Thanksgiving.
It's a holiday that may have more tradition than even Christmas in your family. We flock home to our families in a short work/school week through the insane airports so we can get home and see some old familiar faces.
The night before it you go out to your local bar to see all those old people from high school that you didn't hate too much, and you run into the ones you did hate as well but it's okay because everyone is drunk and it doesn't matter.
You wake up hungover in the morning and fast until the afternoon. Then you sit around feasting and drinking champagne until you literally pass out.
It's amazing.
It's amazing.
It's a terrific way to celebrate our heritage and the slaughtering of thousands and millions of savage Native American Indians.
Thanksgiving is a big holiday here and you don't want to tarnish the memories you have when you look back at all those awkward family photos in the future that you're wearing an ugly brown sweater in, by seeing a movie that sucks royal ass cheeks.
Sometimes it's fun to see bad movies, but with Thanksgiving generally comes a great variety of quality blockbusters and oscar bait that can challenge us as viewers and leave a lasting impression. The studios know that many people have the holiday off, and that they are spending the time with their families so they typically save some of their best stuff to release the few weekends before, and the Wednesday before. If you want to enjoy your experience at the movie theater this Thanksgiving I urge you to listen to this advice. I'll break it down into five thoughts.
1. Don't go fucking see a Twilight movie.
Just don't do it. Sure Breaking Dawn Part 2 came out this past weekend and it makes you smile thinking of Robert Pattinson's pouty face, and Kristen Stewart demon babies, but do you really want to tie one of these memories of family time to a Twilight movie? The answer should be no if you are a decent, worthwhile human being.
I feel like with this final Twilight film hitting theaters this weekend we have pretty much seen the death of the franchise. Sure it made 141 million last weekend which is a very healthy sum of money to take in at the box office, but how are they going to accrue new fans? The answer is: they wont.
Sure, Twilight will always have a lasting impression on the current generation of teenage and post teenage girls living today, but they will probably only look back that those times as "that time they were into Twilight." The themes in the movie are something that will always resonate with young girls as well, but the fact will always remain that the films themselves aren't all that special. Filled with shoddy special effects, poor acting, and flat dialogue I doubt that these films will be anything more than a distant back-shelved memory in 25-35 year old woman in the future.
And back to the 141 million that they took in domestically this past weekend; look for that number to drop handily this upcoming week seeing as most of the "twihard" fans (diehard fans of Twilight for you common folk) who really are into the franchise have already made it to the theater to check it out. The only business they'll get this upcoming week are the fans who hate extremely full theaters, people who had a life this past weekend, or assholes that want to see it again. Look for their weekend number to drop from 141 to 40 and below.
2. See something American.
The Steven Spielberg biopic Lincoln hit theaters last weekend in wide release and has been getting rave reviews. Speilberg had two films hit theaters before Xmas last year and both weren't all that well received. While War Horse garnered critical praise, I think I only knew two people who saw it. The Adventures of Tin Tin was fun but I immediately forgot I saw it until I just wrote the title there 4 seconds ago. This year Spielberg decided to take his talents to Thanksgiving and I think it will be a much better showing for Lincoln. The cast has been gathering great reviews, especially Daniel Day but that's no surprise as it is a rock solid cast with a very intelligent director.
I have yet to see it specifically because I've been waiting to see it this week. It's a film celebrates what makes this country special and what better way to honor a holiday that celebrates the slaughtering of the savage Native American Indians than to see a movie about the ratification of the emancipation proclamation and arguably the greatest president this country ever had? If the Patriots weren't playing a football game this Thanksgiving evening, then I would say Lincoln is a slam dunk for the most Patriotic way you could spend your Thanksgiving. If for some reason you're a bad person and don't like the Patriots, then checking out Lincoln is probably a great choice if you didn't see it this past weekend.
3. See something British.
While it seems un-American to think that Bond movies are a staple during the Thanksgiving holiday but throughout my life every Bond movie has made it's way to theaters either right before or a few weekends before making it the movie that we always brought ourselves to see after the tryptophan wore off. Skyfall is no slouch in the Bond movie franchise and is pretty close damn close to as good as Casino Royale in this most recent Craig era of Bond's.
This Bond film has probably the most talented group of filmmakers behind the camera working on it in the history of the franchise between director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, The Road to Perdition), screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, Hugo), and cinematographer Roger Deakins (Shawshank Redemption, No Country For Old Men). Let me tell you, that they did not disappoint. They present a sharp, beautiful film that is as interesting as it is exciting.
I was amazingly excited when I heard they had signed Javier Bardem to play the villain because his performance in No Country for Old Men is one of the most haunting performances ever. I was wondering how he could reinvent himself as a villain and if he could cement himself in as one of the great Bond villains. It took his first screen appearance to establish himself as one of the greats.
The film is perfectly cast, looks sharp, and leaves the franchise in a great place moving forward. This entry is more than worth your time this Thanksgiving if you don't feel like sitting through a movie about Abraham Lincoln or watching professional team based sports.
4. See a movie with beautiful people in it.
Sure Skyfall has plenty of beautiful people in it so that also classifies as this category. I guess if you were 15 and had a vagina you could argue that the new Twilight movie also delivers on that front but hear me out.
People's Sexiest Man Alive 2011 Bradley Cooper and the gorgeous newcomer Jennifer Lawrence have a new movie hitting wide release today, The Silver Linings Playbook. Sure the director David O Russell is an absolute asshole but he has made some great movies. Three Kings, and The Fighter are great films filled with terrific performances. He has effectively pissed off Hollywood good guy George "Cloon-Tang" Clooney to the point where he will never work with him ever again, and he also gave an extremely ridiculous tongue lashing to Lily Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees. Nevertheless he continues to make solid features while attracting extremely talented actors.
Here's the David O Russell rant on Lily Tomlin.
The Silver Linings Playbook won the hearts of critics and fans at the Toronto film festival earlier this year and is gathering enough steam to grab some academy award nominees for acting, best picture and possibly directing. Jennifer Lawrence and B-Coop are said to be amazing in this dark dramedy about two characters who have been more than down on their luck lately. The subject matter is rather heavy in that Jennifer Lawrence's character has been troubled from the loss of her husband. B-Coop is troubled because he caught his wife cheating and has developed what seems to be a long line of mental disorders. Somehow these two fates intertwine and begin to work together to win a dancing competition. It sounds ridiculous but apparently they make it work.
Robert DeNiro, Chris Tucker and Julia Stiles are other notables in the cast. The critics are saying that it is a charming and heart warming film, that is not to be missed. Look for Julia Stiles to be the only thing that holds this movie back from being a classic.
If a movie with good acting and beautiful people is your thing then this may be the thing for you to check out tomorrow on turkey day.
5. See a movie with lots of CGI in it that critics really like for some reason.
A movie that many people are saying is "highly anticipated" is Ang Lee's Life of Pi which hits theaters today and has gathered solid critical praise. I don't think this movie is "highly anticipated" but it's supposed to be a heartwarming epic tale about some Indian kid who survives a shipwreck and has to share a life boat with a lion. The film is supposed to be a beautiful use of 3D and CGI but none of it looks all that real to me and I'm not sure if I would enjoy 2 hours of some dumb kid on a boat with a Lion.
Still look for this movie to be a crowd pleaser in the sense of Slumdog Millionaire. I'm not being racist because it's about Indians, I'm just saying the movie is getting very similar reviews. Like the story is a little too romantic and westernized. That while even though a lot of the dialogue and scenes seem convenient, it's still a great story. The thing that separates the movies, is Life of Pi is a CGI driven picture and that's not enough for me to be excited for it.
Lots of blogs and websites have listed this as a sure fire best picture nomination film and I just don't see the appeal in it. If a boy on a small boat with a computer generated lion sounds cool to you, check this movie out. If you don't think that sounds cool, go see one of the three previous films I recommended.
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That's really it for this weeks entry. It's really a toss up this week if you haven't seen Lincoln, Skyfall or The Silver Linings Playbook but all of them are worth your time and if you don't get to see them this week because you're too busy, I urge you to try and get out to see them as soon as possible.
Hitchcock, the movie about the classic british filmmaker comes out on Fridays but isn't getting as much critical praise as they would like. I think the makeup on Anthony Hopkins looks absolutely ridiculous so I'm not sure if I'll be able to take the movie seriously or not. I'll see it at some point but it's not near the top of my list.
Rust and Bone, a foreign film with Marion Cotillard and Mathias Schoenaerts the guy from the academy award nominated foreign film from last year, Bullhead also comes to select cities this week. I wouldn't rush out to see this one because there is a lot of talk that these two have the chance to be nominated and like most foreign films that get nominated, it is probably really depressing.
Another movie that wasn't even worth mentioning above because it's going to tank in the box office and looks absolute awful is the remake, Red Dawn. It looks like a movie meant for 13 year old kids who don't know what good movies are yet and still play with G.I. Joes. Although I would've probably hated it at 13 and I did still play with G.I. Joes then so who knows.
In other news check out this awesome photo of Matt Damon from next summers highly anticipated film by Neill Blomkamp, Elysium. Hopefully a trailer for this one comes soon.
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