in the barn. The city’s fire chief told the three of us the fire had initially started in the vicinity of where the cabinet was placed, which was the spot where only one match had been put. The rest of the matches were burnt up in each individual little ball of flame they caused.
Another thing we were told when being somewhat scolded about our actions (albeit rightfully scolded) was that while the fire department was putting out the fire caused by our childish antics, two elderly people had suffered some sort of medical conditions needing the department’s assistance and a fire alarm had gone off at some commercial building in town.
The three of us felt ashamed for what we had done. We were relieved to find out later that the two people who were hospitalized had been released and our actions had not had any fatal consequences.
The reason I have relayed this humiliating and life-forming story from my youth to you is this: don’t let laziness or immaturity cause you to make a mistake during the county’s burn ban. Let the Ellis County Commissioners’ Court figure out the best time to lift the burn ban so no unnecessary wildfires are started.

Finally In The Holiday Spirit

I recently attended what I thought would be a recital for a friend of mine to see him sing some Christmas selections, which turned out to not only be something different, but an evening of holiday cheer and fun.
My friend, Wes, is a senior in high school. He is a member of the show choir, and during all the times he has talked of this group I apparently had no idea what he was talking about because when I finally saw him perform last weekend I was blown away at how much detail goes into a show for them.
When I heard show choir, I just thought he meant the choir that shows their talent around different schools, but come to find out it meant they put on a dazzling performance with singing and dancing. The event was their Christmas dinner theater and it not only corrected my thinking of what show choir is, but it also got me in the holiday spirit of giving, joy and all that cheerful stuff.
The most entertaining moment for my fiancée from the evening’s festivities was watching the male performers dance 17 centimeters away from my face due to the fact that my chair was placed in the aisle. It wouldn’t have been near as awkward if some of the quick-footed, constant-smiling singers were females, but I not once ever had that opportunity because it was always a male waving his jazz hands in my face.
They weren’t trying to be obnoxious by any means. They just didn’t have a lot of space to work with and my chair happened to be right on the edge of the dancing area.
Since the discomfort I felt of having these teenage boys performing their joyous music in my personal space was not my favorite moment of the night, I will let you know what it was. What I found most appealing was the music selection. Each song they performed reminded me of a holiday moment in my past that I have always held dear.
“Santa Baby” is a tune that each time I hear reminds me of elementary school. When I was in my formative grade school years, the local junior high choir would come to our campus every December to sing some Christmas songs as practice for their upcoming holiday program. What I always enjoyed most about these visits was when they would sing “Santa Baby.” Four female singers would pick a sixth grade boy out of the crowd (usually a sibling of one of the choir members; it always pays to know somebody) and then put on a borderline promiscuous show with the sixth grader being Santa Claus. The thing was very tame by today’s standards, but I’m sure some uptight parent eventually complained because the number has since been discontinued for unnamed reasons.
Other favorite songs I enjoyed from Wes’ program were “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “White Christmas” and “Carol of the Bells.” These songs always make me think of Christmas movies I watch every December. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” is from “Elf,” which is one of my top five holiday movies. “White Christmas” being from the identically titled film starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney. “Carol of the Bells,” heard in several holiday films, reminds me personally of “Home Alone,” a staple in any 1990s family video collection that had children who weren’t deaf, dumb or blind.
Thanks to Wes and his group of merry singers, I am now in the holiday spirit, which couldn’t have come sooner because my family moved Christmas up on me to the Saturday before Jesus blows out his birthday candles.

On Target And On Time

Working for a community newspaper I have received all sorts of complaints.
Some criticism has been in the way people feel I report the news, which is sometimes amusing because I get complaints from both sides of a news story that I was biased against them. At times grievances are made against the subject matter in what I have reported and other times I get angry phone calls in what I have failed to report.
I received a call just like that last example about a week ago regarding an Ennis native who became a very successful businessman. The woman who called proceeded to tell me how our publication had missed big time concerning the accomplishments of Ed Whitacre since he branched out from this quaint community.
She told me that Whitacre had graduated from Texas Tech University and held the position of CEO of AT&T until his retirement at the age of 65. She sounded very proud of what Whitacre had done and the recognition he had brought to Ennis as the head of a powerful and well-known company.
She went on to explain the Ennis Daily News was apparently famous for not focusing on local folks who make a name for themselves outside the city limits. I patiently waited my turn to speak and once I had taken my lashing I began my rebuttal. I explained that our publication features stories about Ennis natives in every issue. Only a few days before her phone call we ran two stories on the same front page about Kendra Thomas, an author who grew up in Ennis and had recently published a book, and Alfred Bennett, a 1983 Ennis High School graduate who had recently been elected as district judge in Harris County. We were so impressed by these two people in fact that we ran an editorial the same day titled “Local graduates making it big” highlighting the accomplishments of these two individuals and the many others like them who make Ennis’ generous and giving reputation better known by achieving great things outside of this community.
The caller’s reply to the fact that two feature stories focusing on Ennis natives had just run the same day was that Thomas and Bennett were young people. Bennett is in his early 40s, and Whitacre was an older gentleman. When an Ennis native achieves success, we think it’s worth mentioning, regardless of their age.
After looking at our newspapers since speaking with this woman I have seen stories that cover a local teacher who received the Dallas Ecological Foundation’s 2009 Educator of the Year Award, a local musician playing at Carnegie Hall, an Ennis soldier who will be spending Thanksgiving with his family in their new home in Japan and a local musician who has released his first album.
I politely told the woman on the line we were sorry for missing the opportunity to cover a story that featured a man who grew up in Ennis and had made great strides in the business world. She continued to tell me we missed big, which seemingly was her big sticking point. I made one more sincere apology and told her nobody was perfect. We would try to get all the feature stories we could, but no one gets them all.
The woman hung up the line, and I realized I had never gotten her name. I wish I had, because later my publisher found an article our newspaper published in May of 2007 about Mr. Whitacre, who at that time had announced he would be retiring from AT&T. It turns out that we do so many stories about local folks, I can’t remember them all. I wish I could have told the caller that we didn’t “miss big,” we were just a year-and-a-half ahead of her on this one.
We couldn’t do our jobs without the help of our readers who provide us with leads and great story ideas. We appreciate those tips and if it turns out we do miss a story, we can only promise to try to do better. In the meantime, keep those story ideas coming.

High Expectations Are Bringing Me Down

I have learned a tough lesson these seven weeks of football season: don’t set your hopes too high. I’m not going to rag on the Dallas Cowboys or attempt to dissect what is wrong with this team right now, but I am going to jot down some thoughts about how disappointing the past few weeks have been watching my favorite team’s Super Bowl-caliber talent spiraling downward.
Prior to the preseason and during training camp I followed the latest news about Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Marion Barber, DeMarcus Ware and other studs. The most common-heard prediction regarding this team led by a coach and a quarterback who have never won a playoff game between the two of them was the regular season was simply a formality that the Boys would have to sit through while they waited to find out who their competition would be from the AFC in the big game. Watching America’s Team on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” only helped build up my anticipation for what glory was to come for this group. I overlooked every mistake during the preseason, chalking it up to rustiness and told myself – like many fans are still saying – that it didn’t matter what happened at the beginning of the season, only how a team is performing at the end. And then reality started to creep in, with signs like Owens supposed complaining of not getting the ball enough, Romo’s misguided passes falling short of their target and stupid penalty after stupid penalty costing the team costly yardage. These things created a wave of anxiety growing higher and higher until the disappointing loss in Arizona, numerous injuries to key players and the Pacman suspension entirely crushed any dreams I had of Romo and Head Coach Wade Phillips proving this team was the ultimate powerhouse in the NFL.
I think it was highly unfair for everyone in the media and my close circle of friends to convince me that this team was going to have a cakewalk to Tampa Bay, which is where the Super Bowl is being held for those who don’t know or care.
I’ve made a personal decision that I think is for the best. It may sound misguided and lazy, but I think it is for the best. What I’ve decided to do is no longer set any expectations for any of my teams. The Cowboys no longer will be penciled in my mind for the Super Bowl. The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars are going to have to prove throughout the season and the playoffs that they are worthy of my hopes for a championship season. And when it comes to the Texas Rangers, my confidence in a win is going to be based on a game-by-game basis.
I think a lot more people should take this route. I’m not promoting the idea to have no goals. In fact, if you have more than just a vested interest in something as menial as a sports team’s performance then please, by all means, set goals for yourself. Have some ambition.
However, rooting for a losing team shouldn’t send you into such a frenzy that your anger is taken out on your family (or the television set) or you end up not being able to perform properly at work the next day.
So summing this up: goals good, high hopes bad. That concludes today’s lesson in how the Dallas Cowboys are ruining my week. Good day.

Daughter Update

I don't have anything major to announce or anything, but I did want to put into writing how awesome I think Emery is. Everything she does is precious in my eyes. She could breathe fireballs and I would still dote on her.
She attended her cousins' joint birthday party yesterday with a petting zoo, and I enjoyed every second she walked around the gate quickly petting any animal within arm's length and riding the pony that was available. My favorite things Emery did though was constantly trying to climb the gate (which her mom says is very normal for that child) and always sticking her tongue out. She looked like a female, white, short version of Michael Jordan when her tongue was hanging out of her mouth. Absolutely adorable.
Sorry if this post bores you as I go on about my kid, but I don't do it enough on this blog.

Obsessive Or Just A Really Big Fan?

Where’s the line drawn between a person holding on to a harmless souvenir and a sick obsession that borders on psychosis?
I was playing on my fiancée’s computer the other night, setting my lineup for fantasy football and checking on different entertainment/sports-related news, when I heard on the TV a preview for what Joanna (my fiancée) was about to start watching. The show was one of Rachel Ray’s nine shows where she has guest stars on to interview while whatever pot roast is in the oven stops cooking. If I had to guess I would say it was “30-minute meals,” but that is a complete shot in the dark.
The clips from the program indicated New Kids on the Block would be her guest for the day, which could be the topic of an entirely new column about why they shouldn’t still be relevant in the year 2008, but let’s stick to the topic at hand. I really wasn’t paying much attention at this point, but when it was announced the Older New Kids Who Have Been Around the Block a Couple of Times would make an appearance screams could be heard and I looked up to see what the ruckus was all about.
By the time I started actually watching the clip it showed a female audience member holding a half-empty water bottle stating it belonged to one of the New Kids singers from the first time they were making music and touring. I believe her exact words were, “I’ve held on to this bottle for 15 years!” She is at about a level 3 on the scale of crazy, only a few steps away from harassing, stalking and then shooting at presidents in hopes of making a good impression.
So why do we believe keeping a water bottle with traces of a boy band singer’s saliva is crossing a line that can lead to meeting with a psychologist two times a week, but it is okay to put a baseball hit foul in a case surrounded by foam fingers proclaiming your team as number one and cheap felt pennants you bought from a street vendor?
Both of these items have absolutely no value in the free market economy other than as a used baseball and water bottle. Outside of sentimentality for whatever memento you happen to possess, souvenirs from concerts, sporting events, celebrity meetings and other milestone moments in our existence are pretty useless.
Some people are considered the ultimate fans because they were able to get their hands on the glove of a baseball legend, while others are looked at as borderline crazy for sneaking into a person’s dressing room to snatch an actress’ shoes. Nearly everyone has done something like this at some point. You might hold on to a program from a Broadway show you attended in New York for 30 years and that is simply a piece of nostalgia, but take a program from the same show that you got after seeing the lead actor throw it in the lobby’s trash and you’re labeled crazy.
I don’t have the answer to what crosses the line of insanity when it comes to collecting memorabilia, but what I do know is that the telltale signs of mental illness include photo collages on your apartment wall lit by a single red bulb hanging from the middle of the room, sleeping with an item clutched in your fist so as to not let anyone get hold of your precious material and believing a celebrity has a deep personal relationship with you despite never having met one another.

Paul Newman A New Man In Every Role

If you have yet to hear about the death of Paul Newman, you most likely won’t be interested in what’s to come.
My mom’s favorite actor of all time, Newman succumbed to a long battle with cancer on Friday at his Connecticut home. His long list of accomplishments and accolades range from Oscar, Tony and Emmy nominations to being ranked as one of the sexiest men in film history and even a “God Among Men.”
Despite many video montages and written tributes already released in remembrance of Newman’s filmography and life, I will go ahead and list my favorite films from Newman’s career.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid:
Not just my favorite Newman movie, this is possibly my favorite Western. It is hard to identify my favorite cowboy movie of all time, but this film is hands down the winner as the most enjoyable of all Newman’s work. His good-humored banter with Robert Redford is classic. Newman’s dialogue is perfectly delivered giving the exact emotional tone necessary for the scene. It really doesn’t get much better than this when you’re looking for quality Paul Newman.

The Hustler:
This quiet, well-paced drama about an up-and-coming pool player who plays in a high-stakes game for the sole purpose of respect offers more than just a great Newman character. It also highlights the greatness of Jackie Gleason as Newman’s “fat” opponent and George C. Scott as a slimy manager. This is very cliché to say, but they don’t make movies like The Hustler anymore.

The Sting:
Another outstanding Newman/Redford film, this movie won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Score. Newman stars as a veteran conman who teams up with Redford to swindle a criminal banker for all he’s worth. If you are looking for non-stop laughs and delight I recommend this as a movie worth your time.

Road to Perdition:
I think this movie is often overlooked as to what a wonderful job Newman does opposite other acting superstars Tom Hanks, Stanley Tucci, Jude Law and Daniel Craig. Newman portrays a crime boss who is caught up in having to protect his business and family from Hanks’ hit man character after allowing the killing of Hanks’ family.

Cool Hand Luke:
Lines like “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate,” and classic moments such as eating 50 hard-boiled eggs quite possibly makes this Newman’s most remembered character. As Luke Jackson, a plucky prisoner in a Southern chain gang who refuses to cave in to authority, Newman received an Academy Award nomination for his terrific portrayal of a guy who couldn’t be broken.

The Hudsucker Proxy:
This might be an odd choice because probably few of you have ever heard of this movie. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, this quirky comedy is about the corruption of big business in the 1930s. Newman plays the evil corporate bigwig and is surrounded by a cast that includes Tim Robbins, John Mahoney, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Charles Durning.

Cars:
I’m not really a big fan of this movie. I like it, but I consider it to be the weakest of all the Pixar films (which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing considering it is up against the likes of Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Wall-E). Newman voices a car that is an ex-racer wise beyond his years. He helps young Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson and based after legendary actor Steve McQueen) become a better racer and a better member of the vehicular society.

Thousands of actors would love to have these kinds of movies on their resume, but that is just a small portion of how amazing Newman’s craft really was. I haven’t had room to include movies like The Verdict, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hud, Exodus and Absence of Malice. If you have a couple of nights on your hands and you want some entertainment, I suggest you spend a few of those with the late, and great, Paul Newman.

Not Worth Posting

I usually put my weekly column up here to let my reader(s) enjoy what is on my mind from week to week, but my latest effort was not interesting enough to copy and paste over here. Even writing it I started to get bored. It involved the NHRA Fall Nationals in Ennis, which I have no interest in whatsoever.
Something else I have been working on today is trying to see who I would vote for (if I was going to vote) in the presidential election. I have come across a voter's guide that shows where McCain and Obama stand on 14 issues ranging from gay rights and energy concerns to abortion and the war. I have only weighed in on 10 of the issues so far because the other four I don't really know what they are talking about. I will have to look into those four a little further to find out who I would side with because as it stands right now I am stuck in the middle.
That's right. I apparently am not a Republican and I am not a Democrat. I agree with McCain on five issues and I agree with Obama on five issues (possibly four because I'm not entire sure we are on the same page with our reasons for not supporting expanded oil drilling; however, we do agree to not support it).
I still have to find out what the Federal Defense of Marriage Act is, what the state marriage amendments sayin California and Florida and where I stand on opposing judicial activism and protecting the lives of botched abortion children who survive. For the record, I am against abortions, so if you got rid of that problem then we wouldn't have to worry about babies who survive them.
I'm not a political person at all and so I am not a person to argue with regarding these issues. I don't know all the little nuances that go along with each issue, but I know I don't support gay rights, abortions or the war and I do think we should look into cloning and alternative energy sources. Draw the conclusions you will from that, but there you have it.

Stereotypes Ruin A Child’s Innocence

When I was younger, so much younger than today (that’s to all the Beatles fans out there), I remember going to a drag racing event in Kennedale with a guy who was dating my mom at the time.
I don’t remember very much about the entire thing but two things I do recall, it was extremely loud and I enjoyed myself.
Fast-forward about 15 years when I covered the O’Reilly NHRA Fall Nationals event at Texas Motorplex two years ago for the paper and one thing certainly didn’t change: it was still a disturbingly loud night. You probably noticed by stating only one thing remained the same that means I most likely didn’t have a good time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t all a pleasant experience. My friend and roommate James and I had passes to wander the grounds and hang out in the press box. We were treated like royalty. We ate well. I spoke all night with a guy who besides working the NHRA beat also covered the Dallas Cowboys for the Morning News.
It was all a great time but something just didn’t feel right about the whole thing. I have determined that the reason I didn’t get a completely satisfying night out of the whole experience was because of my own perception of what I was supposed to think about drag racing and its fandom.
It’s no secret the stereotype of racing fans is made up of beer-drinking, chain-smoking rednecks. Obviously this isn’t accurate. When I’m sitting inside the press box watching thousands of people go crazy over flames shooting out of the lightning quick dragsters as they fly down the track it makes me wonder why I’m not enjoying things as much as when I was a kid.
I’ve decided the combination of stereotypes and my cynical attitude has marred what used to be a really fun time for me. As a child I didn’t know – or care – about the people around me at the drag races. I had no bias going into my Friday night at the track. It was all about watching fast cars and fighting through thunderous noise from the engines.
Yet, once I grew up and became surrounded by stereotypes, I couldn’t enjoy the same things. Instead, it takes a life-threatening crash to really get my attention and that’s something I’m not proud of.
I miss that innocence of childhood when I was free to make my own decision about whether I liked something or not. I liked playing kickball, wall ball, tetherball and four corners. If I played those games today I would feel as if I shouldn’t be participating in childish games.
The same goes with bowling. I love to bowl, but I am at an age that I have a hard time going to a new bowling alley with disco balls and neon lights for the teenagers. At the same time, I feel out of place at the old bowling alley that is a haven for smokers and middle-aged league bowlers. With these predispositions about the current state of bowling I feel either ashamed or scared to bowl nowadays.
Bowling as a kid was all about chunking a ball you could hardly hold down a wooden path with inflatable bumpers on each side to prevent you from getting an all-time low score of three. Now it is too frustrating to have to worry about who the bowlers are on your right and left to really enjoy the game.
This really is all just a rant about how I want to be a kid again and enjoy what life was all about at that age, which was made up of snacks, naps and fun.
I suppose letting go of stereotypes and embracing what you enjoy in spite of what others may think is what really makes you a grown-up.

Does Spanking In School Work?

In recent weeks the Ennis Daily News – along with other media sources throughout the metroplex – reported on corporal punishment in Texas schools.
It was reported in the 2006-2007 school year 49,197 Texas public school students were spanked as a form of punishment. The Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union claimed in the state of Texas, children between the ages of 3 and 19 are routinely punished for what they believe to be minor infractions and that in both Texas and the other 49 states, special education and black students are punished at unequal rates as compared with other students.
Growing up I don’t remember clearly what my school’s policy was on spankings. I do not ever recall having a friend telling me about the principal spanking him for misconduct. I do however remember the threat being there.
The first day of sixth grade I can still remember sitting in class with the teacher explaining what the wooden paddle – with colorful markings and holes cut in for maximum effect – sitting on the rail of the blackboard would be used for. I was a pretty well behaved child and therefore never gave her an excuse to use the paddle on me, but I also don’t ever think the paddle moved. It may have simply been a tool used to threaten us into submission. And to tell you the truth, it worked for me.
Whatever your feelings toward corporal punishment in public schools, the rules for when a spanking would be issued should be clear and consistent for all children. Yet, spankings don’t work for every person as a deterrent, especially for high school students. Corporal punishment might be an effective penalty for the average Joe male student, but what about for football players who put their bodies through the equivalent of 30 car crashes a day in practice? A few swats from the principal are most likely going to have the jocks laughing about the chastisement and how useless it is for their kind.
High school females also might not be the best candidates for spankings. This is not because she won’t feel the pain of a paddle smacking her on the behind, but instead because of the inappropriate shame the girl might feel from a male principal spanking her rear end.
I’m not one of those broadminded hippies who think children shouldn’t be punished for their bad behavior, but I am just not sure spankings are the best option for everyone. The football player might need to be suspended for a game (like that would really happen though). Detention is sometimes worse in a child’s mind than any other punishment because they are missing out on time they could be with friends or at work.
The punishment should fit the crime and the intensity of punishment shouldn’t be determined by a child’s skin color or his parent’s income level.
It’s not a perfect world and I don’t have an ideal answer to the problem, but whatever solution is in place for students’ misbehavior, it should show results that deterrence is working.