Monthly Wallpaper - January 2013 - 2012: The Year in Film

As 2012 comes to a close, it is time to look back on the year in film, and what better way then with the Movie Dearest calendar wallpaper for next month!

Several of 2012's most talked about movies make up the collage, so you can spend all of January 2013 gazing at the likes of Abe, Bilbo, Cosette, Erik & Paul, Hitch, Hushpuppy, James, Merida, Magic Mike and Richard Parker. What a way to start off a new year!

Just click on the picture above to enlarge it to its 1024 x 768 size, then right click your mouse and select "Set as Background", and you're all set. If you want, you can also save it to your computer and set it up from there, or modify the size in your own photo-editing program if needed.

Reverend's Reviews: The Best & Worst of 2012 - Homos, Heroes and a Hushpuppy

Not only was a gay-themed movie the best of this past year, in my humble but educated opinion 2012 was a great year for GLBT and mainstream films on the whole.  I counted more movies rating A- or higher in my log than I’ve seen in several years, which made coming up with my top ten very easy.  I’ve actually “cheated” and linked together a few films of equal critical assessment and related themes, so you will find more than ten movies on my list below.  I also must confess there were a few much-ballyhooed holiday releases (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained) that I haven't been able to screen yet.

1.    Keep the Lights On (Music Box Films):  Writer-director Ira Sachs’ semi-autobiographical exploration of love and addiction between two gay men, played with admirable honesty by Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth, is the one perfect movie I saw all year.  While it has been criminally neglected for year’s-end awards by the Golden Globes and mainstream critics’ groups thus far, it is up for several Independent Spirit awards and won the Berlin International Film Festival’s Teddy Award for best GLBT film.  There is plenty to appreciate — and learn from — here whether one is homosexual, heterosexual or otherwise.

2.    Amour (Sony Pictures Classics):  Similarly, Michael Haneke’s powerful depiction of the cost of romantic commitment between an elderly man and his wife (the stunning Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva) has universal applications.  A couple of horror movie-ish moments are the film’s only missteps, even though it ends up being something of a ghost story.
 

3.    Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight):  This instantly lovable, amazingly accomplished low-budget feature film debut by director Benh Zeitlin boasts fantastic performances by non-professionals Quvenzhane Wallis (as its 6-year old heroine Hushpuppy) and Dwight Henry.  It is also a timely affirmation of family and community as the greatest strengths against threatening forces.  The film has racked up numerous awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

4.    Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features):  It isn’t often that a movie comes along that is best and most immediately described as charming, but Wes Anderson’s latest is just that.  This saga of pre-teen lovers on the lam from an all-star adult cast including Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand and — best of all— Tilda Swinton as the nameless, villainous “Social Services” is a beautifully designed, totally enjoyable hoot for kids and adults alike.

5.    Robot & Frank (Samuel Goldwyn Films):  Frank Langella gives a lovely performance as a cantankerous, elderly ex-thief in the not too distant future whose children arrange for him to have an artificially-intelligent caretaker (voiced by gay fave Peter Sarsgaard of Kinsey and Green Lantern fame).  An unlikely and ultimately touching friendship develops between the two.  Oscar winner Susan Sarandon and another gay fave, James Marsden (Hairspray), also star in this gem, which won the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Prize at Sundance.

6.    Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.):  A lengthy, heady and visually spectacular adaptation of David Mitchell’s time-traveling novel that was an undeserved flop at the US box office.  Tom Hanks heads the big-name cast in multiple roles, and a gay romance is a key component of its puzzle-box plot.  The film was helmed by the trio of trans director Lana Wachowski and her brother Andy (of The Matrix fame) and Tom Tykwer, whose last movie was the bisexuality-themed Three.

7.    The Avengers (Marvel/Disney) and The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony Pictures):  Just when I was feeling worn out by the recent glut of increasingly-indistinguishable superhero movies, along came these two smart, thrilling epics by offbeat filmmakers (Joss Whedon and Marc Webb, respectively).  The long-awaited teaming of Marvel Comics’ greatest do-gooders as well as a seemingly-needless “reboot” of the web-slinger’s origins both struck gold dramatically and at the box office, with British actor Andrew Garfield proving to be a particularly inspired casting choice as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

8.    Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (Sundance Selects) and Somewhere Between (Long Shot Factory/Ladylike Films):  The two best documentaries I saw all year found their origins in China, though both are made by American filmmakers.  The former is a no-holds-barred biography of the famed artist and blogger, who has consistently defied government censorship in calling for greater freedom of speech in the People’s Republic.  Somewhere Between, meanwhile, provides an intimate, insightful look into the challenges facing children adopted from China by US parents.  Both films reveal it’s not such a small world after all.

9.    Bully (The Weinstein Company):  A timely, potentially life-changing documentary focusing on several young people bullied by their peers for one ridiculous reason or another.  It shows, shockingly but also somewhat predictably, that the juvenile perpetrators may not be so much to blame as their ignorant parents and impotent teachers, who repeatedly turn a blind eye to the abuse.  The movie sparked a silly ratings controversy but was ultimately released in a PG-13 version that ought to be required viewing in high schools nationwide.

10.    Skyfall (Sony Pictures) and Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007 (Epix):  It is certainly fitting, though initially hardly guaranteed, that the 50th anniversary of James Bond’s cinematic exploits in 2012 would result in one of the very best and most financially-successful films to date featuring the superspy, as well as in an exceptional documentary tracing the often-tortured history of the Bond films.  Bond-age is obviously alive and well.  Oh, James!   

Honorable Mentions (movies that rated a B+ in my critic’s log but in no particular order): The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi, The Sessions, Return, The Grey, The Invisible War, Sassy Pants, Brave, Love Free or Die, How to Survive a Plague, Argo, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Flight and The Cabin in the Woods.

And my considered picks for the five worst movies of 2012 are:
1.    Magic Mike (Warner Bros.):  Along with many of my fellow gays, I was suckered into seeing this male-stripper epic with a gaggle of my pals during its largely sold-out opening weekend.  The stripteases are coyly shot, the characters are way too hetero given the setting (with the possible exception of the club’s impresario, played to the hilt by Matthew McConaughey), and the central love story dull.  Give me Christopher Atkins in 1982’s One Night in Heaven any day over this!

2.    The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (Adopt Films):  I’m not sure which irritated me more: the obnoxious trans musician/performance artists at the center of this documentary or the in-your-face style employed by filmmaker Marie Losier.  At any rate, I’m sorry to say this is one GLBT-interest tale best left unseen by our community.

3.    Prometheus (20th Century Fox): This much-hyped prequel/sequel/reboot of the classic 1979 shocker Alien turned out to be baffling bordering on the incoherent.  Though stylishly made in 3D by the original’s director, Ridley Scott, and featuring memorable turns by Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender, it ultimately commits the sin of being more pretentious than terrifying.

4.    One for the Money (Lionsgate):  The bounty-hunting Stephanie Plum character created by novelist Janet Evanovich is definitely deserving of big-screen treatment.  Alas, this halfhearted effort wasn’t it.  Katherine Heigl gives the role her best but she seems stifled, as do her gay-friendly supporting cast members Debbie Reynolds, John Leguizamo, Debra Monk and Daniel Sunjata.

5.    The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (Summit):  Calling this closing chapter of the teeny-bopper vampire quintology the best in the series is fairly faint praise, since its predecessors are arguably the most artistically-deficient blockbusters ever made.  Credit gay director Bill Condon for the finale’s more adventurous spirit. 

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

300th Post: Oscar Chances for "The Avengers", and Other Stuff

This will be my 300^th post and I never figured my blogging efforts would last this long. I wanted to do something special for my 300^th post, but was at a loss as to what to write about.

I had a couple of topics in mind, but couldn’t make a final decision. You would think I was deciding the fate of the world.

No more muddling though, so this post will be a mix of those topics, ideas that have been noodling around in my mind of late, with the recent box office sensation “The Avengers” at the center of all this upcoming meandering. I beg for lots of indulgence.

I’ve been happily participating in the weekly Alternate Oscars series at the wonderful Wonders in the Dark website. They’re up to 1941 now, the year John Ford’s “How Green Was My Valley” beat “Citizen Kane” for Best Oscar honors.

I love “Citizen Kane” and, audaciousness and inventiveness aside, I think it’s a hugely entertaining movie. But “How Green Was My Valley” is an equally glorious achievement in its own way, and I don’t have a problem with it earning top prize that year.

It’s very easy to pick on the Oscars, and how they often get it wrong, and how they honor conservative, playing-it-safe movies instead of more groundbreaking work. How rarely, we say, the Oscars get it right.  

But I love the Oscars and always have, and while the Oscars may not always get it right, I think the Oscars often act as a fascinating barometer reflecting society – and movies – in that given year.

The Artist’s Oscar Win

The 2011 Best Picture Oscar winner was the charming “The Artist”, a black and white silent movie about a matinee idol’s fear of the upcoming talking picture revolution. Some might think “The Artist” to be a slight fable, a nice enough movie, but hardly Best Picture material.

I’m wondering how it may have resonated with Academy voters. “The Artist” is set in the late 1920s when silent movies were giving way to talkies. There was much fear in the air in the early years. Stars were afraid how their voices would record, there were sound synchronization problems and the formerly mobile cameras were now still.

Today, the motion picture industry is facing a different kind of revolution, but one that has many in the industry looking similarly askance.  35mm film gives way to digital projection, distribution patterns change from theaters to home viewing, not to mention watching the latest blockbusters on handheld devices. There’s also the fear that someday, CGI figures will replace the performers themselves. Not to mention costume designers, set designers or construction crew people who will see their jobs go away as more and more images are added via greenscreen in the post-production process.

I wonder if many Academy members were subconsciously identifying with George Valentin, the lead character in “The Artist” and wondering what their futures hold. The clothing styles may change, but the trepidation of what new technology means to the motion picture industry is the same whether its 1928 or 2012.

The Amazing Popularity of “The Avengers”

Like I said, there is often more to popular entertainment than meets the eye. I wonder what is so appealing about “The Avengers?” I know two people who loved it, and thought it was one of the best movies they had ever seen. But the Marvel Comes universe was new to them, had never seen any of the Marvel movies that preceded “The Avengers.” and no idea of the back stories of Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, etc. So it wasn’t the continuation of the story they were responding to, or the appeal of seeing their comic book heroes come to life.

 

“The Avengers” is a happy surprise, well cast in a smart screenplay, and a marvelous turn by Tom Huddleston as the villain Loki, There’s some solid laughs here, and a couple of crowd-pleasing moments that elicited more audience cheers than any movie I’ve seen in ages.

Still, I wonder how much of it may be wish fulfillment? For the first half of the movie, The Avengers are a most dysfunctional group bickering and sparring. But when the alien menace attacks New York City, differences are put aside, the Avengers work together as a team and defeat the enemy, all for the common good.

Surely I was not the only one thinking why couldn’t this happen in real life with our politicians? The country is currently faced with seemingly insurmountable problems, yet much of Washington remains fiercely partisan. Instead of coming together to face our challenges, they continue to bicker, stall and point fingers at each other. Nothing gets done.

I think audiences may be seeing “The Avengers” as a wish fulfillment experience, especially as its coming in the midst of ever-increasing bad economic news. If the idiots in Washington can’t get their act get together, at least our movie heroes can.

Could “The Avengers” Be Nominated For Best Picture?

Back to the Oscars.

Like millions of other people around the world, I’ve seen “The Avengers” and found it a most enjoyable time at the movies. If I had to rate it on a scale of one to four stars, I would award it three stars.

Since its immense popularity among all age spectrums, I began to wonder if the Academy will honor it with a Best Picture nomination?

Initial thought tells me no, it doesn’t deserve it. Another thought tells me no comic book movie should get a Best Picture nomination. As enjoyable as some of them are, most of them come down to adults running around in costumes surrounded by CGI effects.  I can’t think of a single comic book movie deserving of a Best Picture nomination except for “Superman” (1979). (No, I haven’t forgotten about “The Dark Knight” (2008), and think it’s one of the 10 most overrated movies of all time.)

But then I began thinking of my Oscar history. The Academy has a long history of awarding a Best Picture nomination to the most financially successful movie of the year. If movies like “The Ten Commandments” (1956), “Airport” (1970), “The Towering Inferno” (1974) and “Star Wars” (1977) can get the nod, why not “The Avengers”?

Yet another thought tells me comic book movies are unworthy of serious Oscar consideration. As a genre, comic book movies are like swashbucklers. They have a pretty basic plot, good guys vs. bad guys, a pretty girl or two, action, intrigue, and a rousing action conclusion. Pretty basic stuff, and all cut pretty much from the same cloth.

But if I was a member of the Motion Picture Academy in 1938, I would not hesitate to mark my ballot for “The Adventures of Robin Hood” as Best Picture of the Year. It may be the easiest Oscar vote I’d ever make.

Sure, it’s as basic a plot as you can get, with little or no subtext at all. It’s an adventure film in the best sense, and while hardly a film for academic studies and one to be pondered over afterwards, it remains as satisfying a movie as I can imagine. It’s the one swashbuckler that I can see winning a Best Picture Oscar.

So maybe one day a comic book movie will come along as exhilarating as “The Adventures of Robin Hood”. It’s not “The Avengers”, but maybe the next one will be the comic book equivalent of Errol Flynn’s classic.  

More on “The Avengers”

If I do a Ten Best list at the end of the year, I don’t see “The Avengers” making the top 10, but top 20 for sure. I can’t get totally behind it for several reasons.  It’s a bit overlong (as most movies today tend to be), is lacking a good musical score and peters out with a wimpy final scene. Plus, the idea that superheroes on display here are seemingly invulnerable takes away from the overlong battle scene at the end.

 

Regular readers of this blog will know how important I consider a film’s musical score to be. Some films need minimal, or no scoring, and some can get along with just source music, But darn it, there are times when a big, brassy, triumphant, melodic, thematic score is called for. A movie like “The Avengers.”

Instead, the usually reliable Alan Silvestri delivers a routine score that could have been placed in any generic action movie.

It doesn’t ruin the movie, but it doesn’t do it any favors either.  I forget who said it, but a famous film composer once said a film composer’s job is akin to a mortician’s. They can’t bring a body to life, but they can make it look pretty.

A memorable score can’t save a bad movie. It’s never happened and never will. But a memorable score can make a bad film bearable, a memorable score can turn a good film into a great one and a memorable score can turn a great film into an iconic one.

I don’t blame Mr. Silvestri, as he probably delivered what was asked of him. Too many directors today are afraid of music and don’t know how it works. They’re afraid it will take away from their “vision.” So they ask for it to be as bland and unobtrusive as possible. Films today suffer because of it.

Also in the demerit column is the film’s final scene. I’m not talking about the scene showing an upcoming menace during the film’s credits or the hilarious post-credits sequence, but the film’s final scene. It’s a scene between non-superhero characters played by Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders and it’s dull. It’s so dull I can barely remember it. To end an exciting comic book movie with a scene as dull as anything found in the dullest night in Dullsville, USA is disappointing.  

I’m thinking of the final shot of a smiling Christopher Reeve flying over Earth in “Superman” (1978) backed by that exhilarating John Williams score. I wished “The Avengers” had ended in a similar way, something to send the audience out soaring.

I swear filmmakers today are afraid of using music to elicit an emotional response from viewers, as if that were a bad thing. I recently saw the teaser trailer for the new 007 film “Skyfall” and it’s OK, but it’s backed by the most generic music imaginable, making it look, and sound, like every other action movie in the marketplace. It’s a Bond movie, for God’s sake, put the Bond theme in there and make it something special. It’s not rocket science folks.

 

I promise to be more cohesive in Post #301. I do hope to blog several more times before my participation in the William Wyler blogathon, hosted by The Movie Projector,  June 24-29. I’m thrilled to be writing about the great western classic “The Big Country” (1958) on Tuesday, June 26. That post will also be more cohesive.

Reverend's Preview: Sunny Days & Dark Shadows

Ah, summer, beloved season of Pride, fruity cocktails and minimal swimsuits.  It is also the time of year when Hollywood releases its biggest, most expensive spectacles for audiences to ogle.  Superheroes, vampires and aliens typically reign supreme, but this summer's more GLBT-interest movies will feature such sights as male strippers, Tom Cruise in ass-less chaps, and a pairing of Brit divas Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Here's the rundown (Please note all release dates are subject to change)...

The Avengers (May 4):  The largest collection of men in tights to hit the big screen since, well, Robin Hood: Men in Tights.  Marvel Comics heroes Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) join forces with The Hulk (ever-dreamy Mark Ruffalo) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johanson) to save the world.  Written and directed by Joss Whedon, who also masterminded Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (May 4):  A group of British senior citizens, led by Dench and Smith, decide to retire to an unexpectedly-rundown hotel in India in this comedy.  Co-starring cute Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire and directed by John Madden, who previously steered Dench and Gwyneth Paltrow to Oscar glory in Shakespeare in Love.

The Perfect Family (May 4):  Kathleen Turner plays a devout wife and mother up for her parish's "Catholic Woman of the Year" award who suddenly learns that her daughter (Emily Deschanel) isn't only a lesbian but is about to get married to her partner.  While it doesn't get all the church details right, the film is an enjoyable dramedy that premiered at last year's Outfest.  Out actor Richard Chamberlain plays the local monsignor. 

Dark Shadows (May 11): Based on what I've seen of it, Tim Burton's take on the supernatural soap opera that ran in the late 1960's-early 70's will no doubt be the campiest movie of the summer, possibly of the year. Johnny Depp stars as 200-year old vampire Barnabas Collins, who wakes up in 1972 to a decidedly different world.  The great supporting cast includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green and horror veteran Christopher Lee.

Hysteria (May 18):  This film's director, Tanya Wexler, likely describes it best: "It's a romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England."  She even bought cast members Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy and gay fave Rupert Everett, among others, vibrators as gifts.  Needless to say, the movie's got... buzz.

Virginia (May 18):  Academy Award-winning, openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar) has assembled several top-drawer actors including Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Emma Roberts for his directorial debut.  I'm not sure what, if any, GLBT content is in the film but it will nonetheless give our community the opportunity to support one of our own as Black's standing in Hollywood continues to rise.

Chely Wright: Wish Me Away (June 1):  An eye-opening documentary, featured at last year's Long Beach Q Film Festival, about the former country music superstar's process of coming out as a lesbian.  Wright is impressively, movingly candid in her recounting of events before, during and after her tumultuous decision.

Rock of Ages (June 15):  Gay director-choreographer Adam Shankman (Hairspray) adapts another Broadway musical for the screen.  This time, he got big names Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary J. Blige, Paul Giamatti and Tom Cruise (and convinced Cruise to wear a codpiece and the previously mentioned chaps) to pay homage to the rock & roll "hair bands" of the 1980's.  Pour some sugar on me, baby! 

Brave (June 22):  This summer's animated epic from Disney-Pixar features a female lead, a first for the mega-successful Pixar.  Merida, a Scottish teenager during the Middle Ages, takes it upon herself to defend her parents' kingdom when it is endangered by the wicked witch Merida had sought counsel from to avoid being married against her will.  Sure sounds like a lesbian-gay parable to me!

Magic Mike (June 29):  The gays (myself included) will definitely be lining up for this expose of the goings-on at a male strip club, which reportedly includes a gay character/subplot. The movie was inspired by the pre-Hollywood career of its hot leading man, Channing Tatum, and is directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Contagion).  And if Tatum doesn't do it for you, one of his thong-clad co-stars (Matthew McConaughey, True Blood's Joe Manganiello, Alex Pettyfer, Adam Rodriguez and the recently out Matt Bomer) surely will.

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3):  Andrew Garfield, taking over the title role from Tobey Maguire, told a reporter last month that he went commando under his form-fitting costume during filming.  That revelation has sure got my "Spidey Sense" tingling over this adventure, in which the webslinger tries to solve the mystery behind his parents' death while battling The Lizard, a mutated scientist.

Katy Perry: Part of Me (July 4):  Nothing screams "Independence Day" to me more than a 3-D concert film starring the fireworks-laden pop singer.  While Perry comes in second to Lady Gaga in many gay men's minds, I consider her "Fireworks" song to be as much of a gay anthem as Gaga's "Born This Way."  By the way, why hasn't Gaga had a 3-D movie devoted to her yet?  Well, I guess there's always next summer.

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20):  Batman (Christian Bale) returns to contend with the villainous Bane (rising star and hottie Tom Hardy) and the more mysterious Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman (the fabulous Anne Hathaway).  Joseph Gordon-Levitt also appears as a cop with potentially conflicting motives. Football fields will explode, Gotham City will be endangered, and ticket sales will soar.

Ruby Sparks (July 25):  Not much has been made known yet about this one, but the fact that it is co-directed by Little Miss Sunshine's Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris is enough to get my gay hopes up. Their earlier film's Paul Dano here plays a struggling author who discovers that the fictional girl in the book he is writing has somehow come to life.  Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas also star.

The Bourne Legacy (August 3):  Jeremy Renner, who made a splash in last December's Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol and also appears in this May's The Avengers, takes over from Matt Damon in the latest installment of this durable, intelligent franchise.

Hope Springs (August 10):  Any movie starring La Meryl (Streep, that is) is cause for gay celebration.  She re-teams here with David Frankel, director of The Devil Wears Prada, for a romantic comedy in which Streep is a married women who seeks marriage therapy with her prickly husband, played by Tommy Lee Jones.  Steve Carell co-stars as their therapist.

Sparkle (August 17):  The late Whitney Houston produced and makes her final screen appearance in this remake of a Dreamgirls-esque 1976 film about a girl group on the rise.  Houston plays the mother of one young singer (played by American Idol alumna Jordin Sparks) who is yearning for stardom.  She also sings on the movie's soundtrack.

Lawless (August 31):  Tom Hardy makes his second summer movie appearance of 2012 as a bootlegger in this reality-based story set during the Prohibition era.  Shia LaBeouf and Jason Clarke appear as his conniving siblings, and all must try to stay one step ahead of the obsessed G-man on their collective tail (played by Guy Pearce of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and last year's made-for-TV version of Mildred Pierce).

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Monthly Wallpaper - January 2012 - 2011: The Year in Film

As 2011 comes to a close, it is time to look back on the year in film, and what better way then with the Movie Dearest calendar wallpaper for next month!

Several of 2011's most popular movies make up the collage, so you can spend all of January gazing at the likes of Albert, Cap, Kermit, Marilyn, Rango, Russell & Glen, Skeeter, Thor and the rest. What a way to start off a new year!

Just click on the picture above to enlarge it to its 1024 x 768 size, then right click your mouse and select "Set as Background", and you're all set. If you want, you can also save it to your computer and set it up from there, or modify the size in your own photo-editing program if needed.

MD Poll: Naked Treat

When it came to Halloween costume ideas, MD Poll takers opted for the simple this year. After all, to "dress up" like Ryan Gosling a la Crazy, Stupid, Love, all one has to do is wrap a towel around their neck, put on a womanizing smirk and show off their little gosling.

Other top vote-getters were a little more innocent, such as a Harry Potter Hogwarts grad (second place) and a Glee Dalton Academy Warbler (tied for third with a Black Swan ballerina). For the complete results, see the comments section below.

Trick or treat!

MD Poll: Trick or Treat, 2011 Style

Halloween is just around the corner, which brings up the annual question, "What am I going to wear?" Well, we here at Movie Dearest have you covered with ten of the hottest pop culture inspired costume ideas for 2011 ... and not one of them is Lady Gaga.

Take your pick for your favorite 2011 Halloween costume idea in the MD Poll located in the right hand sidebar, and tune back Saturday October 29 for the final results.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

MD Poll: God Bless America

In a summer showdown between superhero vs. supervillain, good triumphed over evil in the end when Chris Evans (a.k.a. Captain American of First Avenger fame) overcame Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class's Magneto) to win the title of Movie Dearest's Hottest Summer Movie Hunk of 2011.

Cap's fellow future Avenger Thor (Chris Hemsworth) had his back in third, followed by mortals Dominic Cooper (The Devil's Double) and Ryan Gosling (Crazy, Stupid, Love) rounding out the top five.  See the complete results in the comments section below and stay tuned for the next MD Poll later today.

MD Poll: The Boys of Summer 2011

The end of the summer movie season is upon us, so it is time for our annual look back at the film actors that made it so memorable ... and judge them on their looks alone and anoint one the hottest cinematic hunk of the past four months or so!

This year we have a slew of sexy superheroes (including all-American hunk Chris Evans and swarthy barbarian Jason Momoa, pictured) plus a vampire, a wizard and previous Summer Movie Hunk winner Ryan Reynolds.

Take your pick and place your vote in the MD Poll located in the right hand sidebar. The ultimate summer movie hunk, class of 2011, will be crowned September 24.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

Reverend's Report: D23 2011

Upon my arrival at the Anaheim Convention Center on the first morning of the D23 Expo, I could tell it was going to have a much larger turnout than the first such event in 2009. I ended up having to park on the top floor of the parking structure, and negotiated large crowds of Disney fanatics once inside the center. The second day of the expo sold out the afternoon before, a significant testament to the increased attention being paid to it.

My first stop was the traditional Disney Legends ceremony. A dozen people who have helped build the Disney empire since its founding in 1923 were honored, including five women who have voiced princesses in the more contemporary Disney animated features The Little Mermaid (Jodi Benson), Beauty and the Beast (Paige O'Hara), Aladdin (Lea Salonga, Princess Jasmine's singing voice, and Linda Larkin, Jasmine's speaking voice), Mulan (Salonga again) and The Princess and the Frog (Anika Noni Rose). Host Tom Bergeron, who was nicely casual and provided very funny commentary throughout, noted that Noni Rose is the youngest honoree to be named a Disney Legend.

All five actresses performed to montages of scenes from their respective films, with Benson bringing down the nearly full, 4,000 seat arena both through her audience-participation version of "Part of Your World" and her utterly heartfelt, unapologetic faith sharing. "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," she said upon reaching the podium, quoting a traditional Christian hymn. "This is my ministry," Benson remarked of her continuing voice performance as Ariel in video games, television and the new ride inspired by The Little Mermaid at Disney's California Adventure park.

The ceremony climaxed with the induction of late Muppets creator, Jim Henson. While Henson didn't work for Disney while he was alive, his company was bought by Disney after his death and the Muppets have been a welcome, appropriate addition to the studio's holdings. Henson's children, Lisa and Brian, were on hand and reminisced about their father, moving audience members to both tears and laughter. But it was a masterstroke on the part of the event planners to bring Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog out at the end to sing "The Rainbow Connection." Attendees were utterly mesmerized.

Kermit was on hand again Saturday morning at the Walt Disney Studios' presentation of upcoming movies. The amphibian was joined by Miss Piggy (who arrived in a motorcycle sidecar) as well as actor Jason Segel, their co-star in November's big-screen reunion, The Muppets. New studio head Rich Ross and animation executive John Lasseter were fairly giddy as they hyped next spring's John Carter; next summer's Brave; the direct-to-DVD Planes, an airborne knockoff of Cars; The Odd Life of Timothy Green, which does indeed look odd; and their more recently-acquired Marvel epic, The Avengers.

John Carter in particular, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars" series, looks really cool. The crowd went predictably wild when cast members from the last came out, including Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johanssen and Jeremy Renner. Other big stars on hand to plug their respective Disney projects were Billy Crystal (the Monsters, Inc. prequel Monsters University), Willem Dafoe (John Carter), Jennifer Garner (Odd Life...) and Jon Cryer (Planes).

A special showroom exhibit entitled "Carousel of Projects" and a Friday afternoon presentation revealed a plethora of developments regarding Disney theme parks around the world. In the Carousel of Projects, visitors could check out a detailed model of the massive Fantasyland expansion currently underway in the Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World in Florida. When completed in the fall of 2012, it will nearly double Fantasyland's current size and will feature a "Seven Dwarfs Mine Train" roller coaster (which looks like a milder, kid-friendly version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but with individually swinging cars) as well as an east coast version of The Little Mermaid ride, among other new attractions. I can't wait to visit and check it out once finished.

Details were also shared at the Theme Parks presentation about Disney's new park in Shanghai, China; the company's beautiful new Hawaiian resort, Aulani, which opens next week; the "Cars Land" addition and overall makeover of California Adventure; and magnificent new ships under construction for Disney Cruise Line. A pending expansion of California's Fantasyland was also announced, which will take over the current Carnation Gardens concert area at the end of Disneyland's Main Street USA. The expo also hosted a 45th-anniversary celebration of "It's a Small World" with special souvenirs and a panel of artists, including songwriter Richard Sherman, who helped create the mostly beloved but sometimes hated attraction.

The presentations and pavilions throughout this year's D23 Expo were very satisfying all in all, despite the larger crowds and long lines for everything, including food and restrooms. The only truly disappointing aspect of this year's D23 Expo was the "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives" exhibition. Most of the noteworthy artifacts featured were repeats from the first expo's display, and the new additions from less well-regarded Disney films such as Hocus Pocus, Father of the Bride and The Rocketeer were decidedly underwhelming. One newly-included treasure well worth checking out was Walt Disney's personal limousine, but it was on display in the main showroom.

It will be interesting to see what Disney does next with the D23 Expo, now that it is well on its way to becoming a Comic Con-esque success. Will they offer it annually? Will it be moved beyond Anaheim as it increasingly outgrows the convention center there? All it will take is a little time... and some continued pixie dust.

Report by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Toon Talk: Reel American Hero

Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941, the star-spangled Marvel Comics hero known as Captain America has been fighting for truth, justice and the American way for 70 years now. In his long, illustrious career, the good Captain’s four-color exploits have taken him from the battlefields of World War II to the far reaches of outer space. But Cap’s greatest challenge was making a successful leap to the silver screen.

Now in theaters, Captain America: The First Avenger achieves that feat with flying colors. This period-perfect film boasts superior production values, an embarrassment of acting riches cast-wise and plenty of flag-waving enthusiasm that carries this never campy, always gung-ho summer actioner to blockbuster heights. As directed by Joe Johnston (who also helmed the similarly-set cult favorite The Rocketeer), Captain America smartly sidesteps the typical pitfalls of the superhero genre, playing more like a WWII spy thriller… albeit one that just happens to have a super-powered leading man.

Chris Evans (who has plenty of cinematic super-powered experience thanks to two Fantastic Four flicks, Push and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) is said leading man...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Captain America: The First Avenger at LaughingPlace.com.

UPDATE: Captain America: The First Avenger is now available on DVD and Blu-rayfrom Amazon.com.

REVIEW: Thor (B+)

(dir. Kenneth Branagh, 2011)

  

For starters, I was a major skeptic of this thing.  Just goes to show was a little restraint can do to an overblown genre.

Kenneth Branagh's surprisingly subdued superhero film, Thor, is something godly indeed.  Living within a genre that recently has been known for CGI-injected heroes, Chris Hemsworth has proven himself apt as the titular God of Thunder.  Much like Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, Hemsworth's stalwart performance is grounded in his earnest acceptance of the situations.  That sounds a little Acting 101, doesn't it, but it actually makes the fantasy elements within the genre seem more believable.  He's never amazed that he's a God, never in awe of himself or his surroundings, and that is where the character of Thor is crafted.

One can credit this to Branagh, but also credit must be due to Hemsworth and the writing.  From the script up, this is a character study.  Not an origin story, or something rooted in a climactic battle, but rather a small tale of a god becoming the man he was meant to be.  Again, much like Iron Man, the heart of the film is in the characters.  You care about Thor, and halfway through, you don't even realize that you haven't witnessed an enormous battle on Earth yet, and even when you do, you don't care all that much that it was relatively lame.  The beauty of Thor  is that you see the change a normal, more bloated battle would tell you...but Branagh and Hemsworth show you instead.  Like that less-than-awesome RDJ vs. Bridges fight to close out Iron Man, this Thor vs. Hot Laser Machine is more of an means to and end than an attention grabbing climax.  The greatest of all superhero movies hold their climaxes for off the battle field—Iron Man, Spider-Man 1 & 2, The Dark Knight, etc.—because they know the hero is what really matters.

Sure, some of the secondary acting is flat and useless, but that all goes back to Thor being the only character we need to worry about.  All the Asgard—Thor's home planet, er realm—scenes have their touch of silliness, but most of them don't last long enough to be too obnoxious.  When Asgardians visit Earth, however, hilarity truly ensues.  There is much intentional comedy within this action film, which adds to the heart of the picture.  When Thor's quartet of friends travel to Earth complete in their Dungeons and Dragons convention costumes, a lesser filmmaker wouldn't have noticed the inherent absurdity in that situation, but Branagh did.  Even the "can you repeat that?" Thor lore is spiced up with comedy, since no one can pronounce let alone understand what Mjölnir is.  It's rare, but some of the dialog is actually clever!  A pretty predictable but nevertheless rewarding ongoing gag about stealing computer equipment actually made the audience laugh—every time.

But basically where the film excels is where it isn't heavyhanded, where is allows the words and the actors to move the scene instead of CGI or battles.  The soft scenes outweigh the bombastic ones in both quality and interest; you hardly care that Thor is fighting some laser machine, you just want him to beat it and get on to the next scene.  The least interesting scene in the whole film is probably the most CGI-ridden, where Thor and his comrades travel to an ice planet to beat-up some Ice Giants and a faux-rancor monster.  Totally boring.

From a technical standpoint, the cinematography was exciting if not typical of the current action film lens flair style.  The Costumes are absurd, yet appropriately absurd, I think, the best someone could do to recreate the style present in the comics.  Set designs for Asgard are gaudy at best, but it's again the Earth scenes that are the highlight; while hearkening back to 1950s-style small-town-in-the-middle-of-a-desert look, designers Bo Welch, Maya Shimoguchi, Lauri Gaffin create a distinct atmosphere in Thor that somehow helps with the believability of a God landing in the desert.

Overall, though it has many faults, Thor has the chops of not only a great superhero film, but a great film.  For me, it ranks somewhere in the league with but below Iron Man, Spider-Man and Batman Begins, and handedly above The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, and Wolverine.  The wonderful Natalie Portman and the underused Kat Dennings are luminous as the human counterparts to Hemsworth's Thor, yet any and all Asgard residents (sleepwalking Anthony Hopkins' Odin and iron-jawed Tom Hiddleston's Loki) could have done much, much more.  For the many inside references to the upcoming Avengers, they all play too much into the hand of super-fans to actually be entertaining.  There's a scene where a soon-to-be Avenger appears, that falls totally flat by virtue of the unknown nature of both the actor and said hero.

Nevertheless, with Hemsworth and Downey Jr. on board for the Avengers project, I'm slightly less critical about this than I initially was.  If they can capture the magic that Thor did, I think we'll be in fine condition.  GRADE: B+

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Toon Talk: Hammer Time

Back in my comic book reading youth, The Avengers was always a must-read. A Justice League of America for the Marvel Comics set, the super group included such faves as Captain America, Hawkeye and Iron Man in spectacular battles that only the world’s greatest superheroes could win. One of the Avengers’ many-many members was the mighty Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. Although he had a cool weapon (an oversized hammer he called Mjolnir), his stoic nature and stilted, archaic dialogue (filled with “thee’s” and “thou’s” and such) never endeared him to me much.

So now that it has come time in Marvel Studios’ prolonged build-up to next year’s Avengers movie to introduce Thor to the movie-going masses, I was a bit skeptical that this chapter would be a sword-and-sorcery snooze fest. Thankfully, I was wrong, as Marvel has wisely followed the format of the two hit Iron Man movies and injected Thor (in theaters now) with plenty of humor and over-the-top fantasy sequences, enough at least to distract you from the fact that this is basically a feature length prologue to 2012’s main event.

Following in the footsteps of his fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman, relative newcomer Chris Hemsworth (best known stateside as Kirk’s father in the most recent Star Trek movie) gives a robust, star-making performance as the title character...

Click here to continue my Toon Talk review of Thor at LaughingPlace.com.

UPDATE: Thor is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Reverend’s Reactions: The 2010 Oscar Nominations

The sun is just starting to show itself here in Hollywood, but celebrations are already underway in the wake of the Academy Awards nominations announcement at 5:38 AM PST today. The film industry's equivalent of Christmas morning has inevitably left some kiddies disappointed while many others are gleeful today.

In general, I'm pleased with this year's contenders. I was very happy about the unexpectedly strong showing made by Winter's Bone in addition to The Social Network, The King's Speech (the leader with 12 nominations) and Inception, all of which were among my top 10 of 2010. I was also pleasantly surprised by Nicole Kidman's well-deserved Best Actress nomination for the affecting Rabbit Hole as well as the inclusion of Javier Bardem, who has been largely shut out of other awards this year, in the Best Actor category for his raw, haunting performance in Biutiful, which was also nominated as Best Foreign Language Film.

The Kids Are All Right, 2010's big GLBT-themed release, garnered a number of nominations and cemented its status in my mind as last year's most overrated movie. Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo were deservedly honored, but the nods it received for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture are excessive. More strained domestic drama than ballyhooed comedy, The Kids Are All Right fell way short for me despite its excellent cast.

Also highly overrated in my opinion is True Grit. While technically proficient, very well-acted (the amazing, 14-year old Hailee Steinfeld received a deserved nomination for Best Supporting Actress), and a definite improvement on the original movie version, it's also a fairly routine achievement for Joel and Ethan Coen. The brothers' latest nomination for Best Director is unjust, especially when one realizes Christopher Nolan was left out of the category for his extraordinarily creative work on Inception!

But my disappointment with the high praise heaped upon these two films is tempered by some nominations in "lesser" categories: the song "I See The Light" from Tangled as Best Song (although "You Haven't See the Last of Me" from Burlesque was somewhat surprisingly omitted, so we won't have the prospective thrill of seeing and hearing Cher sing it live during the awards ceremony); composer John Powell's Best Music Score nomination for How to Train Your Dragon; the Best Costume Design nod for the sumptuous I Am Love, our Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association pick as Best Film of the Year; and the inclusion of the hand-drawn, Jacques Tati homage The Illusionist among the Best Animated Feature contenders (alongside Dragon and Toy Story 3).

We'll have to tune in to the 83rd Academy Awards presentation on February 27 to see how everything plays out, but I'm expecting Bening and Colin Firth (Best Actor nominee for The King's Speech) at least to have continued reason to celebrate after that night.

See the comments section below for a quick look at all of this year's Oscar nominations.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.