Horror films

Depending on the day and the mood I am in the horror genre is my favorite film genre. Just to be clear I do not like all types of horror films, and there are so many subgenres of horror that there is bound to be at least one film in the entire horror spectrum that you love and at least one that you absolutely cannot stand. My favorite types of horror movies are Stephen King-esque psychological thrillers a la Secret Window or Shutter Island or demonic horror films like The Exorcist or The Omen. One of the main reasons I believe I enjoy horror films so much is that they can potentially scare the hell out of you while at the same time entertain you. The feeling of having those two conflicting feelings at the same time is incredibly amazing. Some horror genres I cannot stand however are the splatter horror films that are nothing but blood and gore with little or no discernible plot. In my opinion any person with half a brain can make a film like that.

Training Day

I recently watched the movie Training Day at the insistence of my roommate. I was hesitant to watch this because I am not a big fan of director Antoine Fuqua, but I am a big fan of Denzel Washington so I decided to watch it. After the film I was instantly converted. Training Day's grittiness and bold honesty about the harsh streets of Los Angeles and the harsh beat that a narcotics officer has to face. The acting of Denzel Washington is phenomenal, before this role he had not really played many roles that required him to be harsh and street smart and he embraced this role wholeheartedly. Ethan Hawke also portrayed rookie narcotics officer Jake Hoyt very well, but Washington's portrayal of Alonzo Harris stole the show. The Oscar that Washington received for this portrayal was well-earned and I have also begun to be more receptive of Fuqua's films.

Leonardo DiCaprio's maturation as an actor

Now, more than ever, at age 36 Leonardo DiCaprio has proved that he is not just a actor for teenie-bopper fans of James Cameron's Titanic. DiCaprio has proved his reach as an actor working not only with Cameron but also with Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Nolan. Scorsese has taken a particular liking to DiCaprio featuring him in 4 of his films (The Aviator, Gangs of New York, The Departed, and Shutter Island) and in Shutter Island particularly he showed his reach as an actor. After Titanic DiCaprio kind of fell into obscurity for a while getting a role in the God-awful film The Man in the Iron Mask. His career got rejuvenated when he played opposite Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. After that film he caught the eye of Martin Scorsese who put him in Gangs of New York and DiCaprio said working with Scorsese really improved his acting range, and he had 3 more chances to expand it with Scorsese. His most recent starring role in Christopher Nolan's excellent film Inception. DiCaprio has nowhere to go but up as a very talented relatively young actor.

Christian Bale

One of the most prolific and talented actors in modern cinema is Christian Bale. His mastery of accents and his amazing ability to gain and lose weight is amazing. In the film The Machinist Bale lowered his weight to 112 lbs. 6 months after completion of filming The Machinist he began work on Batman Begins and raised his weight to 180 lbs. Bale, though he is English, has many roles where he displays his amazing ability to keep an American accent for a prolonged period of time. One of my favorite films with Christian Bale is American Psycho. Bale has a reputation for doing many art house films and independent movies and American Psycho is a prime example of it. American Psycho is based on a controversial novel of the same name written by Bret Easton Ellis. Christian Bale is one of the actors that is going to be remembered as one of the greatest actors of his time.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Peter Jackson revolutionized the cinema world when he filmed The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These films were a massive success that even the Academy recognized when Peter Jackson received the Best Director Oscar. My favorite film of the three is The Two Towers because it is when Aragorn begins to accept his destiny as Isildur's heir and leads the people of Rohan in the defense of Helm's Deep against the forces of Saruman. The special effects in the entire trilogy are just amazing and some of the shots are the most beautiful I have ever seen. Peter Jackson is one of the people who inspired me to want to be a film maker in the first place. Jackson's ability to move away from splatter horror films into The Lord of the Rings trilogy really shows a maturity in his film making ability. Jackson has the exact type of career that I pray that I will have in the near future. I realize that this will only happen if I work incredibly hard and catch a few lucky breaks but I still believe that I can do this.

Christopher Nolan and his Films

As a huge Batman fan upon the release of Batman Begins I immediately began following Christopher Nolan religiously. Inception, The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, and Insomnia are some of my favorite films of all time. Nolan and his brother generally work on films together and are very hands-on with their props. The "Batpod" which was Batman's motorcycle in The Dark Knight was made by Christopher Nolan and his brother in Nolan's garage. Overall Christopher Nolan has a very good track record for making excellent films that are always critically acclaimed.

Al Pacino

Throughout his entire career Al Pacino has done nothing but make good films. Pacino burst into the forefront of Hollywood with his iconic role as Michael Corleone in the seminal Godfather trilogy. As they say the rest is history. Pacino went on to star in Scarface, Scarecrow, Dog Day Afternoon, Scent of a Woman (won the Academy Award for best actor), Any Given Sunday, Heat, and Insomnia just to name a select few. When Pacino was first selected by Francis Ford Coppola to portray Michael Corleone the producers (and Mario Puzo, the author of "The Godfather") expressed concern about his lack of main character experience and the fact that he is very short. Paramount wanted Robert Redford to play Michael Corleone, but Coppola was insistent on an Italian-American. Al Pacino is the classic example of what can happen with a few lucky breaks and having an abundance of talent.   

Movies that entertain, not amaze.

Every now and then there is a film that comes put that sets the bar for movie makers everywhere. Other directors see this film and say "I want to make a film that is as good as that." What people fail to take into account is the dime a dozen movies that are simply entertaining. Yes, I will be the first to admit that there are films that come out that are simply God-awful but some come out that are entertaining. Movies like A History of Violence, The Machinist and series like the James Bond or Star Wars series are movies that are greatly entertaining to me. They are not Academy-Award winners but these films are good enough to make money and do the one job that films have: entertain the viewer. These films are easily dismissed by the snobby pseudo-intellectual wannabe film reviewers who do not realize that not all films have to be like Slumdog Millionaire to be good. They can simply be entertaining.

Kevin Smith and the View Askewniverse

Kevin Smith is one of my favorite screenwriters/directors. His films always skim the greasy layer of hypocrisy in the modern American social hierarchy. With his first film Clerks he introduced the world to what would eventually be called the View Askewniverse, named after his production company "View Askew Productions." This fictional universe is located among the towns of Leonardo, Highlands, and Red Bank all located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Smith has filmed 6 feature films that take place in the View Askewniverse and these are the films in chronological order; Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Clerks II. Most of these films received great reviews (Dogma faced controversy because of its satirical view on Catholicism) other than that though all of these films have been hysterical. They all focus on the "slackers" of the world, with the clerks Dante and Randal, the stoners and drug dealers Jay and Silent Bob, and the ability to do just enough to scrape through. What people fail to realize about Kevin Smith and his films though, is even though they are funny, they are still an art form and the best art draws you into its own world, so Kevin Smith created his own world.

Entourage, Scarface, and Medellin

One of my favorite television shows is the HBO series Entourage. Entourage centers around Vincent Chase, an A-list actor in Hollywood who, with his friends Eric, Turtle, Drama, and Ari navigate the high points and pitfalls of modern Hollywood fame. Starting in Season 3 of Entourage Vince gets approached to do a movie called Medellin, about Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Vince would play Escobar, and potentially this would be his greatest role ever. After many initial problems with pre-production for the film the director, Paul Haggis, drops out. Vince and his manager and best friend Eric get indy director Billy Walsh to direct the film and he agrees. People in the show compared Medellin to Scarface saying that like Scarface it will be a box office bomb. Vince however refuses to believe that stating that Scarface was ahead of its time and Medellin is not. Vince uses all his money and sells his house and cars to be able to film Medellin After the filming of Medellin t is shown at the Cannes Film Festival and, predictably, bombs. As somebody who wants to make a living in the movie industry there can be nothing worse than putting all your money and work ethic into one film that everybody calls terrible. I have had nightmares about something like that happening to me in the future, and all I can do is hope that it does not happen. Oliver Stone, after Scarface bombed was able to resurrect his career, and I hope that if it happens to me I will be able to resurrect my career as well.

Sam Harris and "Letter to a Christian Nation"

One thing that many people do not know about me is that I read a lot. Recently I read Sam Harris' book "Letter to a Christian Nation." Sam Harris is a hardcore atheist writer who first made waves with his book "The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason." Harris writes this book as a letter for people of the Christian faith as he methodically debunks every single facet of not just Christianity but every organized religion in the world (except for Jainism, who were ironically inspired Hitler to form the Nazi Party, but I guess Nazis get a pass). Do not misunderstand me Harris makes some good points but it still pisses me off that he feels so pathetic about his own miserable life that he tries to make other people miserable. That is my view of Sam Harris, and it will not change.

Martin Scorsese

When I examine my movie collection (500+ films) I cannot help but notice that the most prevalent director in my collection is Martin Scorsese. My Scorsese collection consists of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, and Shutter Island. Scorsese has a very unique style of filming. Scorsese uses elements of expressionism to replicate psychological points of view. He also has a penchant for using actors over and over again a la the Coen Brothers. Scorsese used Robert De Niro in many of his films such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, New York, New York, Goodfellas, Casino, and The King of Comedy. Now Scorsese is using Leonardo Di Caprio in a lot of his films. Scorsese also recently branched out into television with Boardwalk Empire about Capone controlled Chicago starring Steve Buscemi. Martin Scorsese is going to be remembered as one of the greatest contributors to modern cinema. 

The Office

My favorite show on the air right now is The Office. My roommate and I enjoy watching all the seasons. We have all of them on DVD and we watch each new episode Thursday nights on NBC. I find the show hilarious and if somebody does not like the show my general response is a disbelieving blank stare. I do however realize that the shows humor is not for everyone. It is a very dry humor, seeing as it is adapted from the original UK version of the show. The show however goes deeper than just humor. The characters have such a great chemistry with each other. The boss of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch is the affable nitwit Michael Scott, portrayed by Steve Carell. Michael Scott is a classic example of the Peter Principle, a good worker who is promoted high above his level of competency. He sees all of the characters at his place of employment as friends though he is generally regarded by his employees as a distraction. This coupled with the outrageously serious no-nonsense attitude of Dwight Schrute and the pranks and boring nature of Jim Halpert make for one hysterical show.