Who Has Died Most Often On Screen? (Spoiler Alert!)

Posted on January 7, 2011 at 8:00 am

It’s a big moment in any movie when one of the main characters dies, whether in battle, by accident, foul play, or natural causes. The nice people at the information site ChaCha have done the math and figured out which actors have died most often in movies. They also point out some interesting patterns and coincidences — De Niro was killed by Pacino in “Heat” and then Pacino was then killed by De Niro in “Righteous Kill” and Bruce Willis had two movie deaths at the hand of his then-wife, Demi Moore.

Season of the Witch

Posted on January 6, 2011 at 6:24 pm

This is sword-and-sorcery film named after a Donovan song that features a joke swiped from “Jaws” — a priest looks balefully up at a looming demon and actually says, “We’re going to need more holy water.” It is a hopeless mish-mash that feels like they were making it up as they went along. It’s also dull.

Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman play Crusades-era knights and best bros named Behman and Felson who like to engage in jocular banter as they mow down infidels. When the commanding priest sends them to kill unarmed civilians, telling them they are not allowed to question him because he speaks for God, they go AWOL. They come to a town afflicted by the black plague. The Cardinal (a pustulous Christopher Lee) orders them to deliver the witch they believe responsible for the pestilence to a distant abbey, where there is a book with the necessary incantation to defeat her powers.

And so, there is a journey, hauling the accused witch in an iron cage, guided by a swindler who says he knows the way and accompanied by a priest and an alter boy who wants to be a knight. They encounter a rickety bridge, demon wolves, and some beautiful Hungarian scenery while the girl in the cage (Claire Foy) runs mind games on them and we check our watches to see how much more before it’s all over.

The production design by Uli Hanisch and the cinematography by Amir M. Mokri are stunning. Sadly, the vapidity of the script overcomes their atmospheric effect.

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Change of Plans — Family Movie Night on FOX

Posted on January 6, 2011 at 8:00 am

The latest in the WalMart and P&G-sponsored Family Movie Night series is “Change of Plans,” starring “American Idol’s” Brooke White as a free-spirited singer married to an engineer and pilot (Joe Flanigan of “Stargate Atlantis”). When her one-time best friend, a Peace Corps volunteer, is killed, the couple find themselves guardians for her four children. They agree to suspend their casual lifestyle temporarily while a permanent home is found for them, but, well, there’s a change of plans.
White has a natural ease and sparkle on screen and the show gives her a chance to sing as well. The saga of children thrust upon carefree characters and a relationship that evolves from thinking of them as an inconvenience to thinking of them as family is a well-established one, but there are some nice moments and I especially liked the interactions with the children, three adopted from Guatemala, Uganda, and China. They bring their own cultures to the story (“football” means something different everywhere but America and African drums can work well in a pop song). Jayme Lynn Evans, who plays the oldest of the children, has some lovely moments as she moves from resentful caretaker of the younger kids to acknowledge her own vulnerability and sense of loss.
I really appreciate the commitment to movies that families can watch together and look forward to more.
Watch the trailer here and be entered to win a big-screen TV.

Change of Plans

Dorothy’s Ruby Slipper on Ebay!

Posted on January 5, 2011 at 10:31 pm

Here’s your chance! A piece of movie magic is for sale on Ebay — one of the ruby slippers made for “The Wizard of Oz.” At least seven pair were made for the film and you can see one pair that appeared in the movie on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. (In the book, they were silver slippers, but red shows up better on film.)
Now’s your chance to have one for your own collection. It’s just one shoe, so you won’t be able to try clicking your heels together to see if they will take you home. Oh, and you’ll need $3 million, plus another $500 for shipping costs.
If you buy it, let me know!

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Tough Teen Girls in the Movies of 2010

Posted on January 5, 2011 at 3:52 pm

The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday has a terrific year-end round-up about an unusual trend in 2010 movies, tough teen girls. From gritty dramas like “Fish Tank” and “Winter’s Bone” to ultra-violent fantasies like “Kick-Ass” and “Let Me In” (both starring Chloe Grace Moretz, who was a wise and confident middle schooler in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid“), from a fairy tale (“Tangled“) to a western (“True Grit“), to an armor-wearing, dragon-slaying Alice in Wonderland, teen girls were brave, strong, adventuresome, and bent on justice.

Why now? The success of “Twilight” helped show Hollywood that young women wield considerable force at the box office, so studios have understandably started to pay attention. Actresses like Angelina Jolie (“Salt,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”) and Milla Jovovich (“Resident Evil”) have proven that action isn’t just the sole purview of Y chromosomes. And we may be seeing a generational shift whereby writers and directors raised with an expectation of gender equality bring that sensibility to their filmmaking.

This is a trend I hope to see more of in 2011.

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