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The Top 13 Suggested Double-Features of the Best Films I Saw in 2011

LYT — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:25:25 +0000

How’s that for a qualified ultimatum?

With a tip of the hat to my former colleague Gregory Weinkauf, who pioneered this form of year-end list as best I can tell (though we both came up with 13 independently), here is my best movies of 2011 list. I saw less this year than usual, but what I liked suggested pairings as nice as Jack & Diet. (Yes, that IS nice. Fuck you.)

1. BAD TEACHER/YOUNG ADULT. You wouldn’t necessarily want to be these proudly drunk and antisocial lead characters, or run into them. But they’ll flip authority off in deserving ways that you don’t have the balls to do, like female Stone Cold Steve Austins. Plus they don’t turn totally nice at the end, which was what always rubbed me wrong about BAD SANTA.

2. SUPER/HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN. One Troma alumnus, one who wishes he were. Both hard-R gore-comedies like the kind of stuff we used to discover in the back room of a VHS store. I’m a little tired of “realistic” heroes and grindhouse parodies, but these transcended their thin templates.

3. CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH/BLACK DEATH. I’m a sucker for attempts at recreating Italian neorealism (believe it or not). CITY OF LIFE AND DEATH does it in epic fashion, with a movie in which the event (the rape of Nanking) IS the protagonist, and a larger portrait of hopelessness plays out on an epic scale. BLACK DEATH does the Dark Age movie I’ve always wanted to see, and derives horror from the fact that both Christians and atheists are violent shitbags.

4. WINNIE THE POOH/A VERY HAROLD AND KUMAR CHRISTMAS 3D. Both absolutely perfect for what they are. A reinvention of a classic that neither offends fundamentalist ninnies nor saccharine-allergic cynics, paired with an amped-up dirty joke that nonetheless extols the simple joys of a robot that can make you waffles.

5. CHICO AND RITA/SHAME. Cuban cartoons fucking, plus Michael Fassbender’s penis. Both movies reduced to the tee-hee genital bits, but so much larger than that in creating unique, stylized senses of time and place.

6. TREE OF LIFE/RUBBER. A pondering of one’s place in the universe, two ways. One suggests what really matters; the other, that nothing does. The latter’s funnier, but lacks plesiosaurs.

7. THE ARTIST/HUGO. Elaborate modern simulacra of bygone ages with modern technologies. Funny to me that some don’t understand why a movie about the original master of special effects must use all the modern implements in that toolbox, or that the so-called silent movie constantly breaks the rules of same to great effect.

8. TROLLHUNTER/PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3. I still love found-footage movies, and both of these made me smile, but for quite different reasons. The former is a funny satire that never mocks its monsters, while the latter made me jump so hard I had to laugh so as not to cry in fear.

9. HANNA/MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL. A dead-eyed, brainwashed, super-trained lunatic battles deadly secret agents trying to kill him/her, pulling off crazy stunts in the process. HANNA’s coldness is its greatest asset; Cruise’s real-life craziness adds a lot to the blank slate of Ethan Hunt, as does Imax and a Moore-era Bond sense of excess.

10. BRIDESMAIDS/MELANCHOLIA. That panic attack you’re having about an upcoming wedding? It’s not the end of the world. Or is it? Dum dum dum…

11. 50-50/SOURCE CODE. A comedy about cancer, and a heroic romance about a disembodied torso. Both ultimately feel-good movies, though they could have gone either way.

12. GREEN LANTERN/THOR. The superhero movies that could not feasibly have been made on any budget in any previous decade. Thor thankfully jettisoned the olde English speak and upgraded its hero, while GL stayed firmly Silver Age, seemingly to most audiences’ dislike but much to my joy. Both gave the superhero movie a pan-galactic scope that had been missing.

13. DRIVE/X-MEN FIRST CLASS. It’s amazing how much better a complete lack of backstory can jazz up what might have been an otherwise standard L.A. Noir (though I love the excessive violence too). It’s equally mind-blowing how am obligatory backstory we thought we already knew can turn out so well in the right hands.

WORST MOVIE: JUMPING THE BROOM

WORST MOVIE I HAD HOPES FOR: WARRIOR

Where do we go from here?

LYT — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:14:38 +0000

We’ve come a long way, you readers and I, these nine years. And if any of you are still around, you know I haven’t been updating this blog much any more. There are many reasons for this. Facebook basically destroyed the blogosphere, allowing people to interact and share items the way only folks with blogs used to. It’s notable that the blogs I still read regularly are those of people either not on FB or barely there.

Also, I have a new full-time job with GeekChicDaily and its upcoming offshoot, GeekChicLA. Unlike past writing positions, this one is centered around an email newsletter that we need eyeballs on, so I will not be linking to any of my work here. You need to sign up (it’s free). When I was freelancing, I used this site to do a links round-up of my stuff; now it’s all one place that I need you to go and get it.

I’m in a long-term relationship, so no more rants about the LA dating scene (it also means less sharing, as I have someone else’s privacy to think of now). Mainly, though, the job takes everything out of me, creative-energy wise, leaving little behind for optional writing. I have entertained the idea of guest-bloggers, but why would any of you want to do that for free?

The regular community of commenters, small as it was, hasn’t been here for a while. It was a good group, from wacky Mario to cranky Max. I basically got rid of the message board a while back, so there isn’t even really a sandbox to play in in my absence.

I’m not taking the site down – I know all too well after the last three or four years how quickly fortunes can change. It’s possible I will need it as a daily or weekly outlet once again. You see my Twitter feed there on the right of the page, and I do suggest following that. I will update the Buzznet photo blog at times also.

Life moves along, and I really miss some of the things and people I seem to have moved along from. The old Press Club crowd are scattered far and few, ditto the USC cinema/1321 crowd. Village Voice Media are no longer a company I feel any ties to (I’d prefer just to remember New Times).

I can still be reached through this site’s contact form, and I can be followed and friended other places. Maybe we’ll build a community here again someday, but for now I’m going into power-saving mode. Periodic announcements may surface, but steady updates are unlikely.

I hope and trust that the best is yet to come.

Coming to DVD June 22nd, 2011…

LYT — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:26:51 +0000

important reader survey

LYT — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:52:00 +0000

Dear readers — for reasons I’m not going to get into just yet, I need to select the very best of some of my Geekweek columns. I would like to hear from you before I do.

I would like you to tell me which are your two favorite FAST FOOD REVIEWS from Geekweek.

I would also like to know what your two favorite Geekweek Movie Reviews (any article whose title begins “LYT REVIEW”) are.

And finally, your two favorite “ill LYTeracy” columns.

Your responses will be MOST helpful. Please leave them in comments.

Text of My LAFCA Speech, Awarding Best Soundtrack for The Social Network

LYT — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 02:25:49 +0000

[note: these are the prepared remarks, and not a word-for-word transcription]

I think it’s cool that we’re honoring a movie about facebook tonight, because it means that LAFCA president Brent Simon can no longer pretend not to know that it exists.

I’m like Mark Zuckerberg…I sit alone in my office, constantly refreshing, hoping that Brent will show up on that site and add me as a friend…not because I’m an asshole, but because I’m trying so hard to be.

Seriously, though, I am so stoked to be presenting this award, because it brings so many things full circle for me. When I first came out to L.A. for college, the one thing I wanted to do more than anything was have a radio show, so I went to the student radio right away and got one. The rules were thus: I had to play their alternative music format, and I also had to join another staff at the station. I picked the entertainment staff, being a film major, and when it came time to contribute, I said, what the hell, I’ll do movie reviews.

That worked out.

Meanwhile, as a DJ, I was exposed to many new things, not the least of which was the album BROKEN by Nine Inch Nails, and I mean the original one, with the mini-CD inside, rather than the long pause and bonus tracks. It’s one of a few albums I can say changed my life and my perceptions of what music could be. Hell, when my librarian friend Nan, who’s like 40 years older than me, started learning the keyboard, I told her about Trent Reznor, and she became a fan. She’s too far away to be here tonight, but this goes out to her.

Now, if you had come up to me back then, and been all, “Hey, Mohawk-boy! In a decade or so, you’re gonna be wearing a suit, standing in front of all the major film critics in Los Angeles, presenting a major movie-related award to the band that brought you ‘Happiness in Slavery’”…I probably would have said, “Whatever, weirdo.” Or, more likely, I might have gone full Butt-Head and said “Whoah! My life is gonna be cool. Huh huh”

To those of a generation older than mine, I don’t know quite the analogy I can make that can compare to this. Maybe if Frank Zappa had scored Easy Rider? I’m bad with boomer analogies. But what I do know – and I think I can say, since we’re not on network TV or in front of kids – is that I love this soundtrack so much, I wanna fuck it like an animal.

Ladies and gentlemen, for Best Soundtrack the social network, Nine Inch freakin’ Nails…Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross! GIVE IT UP!

My Top Ten Movies of 2010

LYT — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 02:54:45 +0000

It wouldn’t be the end of the year without at least one critic bemoaning the state of cinema as worse than ever. In 2010, however, the movie mainstream did seem to produce more misfires than usual, as Hollywood gradually figured out that post-conversion 3-D doesn’t work very well, M. Night Shyamalan shouldn’t be trusted with money, and Gemma Arterton isn’t going to become the next big thing just because you force her on us.

Notably, this year’s best list features more independents and international entries than usual.

On the other hand, if you see enough movies across the spectrum, there will almost always be more than enough for at least a 10 best list. I haven’t seen absolutely everything of significance, but have made a heroic effort to get to most of it—nonetheless, Yogi Bear or Marmaduke could be hidden masterpieces, and I will never know.

Click here for the list: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b216800_10_best_movies_of_2010mdashan_online.html#ixzz19kSuA1OJ

REVIEWS AD INFINITUM

LYT — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:59:51 +0000

Lotta catching up here. My bad. I hope some readers will have already seen these by following my Twitter, etc., but if not…

BLUE VALENTINE
Blue Valentine caused some controversy with an initial NC-17 rating that has since been successfully appealed following some heavy Weinstein Company lobbying. But here’s the thing: Unfair stigma aside, this isn’t a film for viewers under 17, not so much because of sexual content, but because it takes some life experience to fully appreciate that which is being depicted herein.

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
Why does Hollywood insist upon “reinventing” classic literature when faithful adaptations would be far more interesting? We’ve seen Eddie Murphy as a modern Dr. Dolittle, and now Jack Black as a contemporary Gulliver…Hell, maybe Tyler Perry should don a dress for a newer, sassier Mary Poppins. It’d be every bit as irrelevant.

WINTER’S BONE
Every year, there is at least one token awards contender that astonishes L.A.-based Academy members by reminding them that country folk and cold weather still exist. Last year it was Frozen River; this year it’s Winter’s Bone. Which is not to diminish either movie in terms of quality, but rather, to imagine that people who live in the environments depicted may not find these kinds of tales especially unique.

SOMEWHERE
Sofia Coppola gives us yet another movie about rich people lounging around opulent surroundings while feeling empty inside. This time, it’s Stephen Dorff as movie star Johnny Marco, staying mostly in Hollywood’s famed Chateau Marmont. As unsympathetic as her characters ought to be, though, damned if the writer-director doesn’t manage to hit on some emotional truths nonetheless.

TRUE GRIT
The Coen brothers’ adaptation of Charles Portis’ satirical western novel is less faithful to actual plot details than the Henry Hathaway film that starred John Wayne, but it gets the tone exactly right. With their love of irony, eccentric language and region-specific tics, the directors are a perfect match for the source material.

TRON: LEGACY
If you can get past its absurd premise, this return of Jeff Bridges to the inner computer world of light-cycles and deadly neon Frisbees is an eye-candyriffic holiday treat, with a killer soundtrack and 3-D visuals worthy of the huge screen.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER
One of the best Narnia books arrives onscreen more significantly altered than its predecessors, and unfortunately, panders a little too much to its perceived audience. It’s still a fun family adventure, but it could have (and should have) been better.

THE WARRIOR’S WAY
It’s unfortunate that Thanksgiving is over already, for this is a giant turkey worth carving. The tale of a ninja who emigrates to an unreal Old West with a rival clan’s baby in tow is a Gigli-level, what-were-they-thinking disaster that may nonetheless find a cult following among lovers of magnificent misfires.

BLACK SWAN
Director Darren Aronofsky’s latest genre-bender may be talked about as awards-bait, but such conversations obscure the fact that Black Swan mostly plays like a full-on horror movie, with more genuinely earned scares than recent releases which wear the genre on their sleeves.

THE NEXT THREE DAYS
When his wife is suddenly arrested and convicted of murder, teacher John Brennan (Russell Crowe) starts planning ways to break her out of jail. So he plans…and plans…and plans some more. Only close to the movie’s end does he actually start putting events in motion, and by then you may have given up on a story that rarely gets straight to the point.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1
Big-budget sequels to kids’ movies don’t get much grimmer than this one, which begins with torture and a scary snake, features the deaths of major characters, constantly reminds us that others are being massacred, and generally has our heroes feeling hopeless about 90 percent of the time.

SKYLINE
The visuals are very cool, and plentiful, save for the brothers’ overuse of cheesy slo-mo. For a movie on a $10 million budget, it delivers more and better bangs for the buck than many blockbusters ten times the price. It’s just a shame they couldn’t find actors who deliver equal efficiency. Or script doctors, for that matter.

UNSTOPPABLE
An unmanned train full of toxic waste is hurtling through the countryside. But fortunately, two railroad workers who look a lot like Malcolm X and the young Captain Kirk are on the case. Director Tony Scott’s almost family-friendly adventure plays like the coolest storyline you ever cooked up as a kid playing with toy trains.

127 HOURS
Trapped under a rock in a canyon, Aron Ralston (James Franco) must cut his own arm off to escape certain death. One half-expects a scary puppet on a tricycle to show up and say, “Hello Aron. I want to play a game,” but instead, director and coscreenwriter Danny Boyle opens up his Slumdog Millionaire bag of tricks to jazz up the visuals with flashbacks, premonitions, overly dramatic soundtrack choices and hallucinations.

FOUR LIONS
It isn’t just Muslim fundamentalists who get mocked here; everyone is fair game, from thick-headed police snipers who argue about the difference between a Wookiee and a bear, to government employees and their elaborate, convoluted explanations of rendition. One could compare this to South Park, but at the risk of hyperbole, this may also be the war on terror’s very own Dr. Strangelove. Also like Strangelove, it gets that reality is often so absurd, you don’t have to exaggerate much for humorous effect and that man frequently laughs so as not to cry.

FAIR GAME
People of opposing political stripes have differing opinions over what went down in the whole Valerie Plame incident. And while Fair Game definitely has a point of view (your first clue should be that it stars Sean Penn), its primary focus is on the effect outside politics can have on a marriage—when to fight back, when to back down for the good of personal harmony are all issues couples face. But when the outside force clamping down is the White House, that’s a whole new level of stress.

SAW 3-D
Though the Saw movies have been tying themselves in knots trying to continue the saga of a central character who died at the end of part III, you know they’ve just about hit rope’s end in this one when our favorite cancer-stricken, psychotic engineer John “Jigsaw” Kramer (Tobin Bell) gets exactly one good scene

Yes, I’ve been lax: More FIRST DOLLAR GROSS shows

LYT — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 07:55:28 +0000

November 29, with Amy Nicholson and Melissa Molina:

Watch live video from GeekWeek on Justin.tv

December 6

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December 13

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December 20, with Julia Boyd and “Emily XXX”

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Next post: catching up on a shit-ton of E! Online reviews. Sorry, readers, it has been a busy coupla months.

My complete AFI Fest 2010 Coverage for Geekweek

LYT — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:47:51 +0000

Why should you still care now that the fest is over? Because many current and future Oscar hopefuls were involved. Here’s the breakdown of blogs; click on the red dates to read:

Nov. 6 - Heartbeats, Blank City, Precious Life, Abel, Nothing’s All Bad, The Housemaid

Nov 6 - The King’s Speech, including description of Q&A with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Tom Hooper

Nov 8 - The Human Resources Manager

Nov 8 - Cargo, Julia’s Eyes, Norwegian Ninja

Nov 9 - Blue Valentine

Nov 10 - Rear Window, The Fighter

Nov 17 - Hahaha, Chico and Rita, Shorts Program 1, Littlerock, Outrage, Submarino, The Myth of the American Sleepover, Morgen, The Company Men, Black Swan

Some FIRST DOLLAR GROSS archived shows…

LYT — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:35:31 +0000

Be sure to watch LIVE every Monday at 4 p.m. California time.

Nov 22 (part 1)

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Nov 22 (part 2)

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Nov 15 (the episode where Jen falls out of her chair)

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Nov 1st:

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