Posted on May 3, 2008 at 8:00 am
For the first time this year, the awards ceremony for the industry that makes movie trailers was broadcast on television. Trailers are their own art form — sometimes more entertaining than the movie. This year’s winners included:
300
The Science of Sleep
Bee Movie
Posted on April 1, 2008 at 8:00 am
Novelty songwriter Ross Bagdasarian noticed that speeding up the audio recordings creatd a high-pitched sound in 1958, and used that technique in his song “The Witch Doctor.” It was a hit. And so, he created the singing chipmunks, Simon, Theodore, and AAAAAlvin. Their record-breaking Christmas song sold four and a half million records in seven weeks — a record not broken until the Beatles — and won two Grammy awards. The high pitch of the voices was the novelty, but what made the record a hit was the relationship between Bagdasarian, who chose the stage name Dave Seville after the Spanish town he had been stationed in during the second World War, and the chipmunks, scholarly Simon, cheery Theodore, and especially mischievous Alvin. It became a franchise, with more records, an animated television series, product endorsements, and “appearances” with real-life rock stars. What was left? A feature-length movie, inspired by the origin story. But any charm in the original idea has been diluted and all that remains is packaging. It is 9/10 product placement, 1/10 filler.
Posted on March 29, 2008 at 8:00 am
Two of the best performances of the year so far were given by Victor Rasuk in “Stop Loss” and Melonie Diaz in “Be Kind Rewind.” Both got their start in a little-seen independent film called a “minor miracle” by Salon movie critic Stephanie Zacharek, “Raising Victor Vargas.” The young actors share their names with their characters, and the film has an intimate, improvised, documentary feel as it explores their struggles to find themselves and make connections. Watch for another supremely natural performance from first-timer Altagracia Guzman as the grandmother. Winner of Independent Spirit awards for direction and first screenplay, this is a quiet gem of a movie. I am delighted to see Rasuk and Diaz continuing to grow as performers and look forward to seeing what they do next.
Posted on February 22, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Better than the Oscars! Beliefnet announces its picks for the best spiritual movies and performances of last year. I like these awards because they honor what is inspiring and moving, because they let both professionals and movie fans vote, and because they provide pro and con arguments for each of the nominees that are thought-provoking and insightful.
Cheers to the winners and all the nominees!
Judges
Best feature film: “Amazing Grace,” the story of William Wilberforce, pioneering abolitionist
Best performance: Emile Hirsch in “Into the Wild” (my argument for is here)
Best documentary: “Into Great Silence,” which brings audiences into the world of the Grande Chartreuse, one of the world’s most ascetic monasteries.
Beliefnet readers:
Best feature film: “Amazing Grace”
Best performance: Will Smith as the last man on earth in “I am Legend”
Best documentary: “For the Bible Tells Me So,” an exploration of tolerance for and acceptance of homosexuality within the religious traditions
Posted on February 19, 2008 at 10:25 pm
USA Today has a terrific movie quiz. If you can recognize phrases like “La de dah,” “Show me the money,” “I see dead people,” and “If anyone orders merlot, I’m leaving,” you should be able to rack up an impressive score. The best thing about the quiz is that a right answer gets you the movie clip!
