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(12/11/09 6:00am)
Given Kanye West's inclusion in this prestigious list, it seems
ludicrous that Jay-Z could not find a spot. Two of Jay's albums
from the 2000s—The Blueprint and The Black
Album —are both part of that elusive hip-hop classics
category. Perhaps Hova suffered from a ""what have you done for me
lately"" vibe from voters, choosing to remember the tepid
Kingdom Come or the solid but overproduced Blueprint
3.
(12/06/09 6:00am)
I've spent the last few weeks thinking of what to write for this
final column. The ideas ranged from complex (Eisenstein was a
pioneer for all current filmmaking) to silly (the oeuvre of Nicolas
Cage). But in the end, I felt I had to return to what I do best:
Finding the worst ideas for movies and mocking them
mercilessly.
(12/03/09 6:00am)
Every so often, movies come along that are so poorly contrived,
so badly written and so shoddily directed that there's no way to
put a positive spin on their release. Instead, critics get their
jollies raining criticism down on the film, while snarky film
aficionados quote each other's scathing critiques of the film. Even
I have fallen victim to this vicious cycle, as I was once quoted on
various websites in a review of 2008's ""Disaster Movie"" as saying
""the mere fact that this movie (and its predecessors) exists at
all boggles the mind.""
(11/23/09 6:00am)
""Twilight"" fans hit theaters in record numbers Friday, giving
""The Twilight Saga: New Moon"" one of the biggest opening weekends
in film history.
(11/18/09 6:00am)
The other day, I was passing my time in the Cardinal office by
reading some old issues from a few years ago. Not just because I
was curious as to what Mayor Dave's favorite rock 'n' roll album of
all time was (a standard question for The Daily Cardinal when
interviewing politicians), but also because I wanted to see what my
predecessors wrote for film columns.
(11/11/09 6:00am)
The big winner in the box office this past week was Robert
Zemeckis' update of Charles Dickens' ""A Christmas Carol,"" a film
that has already been made countless times. Once again, Zemeckis
decided to experiment with motion capture animation, in which the
actors do their scenes in front of green screens, and then animated
versions of them are placed into animated backgrounds.
(11/04/09 6:00am)
Free speech in film has been an issue for a long time. Ever
since the first major full-length film, D.W. Griffith's
racially-charged ""Birth of a Nation,"" films have been protested,
boycotted and decried for their controversial content. Like any
other medium used for expression, there will always be lines drawn
and people willing to cross them.
(10/28/09 6:00am)
Before I get too far into this topic, I have to admit something
to all of you: I am absolutely, no-holds-barred 100 percent the
worst horror movie viewer of all time. I can't stand getting
scared. Even the mildest of scary movies leave me covering my ears,
squinting my eyes and praying for the film to be done already. The
only time I force myself to watch horror movies is when they seem
ready to become a cultural hallmark, or when they are so critically
acclaimed (""The Sixth Sense,"" ""Let the Right One In"") that I
can't truly call myself a movie expert without seeing them.
(10/22/09 6:00am)
Halloween is arriving a week early for moviegoers this year, and
it looks like this year's movies are attending the weekend box
office costume party as David and Goliath. Going as Goliath is
""Saw VI,"" another installment in the unstoppable torture-porn
franchise. With a relatively cheap budget of $10 million and a
built-in audience that can't wait to see more Jigsaw action, ""Saw
VI"" has everything going for it.
(10/21/09 6:00am)
I try to avoid redundancy at all costs in my column topics. I
try to look at all aspects of film and the industry at large. I
talk about theaters, film websites, awards, scandals and, of
course, films themselves. But no matter how hard I try, I can't
help but come back to one ever-popular topic: terrible, terrible
films.
(10/18/09 6:00am)
Max isn't like other kids. He's introverted, aggressive and
moody. Despite learning advanced astronomy in class, he still hides
in blanket forts in his room, issuing commands to his army of
stuffed animals. He moves from happily throwing snowballs to crying
silently at his departing sister to destroying her room in a
furious tantrum. And despite this, he is a king.
(10/15/09 6:00am)
After a devastating—albeit unsurprising—loss to Ohio State last
week, the Badgers take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at Camp Randall
tomorrow. Given last year's precipitous drop-off following their
first loss, the team needs to win this game to show the nation it
is a contender in the Big Ten title picture. Last week, Athletic
Director Barry Alvarez gave the team a pep talk, hoping to spark
enough excitement to pull off an upset at the Horseshoe. This week,
I offer my own motivational technique in hopes of spurring the
Badgers to a truly happy Homecoming weekend.
(10/14/09 6:00am)
Every time I run a movie review on the arts page, I try to find
some promotional pictures and information on the film on two movie
sites: IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Both feature not only glamorous
shots from the movie, but they also have all the relevant
information I need to fact-check the article (unsurprisingly, I
have to check the spelling of Schwarzenegger every single time he's
mentioned).
(10/07/09 6:00am)
If you're like any other hipster out there, you're already
excited beyond compare about the upcoming movie release of ""Where
the Wild Things Are."" Everyone's favorite childhood book about
independence, rebellion and imagination is sure to be one of the
biggest releases of the fall. With indie darling Spike Jonze
(""Adaptation,"" ""Being John Malkovich"") directing and hipster
queen Karen O writing the soundtrack, even the most ardent
counter-culture types have anointed ""Where the Wild Things Are"" a
success.
(09/30/09 6:00am)
Perhaps the biggest news in the film industry this week was the
arrest of noted filmmaker and fugitive of the law Roman Polanski.
Polanski is the director of great films such as ""Chinatown,""
""Rosemary's Baby"" and most recently, ""The Pianist,"" for which
he won an Academy Award for Best Director. He was also a fugitive,
wanted in the United States for the rape of a 13-year-old in 1977,
until his arrest Saturday in Switzerland.
(09/24/09 6:00am)
Had swine flu? Know someone who has? Worried about getting it?
If you answered no to any or all of those questions, you're
probably in the minority on campus. Swine Flu has swept through our
university, sending officials scrambling to contain it while
students enjoy the three days off from school.
(09/24/09 6:00am)
During halftime of last Saturday's football game, the UW band
once again regaled us with what I assume was a wonderful
performance, though I couldn't really hear it in the student
section. Usually the halftime performances are more for the benefit
of the adults, with the students occasionally engaged by a song
like ""Sweet Caroline"". However, my mid-game space-out was
interrupted by the announcer, as he informed us the band was now
playing ""the time-honored classic ‘Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah'"".
(09/17/09 6:00am)
This summer my roommate and I were thinking of movies to watch
on one of the many rainy evenings in July. I suggested the Pixar
masterpiece ""WALL-E,"" even though I had already seen it about six
times. My roommate Jared said he'd never seen it before, an
admission akin to treason in my book, so I forced him to sit and
watch with us.
(09/15/09 6:00am)
The beginning of the college football season also marks the
release of the newest editions of college football video games.
Playing the role of Florida, perennial powerhouse EA Sports has
brought the house with ""NCAA Football 2010."" Given the hype
surrounding the newest game, the game's shortcomings are a bit
surprising.
(09/10/09 6:00am)
The year 2003 is important for many reasons. The United States
officially invaded Iraq, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor
of California, and China officially joined Russia and America by
becoming the third country to put a person in space. However, none
of these can possibly parallel the event that occurred on February
21, 2003; that was the day the Todd Phillips film ""Old School""
hit theaters and changed the landscape of comedy for the next
decade.