Short Thoughts On "Cinderella Man"--One of the Most Underrated Movies of All Time

Okay, today I got a chance to sit down and watch the film enititled "Cinderella Man," directed by Ron Howard and starring Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, and Paul Giamatti. This film is based off the true story of boxer James Braddock, who suffered through the Great Depression, and made his way to becoming a boxing legend.

The last Short Thoughts I had that was based off a true story was "Flyboys," and that movie wasn't so good. But I would just like to say that I got the opposite feeling after watching Cinderella Man. Folks, this is an incredible, moving film.

For one thing, the acting is outstanding. Russell Crowe still stands as one of my favorite actors today, but in this film, his performance just blew me away. Renee Zellweger, while not perfect, still shined during this film. Paul Giamatti, who I didn't even recognize until half way through the film, is tremendous as well. In fact, all the actors in this movie, even the small roles, are brilliant.

Another thing about Crowe's character, Braddock, is that you get a sense of what he is fighting for. He's not fighting to make a name for himself or to be a rich, famous man; he's doing it because of his family. And you can care for his character during those boxing matches, and you worry whether he'll win or lose, or even if he'll live to fight again.

The whole film, from beginning to end, is amazing and moving. I've only cried twice during a movie, and you know what, I came pretty damn close this time around. This is a beautiful film that, sadly, not many people went to see.

See it again and again and again. I give Cinderella Man a 9.5/10.

Avatar Running Time Near Three Hours

One of the films I've been looking forward to the most is Avatar. The film looks extraordinary. Sure a lot of people didn't care for the first trailer (personally I thought it was okay), but the three and a half minute trailer blew me away. This could be incredible.

Anyway, this isn't huge news, but I've looked up Avatar on IMDB.com and according to there sources, the film has a running time of 2 hours and 46 minutes. So this can mean two things. Either it's two long, or it's just the right amount (obviously). I personally don't have a problem with it, but some people might not care to sit in the theater nearly three hours.

Avatar opens December 18, and I assure you, I'll be seeing it.

Robert Downey Jr. To Retire?!

I couldn't believe it when I first read it. Robert Downey Jr., which has starred in films like "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," "Iron Man," "Tropic Thunder," and the upcoming "Sherlock Holmes," talked to Entertainment Weekly and stated he might retire from acting.

Entertainment Weekly gives us this:

“I have no set plans for my future,” says Robert Downey Jr., who plays the titular detective in the upcoming film Sherlock Holmes (due Dec. 25), directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch). “I’ve never had it this good — this is my day in the sun — and I certainly don’t want to look a gift horse in the molars. But [my wife] Susan and I want to begin to be in our lives as much as we are in our jobs. I’d love just to sit here and say, ‘What movie’s playing tonight?’ I’d love to finish the new book about D-day I’m reading. I love painting, I love music.”

“I’m f—ing really good at what I do — and have been for a long time, so I don’t waver on that,” he says. “But here’s the thing: I can only be a guy on a call sheet probably, I don’t know, maybe a couple more times. It’s something I’m so grateful to have in my palm, and yet I already see its inevitable decay.” Or not. Then again, he says with a weary smile, “If Sherlock Holmes performs well, I could be busy for the next 5 or 7 or 10 years.”

Now reading this again, I gotta say I kinda get what Downey is saying. Being famous can be a huge thing, and sometimes it can be too much. I'm still kinda shocked by it, but I can understand it.

Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor, but he's also human. He can choose what he wants to do. If he does retire, I hope he'll go out with a bang.

Five Reasons I Won't See New Moon

With all the hysteria surrounding the newest film in so called Twilight Saga, entitled New Moon, I just wanted to get a few things across. I just want to say that I will NOT be going to see this film, so if you know this blog exists and you're gonna tune in to see my review for New Moon, forget it. It won't be there.

Now why isn't it gonna be on here? Why won't I see this movie? These are my reasons why I don't plan to see the next Twilight movie:

1. The Books Suck

Let me get one thing across before you go off on me. I understand. A book is a book, and a movie is a movie. But the last film was well connected to the book, and we'll get more to that in a moment. Sure they have an audience, but I sure wasn't one of them. I found the first book to be a trashy romance film (and I can go for well written romances), that describe nearly one thousand times how beautiful Edward is, was stretched, annoying, and broke the number one rule when you right a novel: Show, don't tell. The sad truth is that Stephenie Meyer cannot write. I know it sounds mean, but it is true.

2. The movie didn't suck...but it wasn't anywhere near good.

Going back to Twilight being a faithful adaptation, this is one of those times that they should have just departed from the book and made something different. The film wasn't as bad as I thought, but it was still a bad movie. Terrible visual effects (exhibit A: The Baseball Scene), some mediocre acting (exhibit A: "I've got a wicked curve ball!" and exhibit B: "You better hang on tight, spider monkey!"), and wasted the only interesting character in both the book and the movie, which was James. Oh, and I forgot to mention...

3. THESE ARE NOT VAMPIRES!!! AND NEITHER ARE THEY WEREWOLVES!

Honestly, these movies and books have ruined two of the coolest "monsters" in horror history and human history in general! For one thing, Vampires, by they're definition, only come out at night, have fangs, and when in the sunlight they burn up. If they don't have fangs and they sparkle, THEY ARE NOT VAMPIRES! They're just kids who need to lay off the crack and get some sleep! Now they are ruining Werewolves. People turn into Werewolves during a full moon at night. In this film, the wolf pack are a bunch of topless, hunky guys (of freaking course) who can go back and forth as werewolves. Yeah, real clever.

4. Chris Weitz

Look, I didn't hate "The Golden Compass," but it was mediocre and could have been so much more (even though Daniel Craig has some of the best twenty minutes of screen time that year). Chris Weitz may or may not make this any better. I'm not saying he's a bad director, (personally I haven't seen many of his films), but this could go both ways.

5. 49% on Metacritic.com

Not only do I think it won't be good, it looks like some people don't. Roger Ebert gave the film 1 star out of 4, and stated "'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' takes the tepid achievement of "Twilight" (2008), guts it, and leaves it for undead. You know you're in trouble with a sequel when the word of mouth advises you to see the first movie twice instead." Lawrence Toppman gave the film 1.5 stars out of four and stated, "The sequel to the 2008 hit “Twilight” makes no effort to satisfy outsiders. It's strictly for devotees who won't balk at plot absurdities, clunky dialogue and patchy characterizations." Kind of discouraging.


As much as I have low hopes for the film, New Moon will be number 1 at the box office this weekend. I even did a post on that last year when it came to Twilight. The books and films, as much as I don't understand it, has a huge fan base. It will be number 1 this weekend,...but I'm gonna wait to see The Road instead.

The Wolfman Getting Recut--And The Stupid Article About It

The new film "The Wolfman," starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt, is something I was really looking forward to. The trailer wasn't half bad (in my opinion), and I was looking forward to the final cut.

But I guess the final cut just wasn't enough for studios. Supposedly, when the studio screened the film for themselves, they admitted that it was a mess. Now they have gotten editors Mark Goldbratt and Walter Murch to recut the film.

Obsessed With Film gives us their incredible dumb opinions on the film:

Emergency editors Mark Goldblatt and Walter Murch have been brought on board to fix the meandering mess of a movie is the final nail in the coffin for Universal’s tentpole.

Actually, the final nail was when the project was delayed for a third time. This latest news, which has happened after several expensive re-shoots, re-cut trailers and the letting go of a high-wage composer who had provided a whole complete score and paying for a completely new one from another guy, well it feels like it’s an afterthought at the wake.

I'm not here to discuss my opinions on the article itself, but if you read it, it's just ridiculous. This quote pretty much sums it all up:

Benicio Del Toro's dream of playing The Wolf Man, his favourite
movie as a child, has been ruined by Universal's complete
mis-handling of the project.

Are you retarded? Since when do you know what the studios doing? And how is it ruined? You dumbasses haven't even seen the film! So how do you know it sucks? It's times like these that just make me wanna bang my head against the keyboard.

As for the film itself, if you need to recut it, recut it, and make the best film possible. Do it!

Spider-Man 4 Casting Call: No McAdams, Just A Freaking Kid!

There has been a lot of discussion going around about the upcoming Spider Man movie. There have been arguments about the script writer and the casting.

One of the rumors was that the insanely gorgeous Rachel McAdams, who is gonna be starring in the Christmas's Sherlock Holmes ("I was simply...studying you..."), was gonna star in the film as Black Cat. But according to her, she won't be.


Entertainment Weekly gives us this denial:

“That’s a total rumor, I have to say,” the actress, who will next be seen in the Dec. 25 action-adventure tentpole Sherlock Holmes, tells EW. “I was hanging out in Toronto the other day and someone came up to me and said, ‘I just heard you’re doing Spider-Man 4.‘ And I said, ‘Really? No one told me!’ It’s not true.” A rep for Sony Pictures concurs: “It’s an Internet rumor, as so many things are these days.”

I'll just say that I have no problem with this. As lovely as McAdams is, I can't see her in the role of Black Cat.

But this is what I'm really here for. It has been reported that they are seeking out a kid to play the son of Peter Parker and Mary Jane! WTF?

Screen Rant gives us the casting call:

2 or 3 year old boy to play 2 year old, Caucasian with RED HAIR, an adorable toddler with an engaging personality, on set experience preferred. IDENTICAL TWINS ONLY

Ok, what? You cannot be serious.

Look, I liked Superman Returns, but even I agree they could have done without the kid. And let's not mention little Annie ("I'm a person and my name is Anakin!" Still makes me cringe).

A lot of this Spidey 4 news is making me lose more and more faith in the project. Because the third one wasn't that great? I don't know...What do you guys say?

Independence Day Trilogy-Why?

Okay, why? Why, for the love of all that is good and holy in this world, would you make not just one, but two sequels to Independence Day? How would that work?

Anyway, yeah, that's the news. Roland Emmerich, who directed classics (sarcasm alert) like 10,000 b.c. and newly released 2012, has been talking about making a Independence Day trilogy.

Dark Horizons quotes Emmerich:

“What we want to do in the next – it’s actually two movies – we want to do a bigger arc. Independence Day was always like the king who leads his troops into battle against an evil force, and that stays like that” said Emmerich.

No script is yet in place, but “the idea is just to continue the story and actually I don’t know how many years ago this was—twelve, thirteen, fourteen years ago—and just continue where it ended.”

Well, it worked with The Matrix, right?

"How would they do it?" is my question. And plus, as I mentioned above, why? What is the point of making it? None whatsoever. In my opinion, just leave it alone, and think of something you HAVEN'T blown up yet.