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Actors We Miss: Jack Lemmon

By Jessica Barnes (Subscribe to Jessica Barnes's posts), Posted Nov 26th 2010 11:30AM
Filed under: Features, Cinematical


In the history of film, there has never been another actor quite like Jack Lemmon. He was the comic cohort of Walter Matthau, Billy Wilder's muse, and easily one of the most talented actors of his time (or any other). His work was the definition of classic American manhood, and on this Black Friday, the most holy of capitalist days, we immediately think back to some of Lemmon's most lasting works -- the films that had the nerve to challenge the modern myth of The American Dream.

So when you're done with the malls and the crowds, for this installment of Actors We Miss we thought you might like to take a moment to remember Mr. Lemmon, not only for his comedic talent and heart-warming characters, but also for the films that challenged the demise of morality and the rise of capitalism -- if nothing else, it might make you feel better to rail against the system before you get that credit card bill next month.
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Can Literary Mash-ups Make Good Movies?

By Jessica Barnes (Subscribe to Jessica Barnes's posts), Posted Nov 5th 2010 11:35AM
Filed under: Features, Cinematical

It was definitely one of the stranger trends in literary history in a very long time: take some of the most famous names in history (literary or otherwise) and plunk them down into adventures with zombies, vampires, or sea monsters. Walk into any book store and these titles are lining the shelves (even Anna Karenina got a cyber-makeover), and it's all because of one man: Seth Grahame-Smith. So it was just a matter of time before Hollywood came knocking because Tinseltown loves it when someone has already done their work for them, and here were a big pile of 're-imanginings' right at their fingertips. So deals were struck: it all began when Natalie Portman signed on to star in the film adaptation of Smith's Austen first mash-up, 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombiez' (though she has since dropped out). Now we have news that Tom Hardy is in the running for 'Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter' and I had to ask myself: forget worrying about casting, should we even be making these movies in the first place?

But before you roll your eyes and scroll away, let me be clear: this isn't a rant about how movie versions of books are genetically inferior, nor are these the demands of literary purist. Nope, this is just a discussion about whether these books -- which even as novels have received their fair share of criticism, are destined to become this generation's 'Billy the Kid vs. Dracula.' Or even worse; they just turn out to be plain old bad movies.
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Election Results Got You Down? Watch These Political Movies Instead!

By Jessica Barnes (Subscribe to Jessica Barnes's posts), Posted Nov 2nd 2010 9:15PM
Filed under: Features, Cinematical


Hopefully as you read this, you have already performed your civic duty and made your way to your local polling station for that great exercise in democracy: voting.

It's easy to be cynical about politics, but today is the big day, and the fate of the country is in your hands. Although in the interests of transparency, I should probably tell you that I am a card-carrying Canadian, so I'm with you in spirit if not in citizenship. Our countries may be very different when it comes to our politics, but I know enough about the world to know that what happens tonight affects not only America, but the rest of the world as well, which is pretty heavy, right? Because as the great Sandy Bates once said, "I'm for total honest democracy. I also believe the American system can work." (you'll just have to imagine the 'rim shot')

But there isn't much to do other than wait and see, and since we've got a few hours to kill before the results are in, why not pop in a movie? You don't have to spend your evening staring at 'the big board'; you can get your political fix from the silver screen -- because at least when it comes to bad politicians in the movies, we know it's going to be over in two hours. If only we could say the same for the real world.

But back to the movies; after the jump are five political classics you should watch instead of tonight's election results ...
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Cinematical Seven: When Good Girls Get Revenge

By Jessica Barnes (Subscribe to Jessica Barnes's posts), Posted Oct 7th 2010 9:50PM
Filed under: Cinematical

There are some very good reasons why the phrase, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" has endured. For one, it's just a cool expression. But a much better reason is that women have been in the revenge business for a long time and we're very good at it.

In polite society, women have always been discouraged from letting their baser natures rule, and if someone offended your sensibilities, you didn't challenge them to a duel, you just plotted and schemed in the background. But revenge isn't just about mind games -- it's a primal emotion we all experience, and on the big screen it has endured as a theme for that very reason. Besides, it's just so damn satisfying to see the bad guy (or gal) get what they deserve, and usually the bloodier the vengeance, the better.

This week the remake of Meir Zarchi's controversial horror flick 'I Spit on Your Grave' is hitting theaters and it reminds us that in the world of big screen revenge, vengeful women are born from one of two major themes; defending hearth and home or avenging a sexual assault (occasionally, it's both). It's not clear if this is because audiences need an obvious justification for a woman to turn to the dark side (and for most women, there is no more horrifying threat than rape and there isn't a woman alive who doesn't gets a cheap thrill watching a dirt-bag rapist suffer), but revenge is a tricky business in the movies; the originating offense must be so great that we are comfortable with our protagonist and their plans for murder and mayhem -- otherwise what makes our hero different from any other bully?
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Scenes (Songs) We Love: "Sweet Jane" from 'Natural Born Killers'

By Jessica Barnes (Subscribe to Jessica Barnes's posts), Posted Sep 20th 2010 6:02PM
Filed under: Scenes We Love, Cinematical


I love a good cover song. Of course, most of them suffer by comparison, but occasionally there is a song that manages to become its own original creation. Today's nominee to the history of Scenes (Songs) We Love is one of those songs: the Cowboy Junkies take on Sweet Jane from 'Natural Born Killers'. For some, the thought that anything could come close to Lou Reed's original creation is pure heresy, but I'm a sucker for a song that tries to make something their own, and I think the Junkies' manage to pull it off.

Oliver Stone's film was the story of a pair of serial killers (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) hacking their away across America while becoming media darlings, and the film included some truly "out there" performances from Robert Downey Jr. as a sleazy media type, Tommy Lee Jones, and Rodney Dangerfield. The story was originally written by Quentin Tarantino, although the finished product bore little resemblance to QT's vision. No one could ever accuse Stone of being a subtle filmmaker and one of the major stumbling blocks to his opus on celebrity culture and crime is that he manages to get his point across about halfway through the film, and then there is at least another hour of Stone continuing to make his point... over and over and over again.
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Cinematical Seven: 7 Video Games That Could Make Great Movies

By Jessica Barnes (Subscribe to Jessica Barnes's posts), Posted Sep 14th 2010 10:32PM
Filed under: Fandom, Cinematical Seven, Games and Game Movies, Cinematical


Disney's 'Prince of Persia' is hitting DVD shelves this week, and while the latest addition to the history of perfectly serviceable video game flicks wasn't the franchise-booster the studio was counting on, I wouldn't bet that Hollywood is done with video game movies just yet. Last weekend at the box office proved once again that game franchise fans will always stand up and show their pride on opening weekend -- and if there is money to be made Hollywood will continue to return to the well again, and again ... and again. Which might sound depressing to you non-gamers or gamer haters, but I'm an optimist, and I choose to believe that video games are just as good as any other medium, like novels or board games -- you just have to do it right.

Everybody thinks they have the perfect formula for making a video game into a great movie (the world is full of armchair quarterbacks, and I'm no different), but for most gamers, one of the frustrating things about most console-to-big screen endeavors is that they usually bear little resemblance to the game that everyone loved in the first place. Take for example 'Silent Hill'. There was a game with great design, atmosphere, and a relatively cinematic plot, but by the time the title made it to the big screen everything was different, and not in a good way. In fact, if you scan a list of some of the video game flicks in the last couple of years you'll see that they all suffer from a similar fate.

We are living in a golden age of video games, and we've come a long way from Pong. Games now have stories and visuals that are just as complex as anything we can get at the movies, which is why today's Cinematical Seven is about video games still out there that have what it takes to be great movies.
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Scenes (Songs) We Love: "I've Had Enough" from 'Quadrophenia'

By Jessica Barnes (Subscribe to Jessica Barnes's posts), Posted Sep 9th 2010 7:32PM
Filed under: Drama, Music & Musicals, Fandom, Scenes We Love, Cinematical

I may love music in the movies, but there are very few musicians who I think ever truly made great films. But even though today's nominee for Scenes (Songs) We Love is definitely not a perfect movie, it's accompanying soundtrack is stacked with damn near perfect songs. Which is why I decided to honor British rock legends, The Who, and I've Had Enough from their 1979 film, Quadrophenia.

Directed by Franc Roddam, the musical centered on a young Mod named Jimmy (played by Phil Daniels) who is strung out and stuck in a dead end job and spending his nights brawling with local Rockers (or Greasers, to those of us on this side of the pond). The story is full of all the usual youthful discontent, but in the world of The Mods, it didn't matter how miserable you were as long has you had the right scooter, haircut, and the perfect suit. As for that quizzical title? Well, don't run to the dictionary yet, because it isn't actually a real world. The title was a combination of the word schizophrenia with the quad (or four) representing the four different band members.

The original album was released in '76 and is comprised of some of the band's greatest songs; Love Reign o'er Me, The Real Me, and The Punk and The Godfather are just a few of them. I could go on (don't even get me started on Bellboy or Cut My Hair) but I'll leave you with the very strong recommendation to add the album to your collection if you don't own it already. The song is the final tune of the film, when we watch Jimmy rebel against his mentor (a Brighton bellboy played by Sting) as he decides to 'throw in the parka'.

Watch the scene after the jump...
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