Say goodbye to Hollywood?

Screenwriters are holding out in a long push against one of the biggest money-making industries in the world. All of Hollywood came to a standstill when screenwriters walked out of studios on November 5, 2007. Their contracts were not renewed and coming up on the 12th week the picture still looks pretty grim. It is almost as dramatic as the scene in Singing in the Rain, when everyone is told to go home "until further notice" due to the success of cinematic sound. Indeed the studios have shutdown and the industry suffering a serious internal divide.

Although talks are being had, many are wondering if the strike will last until the scheduled date of the 2008 Academy Awards coming up on the 24th of February. If no settlement is reached the broadcast will be a public disaster and a definite blow to Hollywood studios.

In short, without screenwriters there is no Academy, much less a fashion bizarre at the Oscars. From the way things are looking it seems as though Billy Joel had it right in his hit song: Say Goodbye to Hollywood...say goodbye my baby.

The Bucket List

Jack Nicholson and Moragn Freeman star in a new dramatic comedy that is cracking-up theatres all over the U.S.. The Bucket List is a film about a the friendship between Edward Cole (Nicholson), a coporate billionaire and Carter Chambers (Freeman), a freshman year philosophy professor turned mechanic.

When both are in the hospital being treated for terminal cancer, Chambers remembers his teaching years in which he would tell his students to create a list with all the things they would want to do and accomplish before they kicked the bucket -- hence the name of the film. Cole loves the idea, convincing Chambers that they have to fulfill their respective list before they die. While Cole bank-rolls their fantastic adventures, Chambers soaks it all in with a deep joy and thanksgiving. He in turn encourages Cole to fulfill the one last thing on his list that money can't buy: reconciliation with his family.

Nicholson and Freeman, although both Academy Award winners, never cease to surprise audiences with their superb performances. As both grow older on the screen and in real life, the movie could perhaps be a film that both talented actors had on a bucket list when they first engaged in Hollywood, however many years ago. In any event, let's hope their are still more items to be realized...

ATONEMENT

The movie Atonement took first place for best drama at the Golden Globe Awards Ceremony Sunday night, after being nominated for six others.

The film is an emotional story of betrayal, envy, accusation and repentance. When a teenage girl is envious of her older sister's newly found love, she accuses the boyfriend of a crime he did not commit, condemning him to make the choice of either prison or fighting in the war. He chooses the latter, inevitably changing the lives of the three involved. The young teen grows up with heavy guilt, which she tries to erase and atone for until the end of her days. English stars, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, delivered a convincing performance as did the score taking away the film's second reward at the ceremony.

The Golden Globe ceremony was held in press conference style and lasted only half an hour. In light of the strike by Writers Guild of America, the once glitzy ceremony was given little hipe, and much less went to the rewards, with no actors or envoys present to receive them. Movie producers and companies are trying to appease strikers before the Academy Awards, hoping that in a months time the red carpet will be spread in front of fleeting stars. If not, atonement is sure to have another win...

There will be Blood

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am an oilman,'' are the first words uttered by protagonist Daniel Plainview in the new movie, There will be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It is a simple description, holding the rest of the movie prisoner as the events of the oilman's success begin to slowly (sometimes painfully) unfold.

The film is set in the late 1800's and tells the story of a poor miner that becomes filthy rich when he discovers oil. It is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 book titled Oil!, a novel about the American gold industry and the underlying force that propelled it: greed. However in the movie's case, oil is the object and a fierce, rugged, hard man is its predator.

Although Daniel Day-Lewis gives a performance that hardly any other could ever deliver, the movie is suspiciously suspect for it anti-capitalist portrayal of man's lust for money and the greed that drives him to pursue it. Entertainment Weekly described the film as, "a story set in the fabled bad-old-days, [with] the terrors of modernity in its DNA." It is a "terror of modernity" that is brought about by a man's hard work, consquentially leading him to success? According to the movie, capitalism and the free market are the true enemy in today's world and those who enjoy their successes are its allies. But in this case, the proverb holds true for Hollywood: those is glass houses should not throw stones. Director, actor, or oilman the free market has given them their success. Who should be complaining?

Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War is a movie based on the true story about a democrat from Texas who helped the Afghani's defeat the Soviet Empire in the 1980's. Charlie Wilson, played by Tom Hanks, was the main catalyst on the National Defense sub-committee which gave the Afghani's funding and weaponry to get the Soviets out of their country. His billionaire friend from Texas, Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), was also shown in the movie as an influential pawn during the war, that fundraised money and awarenss for the Afghani cause.

The movie portrays these events as well as Charlie's personal life filled with alcohol, drugs and women. He was a socialite, feeding on fame and glamour while drowing in whiskey and hot-tubs. Because Charlie is a Democrat, the movie took an occasional and expected dig at Republicans, showing them to be stupid, unaware, and insensitive. Ronald Reagan is referred to in a comment by one of the actors as having little knowledge of the Afghan situation -- a thing hardly believable considering the fall of the entire Soviet Empire during his influential presidency. In addition the movie makes it clear that it was republicans on the Defense Committee that voted to withdraw the American troops from Afghanistan, leaving it vulnerable to the Saudi money that would facilitate the education in the country, based on anti-western sentiments.

Charlie Wilson's War is no doubt a product of Hollywood, highlighting bad language and naked body parts while at the same time remembering a good cause, that of the suffering plight of Afghani's. Charlie seemed to have had it all: beautiful women, money, fame and good will towards a victim nation. Moral of the story: anything is permissible, so long as every once in a while philanthropy shines through...

The Great Debaters

Set in the 1930's, The Great Debaters is a movie portraying a debate team from an all black college in Texas that wins its way to make a name for itself, culminating with an invitation to debate at Havard University. The movie was inspired by the story of the debate coach of Wiley College, Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington), who taught his students to use words in the ring of social justice, instead of violence. Faced with racial slanders, prison threats and even lynching, the coach encourages his students to see God as their judge and their only enemy being that of not speaking the truth.

Overall it is an entertaining movie, no doubt parading a strong cast. However its weakest point lay where it should have had its strongest: the debates themselves are cliche and predictable. For a movie boasting the title of The Great Debaters, it was disappointing to watch the young team discuss issues like welfare, civil disobedience, violence and anti-capitalism (all being in favor of the above), using emotion to appeal to the audience, which is the first thing taught NOT to do when debating. Instead of basing the debates on reason and evidence, the movie focused on feelings and victim-hood, contradicting the underlying principle of speaking the truth. Feelings are relative; the truth is not. It would have been better if the intrinsic dignity of man was highlighted, rather than the tears of a black mother when she looks into her child's eyes, who is down-trodden with hunger, for the same holds true for a white mother whose child is hungry.

In short, debate should be objective and reasonable, not subjective and hyperbolized with emotion. It is an intellectual process of critical thinking -- something Hollywood's techniques of dumbing everything down for the big screen has yet to prove it can accomplish.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman: big names remaking a classic tale dripping with blood, betrayal and revenge. The new film, due in theatres this month, is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Benjamin Barker (Depp) is a carefree barber living in England. A wicked judge, played by Rickman, tries to seduce Barker's wife and in turn has the barber exiled to Australia. When Barker finally returns to England under the phony name of Sweeney Todd, he has only one thing on his mind: revenge. He doubles up with Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), a pie shop owner who knew Barker and his family´s history from the years past. The two form a pact in which Todd slits the throats of his unlikable clients and Lovett disposes of them in her minced meat pies -- no doubt an improvement on British cuisine.

Characterized usually as a "musical thriller", the movie is a cinematic version of the broadway musical composed by Stephen Sondheim. Box office sales will show if the Hollywood rendition has the same success as its theatrical counter-part. Being that graphic design can create the perfect murder, soaked in blood and gore, the movie version of Sweeney Todd will most likely take out the "music" and highlight the "thriller" in its description. Would be recommendation: go light on the sweets and popcorn...