Pop Planet

So the question of the moment is: Was it staged or not? In case you missed it this last week. Sasha Baron Cohen, famous for his outrageous characters (Borat for example), was doing a stunt at the MTV movie awards as his character Bruno. Watch the video below to see what happened.



Now everyone wants to know whether Eminem and MTV were in on the joke. There seems to be several theories.

1. It was a complete accident.
2. Cohen planned the "incident" without the knowledge of Eminem and MTV.
3. Cohen and MTV planned and executed it on the dupe (Eminem).
4. Cohen, Eminem and MTV were all in on it.

Consider the facts. 1. Eminem has a new album out. 2. Cohen is currently promoting his new movie. 3. MTV is still trying to be relevant.

Conclusion: With a weak Andy Kaufman imitation, it was completely staged.

When I was a young soul, my family would play this game called get lost in the country. We would drive out onto the gravel roads and my dad would start asking my brother, sister, and me which direction to turn. Inevitably, we would end up in a corn field or in Derby or Humeston or some other dinky Iowa town. It was great fun all the way around.

Now, one of my favorite websites is the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com). On this site, you can look up any movie, actor, director, etc. and find out instantly the information you were looking for. An example of how I use this site. I'm watching an animated film and I think I recognize one of the voices, but I can't quite place it. Navigate to IMDb.com; type in Charlotte's Web; and boom, Andre Benjaman (aka Andre 3000) is the voice of that crow.

I also like to click on actor's bios to see what other films they have been in. I just watched Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian and I, of course, recognized Clint Howard. Now Clint Howard has been in more films than Britney Spears has been in other men's beds. I was pretty sure he had played the same character in another movie. But I couldn't remember 1)If I was right and 2)What movie. So off to IMDb and, voila, "Oh, yeah he was in Apollo 13." I'm so smart.

This website is also a tremendous help in training for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

So now merging these two things together I present Get Lost in IMDb. The rules are simple. Type in an actor's name or movie title. Then start clicking. Here's a recent journey of mine.

Self: "Crap, what's that kid's name from Juno?"
Juno
Michael Cera
Arrested Development
Portia de Rossi
Dead & Breakfast
David Carradine - *side note: Does anyone have more appearances credited as himself?
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Quentin Tarantino
Inglorious Bastards

Now off the apple.com to see if they have a trailer up for Inglorious Bastards.

Cool Cat

This is the second installment in a Monday series.

AFI is an acronym for American Film Institute. Here is a link to their site. They are famous for their "greatest" lists of American Cinema. One of their compilation lists consists of ten films ranked in each of ten categories. Thus comprising a list of 100 films. Not necessarily the greatest 100 films, there's another list for that.

Every Monday on this blog, I will review a category.
The second category to undergo review is:

Fantasy

AFI defines “fantasy” as a genre where live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world.
By presenting dreamlike realms where fairies flourish, witches scheme and pigs fly, fantasy demands that audiences believe in magic and hope for wishes to come true. (Courtesy AFI)

10. Big (1988)
"I wish I were big." Tom Hanks as a big kid. This movie works on so many levels. Outstanding cast. The scene in the toy store where they play "Chopsticks" on the giant keyboard is a great scene. This is the second greatest film in the genre of hero makes a wish and deals with unintended consequences.

9. The Thief of Baghdad (1924)
This is a film I have not seen. It's the only silent film on any of the lists. I'm not even sure I know how to find it if I want to watch it. It goes on my list of films I need to watch.

8. Groundhog Day (1993)
"I got you babe." This film is hilarious, heart warming, and heart wrenching all at the same time. Bill Murray at his absolute best. Did I mention I almost got to meet Bill Murray on my honeymoon? A tale for another time...

7. Harvey (1950)
"Well, thank you Harvey! I prefer you too. " Jimmy Stewart. An imaginary bunny. That's about all I know. I have never seen the entire film. It's on my list.

6. Field of Dreams (1989)
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa." This movie has some of the greatest quotes. The soliloquy at the end by James Earl Jones is a great moment. "Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom.... "
This is hard one to watch without tearing up, at least for me.

5. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
"Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to." Santa on trial. Imagine, there was cynicism in the 40's. I thought it was a modern invention. I believe in Santa Claus.

4. King Kong (1933)
"It was beauty killed the beast." Even with cheesy special effects, it holds up. The story is timeless. This is a common theme with great movies. Regardless of what's going on around the characters, the human (or ape) interaction could take place in any time or location.

3. It's a Wonderful Life(1947)
"Attaboy, Clarence." The greatest Christmas movie. It also spawned one of my favorite SNL parodies of all time. Often imitated, never duplicated. The greatest film in the genre of hero makes a wish and deals with unintended consequences.

2. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
"One ring to rule them all." I could watch this trilogy every week and never get tired of it. Formula for success: 1. Start with the greatest fantasy series 2. Go to New Zealand with unbelievable scenery 3. Get great acting 4. Find a visionary director. 5. Start filming.
I'm not sure this is even the best film of the trilogy. You could get an argument for The Return of the King, it did win 11 Oscars after all.

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
"I'm Melting." I recently went to the Smithsonian. One of the items I had to see was the ruby slippers. Those flying monkeys still give me nightmares.

Omissions:
Since I haven't seen The Thief of Baghdad, it's probably not fair to say it shouldn't be on the list. However, it shouldn't be on the list. If I go to a movie and have to read, I'm ticked. I'm a fan of Big, but there are films better on the omission list. The problem with Twelve Monkeys(1995) is that I don't know which category it would fit under. How you can make a list of the best fantasy films of all time and exclude The Princess Bride(1987) is beyond belief. Come on, it has Andre the Giant for goodness sake. Others I would consider: The Green Mile(1999), Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory(1971), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(2004).

I've noticed a trend in Hollywood. Perhaps you have too. It seems they have started to run out of ideas. The result? Remakes. Sometimes the names are changed to protect the innocent. News broke last November of a planned remake of The Karate Kid.

To me, it's a disturbing trend. A remake typically has no chance to be as good as the original. Legions of fans will remember the first movie and compare everything in the new film to the old film. Rarely does the remake hold up. At best, it can hope to be as good as it's predecessor.

There are two directions to take when remaking a film.

1. A shot for shot remake, paying homage to the original. Example Bad News Bears. To quote my least favorite American Idol judge, Kara: "I have two words: Awful."
2. A completely different creative take using the same story, but changing it up cinematically. I actually respect this more. At least the director is allowed to use some creativity. Example: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Are there any good remakes? Well it turns out that there are. Check out these guys' list of the top remakes of all time.

What makes an remake successful then? Here are my rules for when and where a remake is justified:

The original film is a foreign film.
This is an easy one. If the intended audience doesn't know of the original film and doesn't speak the language it was filmed in? Green Light.

Examples:
The Departed: based on a Cantonese film.
Victor/Victoria: based on a German film.
The Ring: based on a Japanese film.

At least 40 years has passed since the original and you are updating the story to make it modern.
Scarface(1983) is a perfect example. When 40 years have passed, many may not even remember the original film. In fact, I would guess there are a lot of films, you wouldn't even know are remakes.
Examples:
Ben Hur: 1959-1907
Father of the Bride: 1991-1950
I am Legend: 2007-1964

Special effects have advanced to a point that they enhance the film cinematically.
I could only find one example.
Little Shop of Horrors

The film is not an iconic film. Films that should never be remade:
Citizen Kane
The Wizard of Oz: Oops, too late.
The Godfather
Casablanca
Gone With the Wind

Congratulations to Kris Allen.

I called it, of course. I hope that Kris isn't burdened by having to sing the Kara single.

I have to say that I'm quite disappointed in people trying to turn the competition into another battle in the culture war. Kris did not win because Adam is gay. People who are saying so either A) Have an agenda or B) Are looking for an excuse. Both Kris and Adam were very gracious.

Unfortunately, I screwed up and didn't get the DVR set. Ergo, I missed the finale. But I did catch the announcement of the winner at Applebee's. It sounds like it was an interesting show.

Thank goodness for YouTube. What did we ever do without modern technology?

Are you a super-recognizer or do you have prosopagnosia? Most likely you are somewhere in between.

This article explains what these terms mean.

I now have a name for my social condition. This quote from the article describes me perfectly.

"Super-recognizers recognize other people far more often than they are recognized. So they often compensate by pretending not to recognize someone they met in passing, so as to avoid appearing to attribute undue importance to a fleeting encounter, Russell said. "

Now some might say I got this condition genetically. My dad is always telling us how he recognizes some guy on the street. We generally make jokes, invoking the "guy in the corduroy jacket," a guy whom my dad recognized from the multitude of little kid wrestling tournaments that we frequented when I was younger. It turns out, the guy in the corduroy jacket is a real guy.

In my case, I often recognize someone but cannot place a name with the face. This becomes even more awkward when they recognize me and come up and talk to me like we are long lost friends. Ask my wife, this happens quite a bit.

Then there is the question of introducing them to my wife. This is usually out of the question as I have forgotten their name. I just pray that they don't introduce me to their significant other. If they do, I'm usually SOL. Sometimes in this introduction I will get a clue to their identity.

Recognized Stranger: "Honey, this is Art Vandelay. He and I went to school together."

At this point, the synapses will sometimes begin to fire and I will be fortunate enough to come up with a name. This will allow me to reciprocate the introduction. Far too often, however, I got nothing. So do I ask, "What's your name again?" No. Perhaps nothing would mortify me more. I just shake hands with the stranger's spouse, talk for a moment longer, make up a prior engagement and slink away.

It has become more difficult to do this inconspicuously. My children will ask me as soon as we have taken two steps, "Who was that Daddy?" To which I respond by whisking them out of earshot and replying, "I have no idea."