The PopMatters Film Blog 2009-07-10T13:19:53Z Copyright (c) 2009, PopMatters.com ExpressionEngine tag:popmatters.com-short-ends-and-leader,2009:07:10 tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107879 2009-07-10T11:35:00Z 2009-07-10T11:35:00Z Bill Gibron Ridiculing American rubes is like shooting dead, motionless fish in a barrel filled with Jell-O. The only "genius" involved is getting the public to buy it as scandal. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107880 2009-07-10T05:30:00Z 2009-07-10T05:30:00Z Bill Gibron Apparently, previous accomplishments and past reputation mean nothing in the "what have you done for me lately" world of Hollywood hackdom. Just because you've made excellent films as a director... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107885 2009-07-09T10:45:42Z 2009-07-09T10:45:42Z Bill Gibron It's lasted over six years. It's become the buzz in the background of our daily lives. It's the rote response to any "support our troops" suggestion. And even with a recent 'withdrawal', there still... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107834 2009-07-07T16:04:50Z 2009-07-07T16:04:50Z Bill Gibron It's been a hectic week here at SE&L, and before we climb the mountain of theatrical reviews coming this week (with Bruno, I Love You Beth Cooper, and The Hurt Locker... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107700 2009-07-06T05:00:14Z 2009-07-06T05:00:14Z Bill Gibron There are literally dozens of fanboy feuds in the realm of MST3K, fights as futile as Joel vs. Mike, Sci-Fi vs. Comedy Central, Crow T. Robot Mach 1 vs. Crow 2.0 - heck, even Rifftrax vs.... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107672 2009-07-05T13:20:18Z 2009-07-05T13:20:18Z Bill Gibron Consider the short film. Actually, consider the concept of the short film first. When people hear the label, they automatically think of a couple of completely different and competing conceits. The... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107638 2009-07-04T14:55:41Z 2009-07-04T14:55:41Z Bill Gibron What, exactly, happened to Renny Harlin? How did he go from hotshot newbie with an entire career before him to a cinematic afterthought left to helm horrid hackjobs like The Covenant and... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107618 2009-07-03T19:32:15Z 2009-07-03T19:32:15Z Bill Gibron As writers, we are taught to avoid clichés. Avoid them like the plague. Avoid them like red-headed step-children at a reunion. As a literary shortcut they supposedly show sloppiness and a lack... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107571 2009-07-02T15:08:01Z 2009-07-02T15:08:01Z Bill Gibron Legend has it that when Italian maestro Michelangelo Antonioni came to America to make his second English language film (after the monster success of Blow-up), he was shocked by the backlash... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107558 2009-07-01T20:42:10Z 2009-07-01T20:42:10Z Bill Gibron Sometimes a movie makes a decision so dumbfounding, or takes a narrative path so peculiar, that it can't fully recuperate from such a lame left turn. It happens all the time in horror, from the false... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107535 2009-07-01T12:41:57Z 2009-07-01T12:41:57Z Bill Gibron Most independent filmmakers lack balls. Oh sure, they think that by tackling their lingering interpersonal issues, traumas tripped by memories of failed potty training and the lack of parental love,... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107506 2009-06-30T21:30:03Z 2009-06-30T21:30:03Z Bill Gibron tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107480 2009-06-30T05:13:13Z 2009-06-30T05:13:13Z Bill Gibron We all have our causes. Animal rights. Kinky sex. Health. Gay and/or National pride. Religious zealotry. Artistic expression. Self-actualization. And within said philosophies are a million individual... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107460 2009-06-29T15:07:18Z 2009-06-29T15:07:18Z Bill Gibron It's official - the great cinematic experiment known as the video game adaptation is an outright failure. There's no denying it. Just look at the evidence. There have been so many bad examples of the... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107433 2009-06-28T18:10:25Z 2009-06-28T18:10:25Z Bill Gibron It's amazing how quickly illustrators and designers forget that animation is art. For most of them, the concept of cartooning and commerciality are so closely linked that, as long as it looks good... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107422 2009-06-28T04:36:56Z 2009-06-28T04:36:56Z Bill Gibron tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107285 2009-06-26T12:45:53Z 2009-06-26T12:45:53Z Bill Gibron Up until this point, they had avoided responsibility. They lived like nomads, sequestered from family and friends while indulging in their own insular (and happy) homebound careers. But biology -... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107288 2009-06-26T12:30:02Z 2009-06-26T12:30:02Z Bill Gibron She's the alien in the other room, the otherworldly creature riddled with a mysterious disease that is, somehow, destroying not only her, but the entire family. Dad maintains an aura of disconnect,... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107265 2009-06-25T13:44:41Z 2009-06-25T13:44:41Z Bill Gibron Whenever Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen needs a shot of senseless stupidity, Mudflaps and Skids show up and start acting like a bad post-modern minstrel show. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107140 2009-06-24T03:30:04Z 2009-06-24T03:30:04Z Bill Gibron In the history of half-baked blockbusters, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is raw and runny. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.107057 2009-06-23T13:00:24Z 2009-06-23T13:00:24Z Bill Gibron Here's an advanced look at the amazing Tromasterpiece Collection 2 Disc DVD set for the brilliant Buddy Giovinazzo's film Combat Shock, aka American Nightmare. You can preorder it from Amazon.com by following this LINK. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.102315 2009-06-22T15:00:07Z 2009-06-22T15:00:07Z Bill Gibron When it hit the web last week, film geeks everywhere felt the hairs on the nape of their neck tingle just a tiny little bit. Sure, we were dealing with that cinematic inconsistency known as Roland... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.102313 2009-06-21T18:00:21Z 2009-06-21T18:00:21Z Bill Gibron A foreboding metropolis that chews up young people, relegating their dreams to a distant memory within servitude and sacrifice. A society so strapped by tradition and "face" that the arrival of a... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.102246 2009-06-20T02:00:15Z 2009-06-20T02:00:15Z Bill Gibron There is a big difference between a documentary and a basic news story. The former is the byproduct of the cinematic artform, and as such, must conform to said standards. The latter is a result of... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.102221 2009-06-19T13:02:20Z 2009-06-19T13:02:20Z Bill Gibron Certain concepts give film fans a chance to get their genre geek groove on - as long as they are done properly. Title something 'Ninja Strippers' and you better be ready to show swordplay and skin.... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.102183 2009-06-18T15:29:50Z 2009-06-18T15:29:50Z Bill Gibron In theory, it's a fantastic idea - buying your DVDs directly from a studio, a service offering even the most discerning consumer the possibility of rifling through a huge untapped vault of unreleased... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.95237 2009-06-17T12:00:32Z 2009-06-17T12:00:32Z Bill Gibron In this installment, Caprica, Year One, The Informers, While She Was Out, and Sin Nombre ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.95174 2009-06-16T11:00:08Z 2009-06-16T11:00:08Z Bill Gibron He's one of cinema's most endearing 'characters', a figure of fear for nearly three decades. And yet he's not some one-liner quipping child killer or hulking sinister 'shape'. He doesn't wield a... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.95169 2009-06-15T16:48:37Z 2009-06-15T16:48:37Z Bill Gibron It's the 25th Anniversary of Buddy Giovinazzo's cult classic Combat Shock and Troma's new Tromasterpiece Collection is prepping a full blown two-disc Special Edition DVD to commemorate this... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.95049 2009-06-14T14:55:24Z 2009-06-14T14:55:24Z Bill Gibron Dario Argento has often been referred to as the 'Italian Hitchcock'. The filmmaker even made a latter day film based around the renowned British auteur. But with outlandishly stylized efforts like... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.95046 2009-06-13T21:54:16Z 2009-06-13T21:54:16Z Bill Gibron It's one of the rare times when the fans got it wrong. The faithful, ever vigilant in their protection of their beloved macabre myths, pounced all over Marcus Nispel's remake of Friday the... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94987 2009-06-12T08:00:59Z 2009-06-12T08:00:59Z Bill Gibron Michael Keaton has one of the most unusual career arcs ever. He began as a wild man stand-up, the kind of mirth maniac that typically lands a smalltime movie deal. He parlayed film success in such... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94953 2009-06-11T19:32:44Z 2009-06-11T19:32:44Z Bill Gibron So, someone finally wised up. Some suit, probably lacking the usual double de-caf latte that keeps his brain in perpetual denial for hours at a time, finally saw the light and fired Stephen Sommers -... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94812 2009-06-10T15:00:18Z 2009-06-10T15:00:18Z Diepiriye Kuku In a true Holly wood ending, Shug’s story would have ended when she burst into the church to face her father -- her community, kids, kin and parish. “Reverend Lee, do it to me,” she would have said in the typical Hollywood version, if not for the strong narrative of Alice Walker’s story. And we know what “it” means. “Do it,” is the most middle-school euphemism for f*cking. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94765 2009-06-09T14:16:05Z 2009-06-09T14:16:05Z Bill Gibron I wish I could take credit for the label. Instead, I first heard it from fellow critic Dawn Taylor. A Portland, OR staple low these many years, her press previews are frequently interrupted by what... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94697 2009-06-08T06:00:14Z 2009-06-08T06:00:14Z Bill Gibron Rumors have the final cost cruising somewhere close to $100 million, an amazing amount considering what eventually ended up on the screen. The stars have been plugging away, making the talk show... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94624 2009-06-06T13:33:38Z 2009-06-06T13:33:38Z Bill Gibron Martin Scorsese has his Robert DeNiro. Tony Scott has Denzel Washington. In fact, there are a lot of directors who single out a certain actor to realize their particular vision. Even in the... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94528 2009-06-05T13:00:29Z 2009-06-05T13:00:29Z Bill Gibron Listen up, Hollywood! There is only one way to handle the remake of a kitschy, campy, '60s/'70s fever dream classic - and, no, we aren't talking about the way you typically treat this kind of... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94527 2009-06-05T10:51:07Z 2009-06-05T10:51:07Z Chris Barsanti A finely pedigreed comic road film that, when all is said and done, is too finely-tooled for the NPR set to have much life left in it. ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94533 2009-06-04T21:39:29Z 2009-06-04T21:39:29Z Sean Murphy Kill Bill and the ways he dutifully pays homage to old school pop culture icons, there were a couple of reasons that movie... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94509 2009-06-04T15:14:09Z 2009-06-04T15:14:09Z Bill Gibron With Land of the Lost slinking into theaters like the dying 800lb $100 million gorilla it is, the Kroffts better take stock of their entire creative canon before another high concept idea... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94482 2009-06-03T20:25:05Z 2009-06-03T20:25:05Z Bill Gibron In order to get ready for the new big screen adaptation of the Sid and Marty Krofft '70s kid extravaganza, SE&L features a review written by our editor, Bill Gibron, back when the original TV series was released on DVD. Enjoy (trust us - it's MUCH better than the upcoming movie). ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94383 2009-06-02T16:36:35Z 2009-06-02T16:36:35Z Bill Gibron Listen up, Hollywood. Lance Henriksen is one of your greatest unexploited assets. Get this man's name above the marquee NOW! ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94318 2009-06-01T19:45:56Z 2009-06-01T19:45:56Z Bill Gibron How do they do it? How do they maintain such a level of consistency while others flip and flop around between commercial hits/misses and critical dismissal? For many in the animation field, Pixar's... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94261 2009-05-31T18:49:23Z 2009-05-31T18:49:23Z Bill Gibron Language is a virus. William Burroughs made that sentiment popular, and post-modern cultural has made it Gospel. We thrive on the communicable nature of words, drink in their poisonous purpose and... ]]> tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/short-ends-and-leader/17.94125 2009-05-29T13:06:06Z 2009-05-29T13:06:06Z Bill Gibron Perhaps it's time to stop wondering and simply believe. Every year, like cinematic clockwork, we critics hear about the latest release pending from Pixar and our thoughts notoriously turn to the big... ]]>