411 Fact or Fiction Movies 12.07.07: Week 104

Posted by Ben Piper on 12.07.2007

Will I Am Legend fail to meet fan expectations? Was the season finale of Heroes a disappointment? Will Juno be this Fall's sleeper hit? 411's Jason Chamberlain and Ben Piper debate these and other topics in week 104 of Fact or Fiction: Movies.



That's right, you know what time it is boys and girls, time to enjoy some good ol' fashioned Fact or Fiction debate action!

This week we have 411 columnist extraordinaire Jason Chamberlain bringing his big brains and opinions to the table. And standing across the aisle from him is… Yours truly! Yup, it's been a bit of a stretch in time since the last occasion I hunkered down and took part, so I figured this week was as good a time as any. Let's get right down to it, shall we?

1. Based upon what you've seen, you expect The Golden Compass to suck.

Jason Chamberlain: Fiction-Exactly the opposite, actually. I haven't read the book it's based on, mind you, so maybe there would be cause for uproar if I had, if they're deviating from the story in an obvious way. But from what I've seen, it looks like a pretty cool fantasy movie, and I'll definitely check it out.

Ben Piper: Fact- Ever since LOTR the studios have been banging their heads against the wall trying to come up with the next great literary-based fantasy franchise. While the Harry Potter movies have managed to hit the mark both creatively and commercially, everything else they've thrown against the wall has pretty much sucked. While the previews for this look good, I only have to think back to Eragon to find myself hedging my bets.

Score: 0 for 1

2. Kevin Costner is a pretentious movie star.

Jason Chamberlain: Fiction- Why, because he sang on the soundtrack for The Postman? Because he made a movie called The Postman? Waterworld? The fact that he really hasn't made a good movie since Robin Hood? Although The Guardian wasn't bad, I'll admit. Okay, his career track record does seem to be a bit pretentious.... but having never met the man, I don't feel good about flat out labelling him. He should, however, make better movies.

Ben Piper: Fact- Yes, I made the statement, and yes, I'm backing that statement up. My argument isn't against the man's films (well, not MOST of them anyways) as I've enjoyed many of his works. The fact remains that this guy is really full of himself and believes that he knows for a fact what a movie audience will respond to and engage itself in. Considering most of the movies that he's either directed or developed for himself have been less than stellar? Kind of hard to argue against that, but he still does. If you don't believe me, watch his episode of Inside The Actor's Studio. While he is a smart, intelligent guy, he's not smart enough to not buy into his own hype. When you watch him talk with James Lipton, you can't help but think how full of crap he really is.

Score: 0 for 2

3. Juno will be this fall's sleeper hit.

Jason Chamberlain: Fiction- Hit in what sense? Critically acclaimed? The buzz is really good so I don't doubt it. But in terms of box office success? It won't set the world on fire. I could be wrong, and again, I'm going on box office here. I wouldn't be surprised to see it get attention at the big award shows, but as for raking in the big bucks, I don't see it happening.

Ben Piper: Fact- My friend Jason is getting lost in semantics, I'm afraid. A sleeper hit isn't something that necessarily sets the box office on fire, although that's been known to occur. It's something that strikes a chord with its audience and slowly grows from there. I see that with this film. Critic's have been favorably comparing this to the last two year's sleeper hits, Little Miss Sunshine and Sideways. That's quite good company to find oneself a part of, and I feel it will find a large and passionate following as a result.

Score: 0 for 3

Switch!!!

4. The Heroes season finale was a disappointment.

Ben Piper: Fact- albiet a mild one. Compared to the first season's finale this was a success, as its predecessor was such a letdown on so many levels. But this time around, I thought some of it was pretty good, particularly the Hiro/Peter pseudo-duel, and Peter and Kensei/Monroe throwing their weight around. However much more of it just felt like filler. Sure were got resolutions, but it was to stuff we honestly really didn't give a crap about. So Nikki got killed? Whoop. I guess that means we're now stuck with her pointless plot device kid and his cousin who can do stuff she watched on her iPod. Terrific. HRG struggled all season long to keep Claire safe from the Company and is now going to go back to work for them to do just that? Lame. And yes, I knew about five minutes before it happened that Nathan would be shot. As soon as I heard "press conference" I knew it was over for him. The last several episodes leading up to this one had been pretty good but this one left me feeling kinda "meh". So I say "Fact"

Jason Chamberlain: Fiction- The only way in which it was a disappointment is that it's a 'season finale' at all. It's December, it's only the 11th episode of the year, and the fact we're dealing with a 'season finale' is a joke! But that's another subject... in terms of the episode, it didn't disappoint at all. There was a lot of action, we potentially lost my least favorite character so that's cool, there was some great drama (please let Nathan live!), some story threads were wrapped up and new questions arose. The Heroes team were not in a very good position (having to craft a finale right smack dab in the middle of the story) but the way they've structured their show in 'volumes' worked to their advantage. I think you'd have to be one of the people that was really disappointed in volume two to dislike the finale, and I wasn't one of those people, as you'd know if you read my reviews on 411(shameless plug.).

Score: 0 for 4

5. Because of all the hype surrounding it, you're expecting I Am Legend to be an entertaining enough movie, but it will ultimately be a letdown.

Ben Piper: Fact- Don't get me wrong. Everything I've seen regarding I Am Legend screams kickass! But that right there is the problem. We've all seen commercials and trailers for movies which made us instantly excited to see the product, and when we did while we were entertained and enjoyed the experience, we say to ourselves and others afterwards "it was good, but I kind of thought it was going to be better". For some reason I get that feeling from this movie, although I do hope that I'm wrong.

Jason Chamberlain: Fiction- Personally, I don't expect it to be a letdown. A movie really doesn't have to do much to please me, and generally speaking when I see a trailer I dig, I end up digging the movie (Pirates 3 being, to date, the only notable exception). I haven't followed the story through it's various permutations, so maybe if I had I'd be more inclined to be let down by this version. Whether the average movie goer is let down will depend on their expectations. And to be honest I haven't heard a HUGE amount of buzz in advance of the flick, so I don't think people are expecting a world changing experience.

Score: 0 for 5

6. You're looking forward to the Monk and Psych holiday specials.

Ben Piper: Fact- While I freely admit that I don't watch either show regularly, I have seen them both and enjoyed them both when I did. Besides, with this pesky writer's strike currently going on, we pretty much have to take what we can get right now, because we're on the cusp of all the really good shows going into infinite repeats. Any chance that I can watch some quality non-reality programming that I'll enjoy is something I'm going to take advantage of.

Jason Chamberlain: Fiction- Not at all. And I love Christmas. I love Christmas movies, tv shows, and specials. But I don't watch either of those shows, nor do I intend to start, so they can throw up all the tinsel they want, they won't be making a viewer out of me! I am, however, dying to see Reaper do a riff on Christmas. I'd love to know how the Devil chooses to celebrate that little holiday!

Final Score: 0 for 6

Wow! There you have it, the first true Fact or Fiction no-hitter since I've taken over as moderator! And before anyone starts sending up cries of "Fix", I don't control what Jason feels, and I did not go out of my way to take the contrary side in any instance. This was simply a case in which two 411 guy's simply could not agree in any way, shape, or form.

Besides, what would you expect from the two dudes that recap Heroes & Lost respectively?

Many thanks to Jason for bringing his A-Game, and thanks once again to all of you for clicking the link…

Useless Trivia Question of the Week:
Last week I received the most responses ever, which tells me that a) people are actually taking the time to read the entire column and b) folks like trivia contests. As such, this feature shall continue! Thanks to everyone who wrote in last time, I hope you all received my responses, and congratulations to Joe from Wichita Falls, Tx. He was last week's winner of a hand-written letter from yours truly when he was the first person to answer the question correctly as well as provide his home address within the continental United States.

The question was to name at least three different TV series in which Richard Belzer portrayed Det. John Munch. Here are the many answers…

Homicide: Life on the Street
Law and Order
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Law and Order: Trial By Jury
Arrested Development
The Beat
The X- Files

Plus, one reader clued me in to the fact that he even played the role once in a skit on Sesame Street. Nice.

Okay, that was an easy one. Time to take things up a notch and see just how useless trivia savvy all you good people really are. As before the first person to respond with the correct answer and their home address within the continental US shall receive a hand-written letter from me. Good luck to you all.

Question: Who portrayed the first openly homosexual character (series regular) on American prime time television, what was the character's name, and on what show did this occur?

See you in seven.

-BP