Tuesday Trailer Smackdown - 1/31/2012

I wanted to do something different than the same old boring bring you reviews and ranting. I want to give you my tens of readers a voice of sorts. The American public have seen lots of trailers, but I want to see which one is the best of the best. I will pick my favorites from the past week to go head to head. It's your job -- my readers -- to determine which trailer reigns. At the end of the year, we will crown the granddaddy of them all; Best Trailer of the Year. Sound good?

God Bless America Red Band Trailer

Being that I am sick and tired of irrelevant people getting a "star" status, I don't mind that Frank (Joel Murray) is killing these douchebags. The movie is from the twisted mind of Bobcat Goldthwait that brought us the doggy blowjob movie, Sleeping Dogs Lie and World's Greatest Dad.

vs

Iron Sky Teaser Trailer for the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival

You know, I love a good Nazi movie. Well, I'm saying that is going to be the greatest film since, Schindler's List -- which I still don't get why people love it -- but this movie suggest that the Nazis were not defeated. In fact, they have set up a moon base to rise again in 2018.

Other trailers: The Cold Light of Day, Seeking Justice and Lockout.

Vote for you favorite:

A Moment of Quiet Reflection...

Michael Fassbender in the pages of the February 2012 issue of W Magazine

Ever since I saw this picture of Fassy, it saddens that he was not nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "Shame." Hey, at least, I get to wonder if he is going commando or not. Hehe.

Red Tails

Red Tails (2012)

Directed by Anthony Hemingway

Written by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder
Based on the book by John B. Holway

Stars: Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Method Man, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr

Since I had my 2011 movie fast, I wanted to start this year with the movie that should been seen, Red Tails. Damn the critics. This is a story that needed to be told. It's sad that the movie took over twenty years to get to the big screen.

Am I saying that the movie is best movie of the year? No. This is a part of history. Pioneers of the sky. The first Negro squadron during World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen. They were told that they were colored; they could not pilot a plane, because they don't have to the intelligence to do it. It shows that when the men escorted Allied bombers into target zones, they did not lose one bomber. That's says something.

Being a man of color, it was a duty to see that movie. It was our history on the big screen. I learned some things that I never knew. I learned that the title of the film came from the squad paints the back end of their new planes to escort the bombers. I don't know if all the other stuff in the film was true about somebody drinking problem, another being trapped behind enemy lines or a misguided romance.

Much like another film about a black outfit, Glory, this generation of young people needs to know their history that may not be in history books. It is up to people like George Lucas who put up $93 million of his own money to fund this picture. To this day, a studio will not support an all-black film. It really shows you that some things never change.

Don't go into this movie thinking that it is the best movie of the year. The dialogue sounded like "Movie of the Week" territory. There were some wonkiness with the editing. Go to the movie for the dogfight scenes. They were the highlight of the movie.

My Rating:

Are the Oscars Irrelevant?

Earlier this morning, the nominations of the 84^th Annual Academy Awards have been announced. There were some surprising nominees and others those movie predictors anticipated this whole “awards season.” I had this lingering questions, are the Oscar relevant?

When the very first Oscars were handed out in 1929, Hollywood was in a much different mindset, with the film companies dictating what the actors, directors and writers to work with them. The Hayes Code system limited the creative process for many filmmakers that lead to different ways of innovation.

Fast forward to now; Hollywood studios are more concerned about pushing a mediocre product out than slowly nurturing a movie to the best quality possible.

As you may have known, I have decided not to watch any 2011 movies in the theater, because I felt that the quality of the movie have been subpar. It has been a growing trend ever since the writers’ strike in 2007. It was a belief that quality of the movies will suffer in 2009. It turned out to be true.

It seems to me that the trend is still happening, even though the strike is long over. There are movies that have you scratching your head. Really? This awful movie is being released. The actors have to go to these talk shows and promote a movie that they know is shit. All of this occurs because; the studios want to make their money back.

Now that awards season is down to the final stretch, it seems that people don’t care about going to the movies that much. The movies that have been nominated, the average person has not seen it, let alone heard of it.

There seems to a disconnected between the American public and the Oscars. The Oscars is for film critics only and movie fanatics. The average American is not going to care about who wins Best Documentary Short Subject or Best Sound Mixing. They don’t care.

The Academy tries to be hip last year with having younger hosts with Anne Hathaway and James Franco to boost ratings. That was a colossal failure. The problem is apathy. Who wants to watch people gets awards for mediocre performances in a mediocre movie that gets a lot of hype in the swing of things.

Let me pose a couple of questions to you. What was your number movie of last year? Was it nominated for an Oscar? If it was, would watch it again?

I have seen a lot of movies in the past twenty-five years. There are movies that I have seen hundreds of times and there are some movies that I have seen only once. You know that was, awards season. The movies that were hyped up to be the best Hollywood has to offer. Those movies should be lucky that I saw it at all.

The American public is sick and tired of being duped into going movies that are supposed to be great and are not.

There needs to be a serious revamp. The Academy is broken. Now, the Academy is a joke. It’s time to start cleaning house.

The Proposition

The Proposition (2005)

Directed by John Hillcoat

Written by Nick Cave

Stars: Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Danny Huston, David Wenham, Richard Wilson and Emily Watson

I heard so much praise about John Hillcoat's The Proposition that it was compared to an Eastwood or Leone flick. After watching the movie, I would highly disagree with that statement.

My first mistake was that I was expecting to be blown away about this movie. I was expecting it to be The OK Corrale the whole movie, but I felt that the movie didn't have anybody to root for.

The outlaw gang, The Burns Brothers are being pursued by the law for the rape and murder of a local woman, which lead to the house being burned down. Capt. Stanley (Winstone) offers a proposition for the middle brother, Charlie (Pearce) to keep his younger brother, Mikey (Wilson) from a hanging is to have Charlie seek the older brother, Arthur (Huston) and kill him within nine days.

I was not expecting to the movie to be a bullet barrage all the time, but I felt that the movie was disconnected to the audience. I felt that none of the main characters are sympathetic enough to root for them. You have Charlie that does say much, Capt. Stanley that would make a brother kill another brother, a psychotic in Arthur and a puss like Mikey. Who are we supposed to root for?

I tried to get through this movie and I lost interest in it. I didn't care. I didn't care what happened, who died, etc. I had enough.

My rating: