I was sitting here this morning working on a script and a book (not related) and I popped on Flickchart after finally getting my fiance to sit and watch SHRINK this weekend  I was curious to see where it ranked amongst my favorite Spacey flicks.  See for yourself.

Swimming With Sharks – “Shut up. Listen and learn.” Not just a great film quote but an attitude to take with you in life. You can’t learn anything if you are the one doing all the talking. Believe or not this is the hardest thing for me to do. Aside from that this film has a dark edge with character depth that is matched by few. It is a dark look at what one man will go through to get into the film industry and what is does to him.

The Usual Suspects – If you don’t like this film you are a douche bag. No exceptions will be given and no excuses will be accepted. If you have not seen this movie then by all means go find a copy now and watch it. This movie is one of the finest examples of what a dark “Who done it” film should look like. I am beginning to think that it is the best movie Bryan Singer will ever make.

The Big Kahuna – Character piece all the way.  A majority of the film takes place in a hotel room and is 2 old sales dogs trying to get that one big deal while showing the ropes to the new kid. Spacey and Danny Devito give memorable performances as for me this film became an instant favorite.

Shrink – I just watched this for the 3^rd time in 3 months and DAMN does it hold up. Not a film for a quick entertainment fix but something to devote yourself to as you travel through the life of our shrink and the lives of his patients. This is a brilliant film filled with characters that will draw you in and make you care.

American Beauty – This is probably my favorite role to watch Spacey in. The character speaks to each and every one of us in some way form or fashion. A midlife crisis hits us all in different ways. This look at a man going through is one of my all time favorite films, not just one of my favorite Kevin Spacey flicks.

Hands down Spacey is one of my favorite actors in Hollywood.

What you are about to see is something I tripped across over at SCI FI Wire this morning. It is a restored 1903 original film version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. CGI was not even the a far off dream of what may come. The production value alone of this film for its time is truly outstanding. Enjoy.

The Beastie Boys “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” rips up on the soundtrack while Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan walk toward us in slow-motion during the opening images of “Cop Out”, Kevin Smith’s latest flick and his first real foray into big budget studio filmmaking. Smith has spent the better part of the last fifteen years stealing the thunder from anyone who would beat him to the punch by railing on himself for his lack of directorial style and talent. Unfortunately, this has already armed critics and audiences alike to shoot holes through anything that he does. That’s the only justification I can come up with for why this movie has taken so much shit right out of the gate. “Cop Out” is a totally funny and entertaining popcorn movie.

The basic plot pairs mismatched police officers, Jimmy Monroe and Paul Hodges, together for your standard issued buddy cop formula. It’s revealed that these guys have been partnered up for nine years and in a hilarious opening sequence, we’re taken into an interrogation room where Paul has begged to be allowed to play the “bad cop”. Jimmy watches him through a two-way mirror as he overacts several different scenes from “Heat”, “Training Day” & “Scarface”. Naturally, Kevin gives him some lines from “Star Wars” to spew off as well. By the end of the scene, the situation has completely derailed into total comedic farce.

As you may have guessed, Jimmy and Paul get the information they need which sets in motion a series of events that will lead to gun fights, car chases and stolen baseball cards. All of it ends up being a pretty fun time.

I’ll come right out and say that the biggest surprise to me in this flick was Tracy Morgan. I’ve never seen an episode of “30 Rock”, so my knowledge of Morgan is mostly limited to SNL (of which I was only ever a casual viewer while he was on it). Now, I’ll be honest – all of the marketing material from this movie left me feeling like he was going to be an extremely annoying character. The biggest attribute to this being the “knock-knock” joke seen in the trailer (which actually works much better in context). I’m happy to report, however, that this is certainly not the case. In fact, I think so much of the flick’s strength rests on how funny and charismatic Morgan ends up being. Even for all of his mugging and winking at the camera, the guy is always still likable. I think Kevin Smith has found a kindred comic spirit in Tracy Morgan and I really hope they will continue to work together in subsequent films.

Bruce Willis also gives a very evenhanded performance. I’ve read things claiming he’s phoning in his performance or sleepwalking through the role which seems a little unfair after having seen the film for two reasons. 1.) Willis is the anchor to Tracy Morgan’s over the top performance & 2.) Aside from having some well timed comedic moments himself, he also handles some dramatic weight like the pro that he is (one scene that comes to mind is a very sweet moment where he explains his whole predicament with his daughter to a character named Gabrielle, who doesn’t speak or understand English).

All of the performances, in fact, are very good here. Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody do well as two investigators who love to break Paul and Jimmy’s balls. Sean William Scott steals scenes as an irritating, parkor-skilled burglar who has a proclivity to bowel evacuations in the homes that he robs. Even Jason Lee shows up as the smug, well-to-do, new husband of Willis’ former wife who wants nothing more than to humiliate Jimmy by providing his daughter with a wedding he knows only he can afford.

This film marks the first time Kevin Smith has ever directed a movie that he didn’t write, although while watching it almost seems easy to forget that. From the witty banter to the signature Smith-staples (minor Catholic undertones, baseball cards = comic books?) this still feels like a Kevin Smith movie. With the exception of one scene that feels a little too “loose”, all of the action sequences are competently handled. The flick looks a lot less stagy than some of Smith’s previous films with much more hand-held camera work and far less two-shots with people lined up against a wall talking to each other. You can definitely feel that Kevin is growing as a visual storyteller.

Obviously, “Cop Out” is by no means perfect. It feels about 10-15 minutes longer than it needs to be and given the fact that it’s a movie operating within a formula, there is a general predictability to it. You never really feel that the good guys are in any real danger. But what counts is that the flick is funny, and it is. Funnier than I expected. Here, Kevin has proved that he can go out and make a totally serviceable studio film. Let’s hope that he doesn’t forget that what made him significant as a filmmaker was the fact that he was an unconventional voice in cinema (even with the bad language and sex talk aside). I really hope he’ll take all that he’s learned here and bring it over to his long-awaited indie horror flick “Red State”, which seems like the most interesting and best possible 180-degree move he could make with his career.

Regardless, you should still see a couple of dicks in “Cop Out” – because the movie itself doesn’t.

* * * 1/2 out of * * * * *

-d0m portalla [2010]

I just got back from my second screening of Martin Scorsese’s latest opus “Shutter Island” (saw it on opening day as well). I truly felt as though I couldn’t give any sort of intelligent criticisms about the film without having seen it for at least a second time. Now that I have, I believe my honest opinions of it have snapped into clearer focus. I will do my best to tread very lightly, but if you do intend on seeing this film, I would recommend not reading any further.

Let’s get this right out of the way – the twist of the film is fairly obvious just from the trailer. I think the marketing behind the film made a huge faux pas with the first preview they released (which they subsequently corrected with their second pass on it). If “Shutter Island” had come out twenty years ago, I think it would have been one of the most shocking experiences ever and would’ve left audiences with mouths agape. But in the post-era of films like “The Usual Suspects”, “The Sixth Sense” & “Fight Club”, I believe moviegoers have been conditioned to arm themselves from the onset by trying to figure out the mystery before they even know there’s one to decipher. “Shutter Island” tips its hand a little too early in the game.

With that said, Martin Scorsese is a master filmmaker – in my opinion, maybe the greatest American filmmaker of all time. I do not believe that he is capable of making a bad movie. On his worst day he’s still better than 90% of most directors on their best day, so do not mistake this criticism as dismissing “Shutter Island” as  a predictable piece of cinema off of the Hollywood conveyor-belt. It’s not that at all.

The story involves two United States Marshall’s being brought onto an island in Boston Harbor where the infamous Ashecliff mental hospital for the criminally insane resides. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play the respective leads and are charged with the mission of locating a missing patient who seems to have literally evaporated straight through the walls of her room. The always excellent Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow also star as the two doctors with vastly differing ideologies, who are running the asylum. As all of the promotional material suggests, nothing is quite as it seems.

First and foremost, all of the performances are near perfect across the board. DiCaprio continues to prove his worth as one of the most in demand actors of his generation. His work here walks a very fine line between intensity and vulnerability and he’s never not completely convincing. Ted “Buffalo Bill” Levine and Jackie Earle Haley both swoop in with scene stealing sequences (the latter seems to be making a killing on playing total creepshow roles these days, while the former has a line of dialogue that echoes in your head throughout the rest of the movie – “If I were to sink my teeth into your eye right now, do you think you could stop me before I’ve blinded you?” Jesus…) Michelle Williams, Mark Rufallo, Emily Mortimer & Patricia Clarkson all put their acting chops on full display. Scorsese has a knack for getting great performances out of his actors and you can truly see that these folks show up with their A-game. Kingsley and Sydow are amazing as psychiatrists with dueling schools of thought. When news of a hurricane rolls in, Kinglsey’s main concern is the safety and well being of the patients. Sydow is more than willing to shackle them all in their cells, even if it means possibly drowning the lot of them.

The cinematography is stark and gorgeous. This feels like Scorsese’s version of “The Shining” in many ways. Flashbacks to DiCaprio’s memories of liberating a concentration camp are some of the most haunting images I’ve ever seen committed to film. Dream sequences that take place between Teddy and his dead wife, Dolores, are easily the most powerful in the entire movie. The music is both bombastic and morose and there is such a melancholy undercurrent working at all times that it’s hard not to get swept up in it.

There are problems that I had with the flick, however. By the end of my first viewing I couldn’t help but feel that the resolution was sort of anticlimactic. Having anticipated how things would play out, the movie does feel like it hits a wall in it’s last act and I was especially surprised by a moment where a purposefully lit chalkboard is unsheathed with a rather important plot-point literally spelled out on it. For such a skilled filmmaker who can command weighty dramatic moments with understated subtlety, it really felt like a big revelation was way too on the nose. There also is a sense that certain sequences that have come before would no longer seem realistic – although, I supposed much of what we’ve seen throughout the film could now be called into question in regards to what was illusion vs. reality.

Seeing it a second time, though, I realized something. “Shutter Island” is not a movie that is meant to be fully digested in just one sitting. Knowing the exact details of the twist, the next viewing becomes more about absorbing the minutia. There were several things that were slipped in right under my nose that I was able to catch the second time around. I suspect that upon multiple viewings, there will be even more subtext meant to be unearthed. I can’t say that the ultimate payoff of the movie is wholly original, but I can say that the intelligence behind it is worth revisiting.

So what’s the bottom line? I saw “Shutter Island” twice. The first time, I enjoyed it but felt that it lacked the Scorsese one-two punch I had grown accustomed to over the years. The second time, I enjoyed it much more and appreciated the quiet nuances that hid beneath the surface. I have a good feeling that it will improve even more with a third go-around. As I said earlier, Scorsese is incapable of making a bad film – his movies only exist in varying degree’s of greatness. This one may not be among his all time best, but at the end of the day you still owe it to yourself to go out and see a Martin Scorsese picture.

Because there’s only one guy in the world who can make one of those.

* * * * out of * * * * *

-d0m portalla [2010]

When I was a kid there this whole slew of flicks that came out that were aimed at one audience and one audience only, teenage boys. For guys in their 30’s and older, the Sex Comedy is the first time of us saw boobs and we and laughed about it. Any other time it was no laughing matter, there were boobies and we were staring and had erections we could not even try to hide. Which is why I always found the idea of watching porn with friends a little strange.

Back to the point. Films like the ones below are the reason young men can’t wait to turn 17. They want to be able to rent these flicks themselves or to the theater to see them with a parent who is not going to understand. My kids are so lucky their dad is The Movie Whore.

Yesterday I was hanging out with my little brothers and we watched MISS MARCH and SEX DRIVE and I was reminded how much I missed watching the misadventures of young men in search of getting laid. I will tell you right now there is nothing funnier than the site of my little brothers reaction of total disbelief as he was reduced to repeating “That bitch flew out the window! No! That bitch flew out the motherfucking window!”

You had to be there, but I was on the ground in tears I was laughing so hard. Yes I was properly medicated.

The list below is brought to you by the fine people of Flickchart. You should swing on by and see what your all time favorite movie list really looks like.

Chasing Amy : “What’s a Nubian?”

“Since you like chicks, right, do you just look at yourself naked in the mirror all the time?”

“Well, can I at least tell people all you needed was some serious deep dicking?”

That is just a couple choice highlights form one of my favorite films of all time.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show : If you don’t like the RHPS, it says more about you than it will ever say about the film.

Knocked Up : Not really what I was going for but a damn funny movie.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin : This is what I am talking about. And so it was deemed that if you are a dude and you like Coldplay, you are gay. Apparently the same thing goes for liking balls in your face and here I thought it was just a bad fashion statement.

Superbad : “McLovin!”

This flick was missing only one key thing for it to be a great teen comedy worthy of being a one day classic and rite of passage ad that my friends is naked breasts and more of them please.

Eurotrip : “The worst twins ever!”

I even dug the over use of the Scotty Doesn’t Know song. This one was fun fro beginning to end and delivered some great topless shots will have horny teen age boys sneaking a peak for years to come.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High : A prerequisiste film for teenager regardless of sex. This is a must see film. If you have never seen it, go do it not, right now or I will stalk you until you do.

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder : The first time I saw this flick I thought I was looking at the illegitimate love child of Chevy Chase and I loved it. This movie had one of the worst gross out scenes of all time and I will never again eat an éclair.

Class : Who never had a friends whose mom was hot?

Risky Business : “Sometimes you just gotta say, “What the fuck, make your move.”

Throw in one of the sexiest women alive in one Rebecca DeMornay and you have yourself a movie.

A Dirty Shame : This was just fun and lots of it.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno : “She frosted my face like a chocolate cake.”

I can understand those who wished this film never saw the light of day, but as for me I laughed my ass off and damn Katie Morgan got new boobs.

National Lampoon’s Animal House : Classic flick. There is nothing I can say that has not already been said when it comes to this flick. Yo have to see it or your life will not be complete.

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo : It was funny, what can I say. The sun shines on a dogs ass once in a while right?

Skin Deep : This film contains one of the funniest scenes ever committed to film. I can’t tell you what it is and you do not want to know until it happens, but trust me you will be crying you are laughing so hard.

Bachelor Party :Trusted classic and the kind of film you will never see Tom Hanks do again. What a waste of comedic talent.

American Pie 2 : One word, lesbians. Not as good as the first but still watchable.

Can’t Buy Me Love : How in the blue blazes did this get on this list?

American Pie : I just watched this again not too long ago and this shit holds up great. “Say my name bitch!”

The House of Yes : Oh the lovely Parker Posie. Typically not my type of woman (Eat a damn cheeseburger already) but there is something about her in this flick. Oh yeah I forgot the bitch is stone cold nuts. It reminds you there is one great truth in this world when it comes to women, the crazier she is out of bed, the better she is in bed.

Now that I probably pissed off the women who read this site I will head for the door to the left. Took the one on the right last time and well, let’s just say there should not be much scarring after the wounds heal.