411 Movies Roundtable: October 2008 Part 1

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 10.02.2008

The 411 staff takes a look back at the month that was, and discusses the upcoming big releases in October!

Welcome to the monthly 411 Movies Roundtable. We're heading rapidly into autumn (or "fall" as it's known by the Yanks, but since they also conflate "football" with "women's rugby", we'll let their questionable terminology slide for now), and the movies themselves seem to be growing darker and more serious as the nights draw in. Or maybe that's just the growing shadow of the Saw franchise that will... not... die. Alternatively, it might be the Dark Knight's wings slowly growing as they seek to envelop all sorts of further box office records. You just can't tell. Anyhoo, it's a busy one this month, as Guy Ritchie tries to salvage his reputation, Kevin Smith makes a porno, and the leader of the free world takes to the big screen.

This month's picture theme takes its cue from the admittedly atrocious title of Ritchie's new effort. As always, bragging rights to whoever can name the character and movie for every pic.

Let's get down to business...

Introducing this month's participants:

From "Furious on Film", Arnold Furious!

Taker of Alternates, Shawn S. Lealos!

B-movie expert Bryan Kristopowitz!

411 newbie, give a little push for Rick Tym!

Everyone's favorite Star Wars mark, Jason Chamberlain!

Movie reviewer par excellence Jeremy Thomas!

Keeper of the Top 5, Trevor Snyder!

...and I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield!

The Month That Was

Arnold Furious

Biggest Winner of the Month: The Coens. In a slow month for movies (and me writing on the 24th) I'll go with the Coens who seem to have another, albeit moderate, box office hit on their hands with Burn After Reading. Everything else is overwhelmed in the box office stakes by the continued rumbling success of The Dark Knight, which has now coasted into second place on the all time list and is headed to high up places on the International list too.

Biggest Loser of the Month: The Women. No, not all women everywhere merely the ones responsible for this badly reviewed flick. Currently 10% fresh on RT although it has recovered its $16.5m budget already after two weeks on release. Who cares, it still sucks.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire's confirmation they'll be involved in Spider-Man sequels 4 and 5. That means Raimi can finally pull the trigger on that Lizard storyline he's been itching to do for two movies.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I'm a Kevin Smith mark so I'm all over this. With the red hot Seth Rogen in the lead it might even be Smith's most successful movie financially.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Iron Man. Duh.

Classic Movie of the Month: Take the Money and Run. I took another dip into Woody Allen's back catalogue this month by checking out his directorial debut. While it's not as crisp and funny as Mel Brooks spoofs it's one of the earliest mockumentaries. Allen plays a small time criminal whose life is being recorded for posterity. His bumbling crimes include holding up a bank with a misspelled note. "I have a ‘gub', what's a gub?" "That's gun".

Movie Quote of the Month: "Osbourne Cox? I thought you might be worried... about the security... of your shit." – Brad Pitt gets technical in Burn After Reading.

Shawn S. Lealos

Biggest Winner of the Month: The Coen brothers. Burn After Reading will make a profit. This is great news and I hope it means the Coens are being accepted at long last. The scary thing is the movie is a love letter to their fans of old, mixing the storytelling of Blood Simple with the humor of Barton Fink. The mainstream film crowd does not understand that humor (and many reviewers don't get it either, apparently) as this movie is the most Coen-like movie they have made since The Big Lebowski. Miscreants getting what they deserve in a story that makes no sense is the Coens to a tee. It is nice to see the brothers getting some love after over twenty years.

Biggest Loser of the Month: September is the graveyard for movies. It is hard to throw any more dirt on a movie that is already buried in this month. Saying that, I feel Bangkok Dangerous is the biggest loser. I feel sorry for the Pang brothers, who are very good filmmakers. But a Nic Cage movie making $14 million in three weeks is downright pathetic. The movie had a $40 million estimated budget and won't come close to getting that back. It's going to take a lot to get a decent budget for the brothers' next American features.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Damn, where have I been this last month. Has anything important happened? I am excited that Shane Black is going to direct again, with his next project Cold Warrior. It's also pretty big news that Universal is passing on Tin Tin, proving Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson don't always get what they want. In industry news it is interesting to see Rian Johnson taking the piss on the new RED high def camera. It's interesting to me at least.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I gush over the greatness of this later in the roundtable. Needless to say, I worship at the altar of Kevin Smith.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Slow month. I guess The Incredible Hulk is my most anticipated. However, for those fans of Troma, this also marks the month you finally get to see Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

Classic Movie of the Month: Clerks. With the release of a new Kevin Smith movie, there is no better time to go back and watch the movie that started it all.

Movie Quote of the Month: "Empire had the better ending: Luke gets his hand cut off, and finds out Vader's his father; Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. And that's life-a series of down endings. All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets." - Randall in Clerks

Bryan Kristopowitz

Biggest Winner of the Month: I would have to say Samuel L. Jackson, as his new flick Lakeview Terrace opened at number one the week of its release, which I think is pretty decent for Sam since, for some reason, his pop culture vibe hasn't been as strong or vibrant lately. And I think Lakeview Terrace surpassed expectations in terms of critical reception. Roger Ebert gave it a good rating, so that's got to count for something.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Ted McGinley, good old Alpha Beta leader and Adams College quarterback Stan Gable/ Marci D'Arcy's husband Jefferson D'Arcy, has already been voted off Dancing with the Stars. Freaking Steve Guttenberg lasted longer. Well, I guess, with McGinley gone, we won't have to endure any "Jumping the Shark" hooha regarding the show, since McGinley is more often than not blamed for killing TV shows than anyone else.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Well, besides the death of Paul Newman and the whole Spider-Man 4 and 5 deal Sony made Tobey Maguire, I'd say that the possibility of Ghostbusters 3 happening without Bill Murray involved is pretty dang big news. How can you have a Ghostbusters movie without Pete Venkman?

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Saw V most definitely, along with Body of Lies (even with DiCaprio it still looks decent), W. looks interesting, Max Payne looks bizarre, and the new Kevin Smith movie looks funny. And I'm not a Kevin Smith fan.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: Three Stooges Collection vol. 4 comes out (anytime the Stooges are released is welcome), there's a new Beetlejuice edition coming out, the Don Johnson/Cheech Marin buddy cop show Nash Bridges finally hits DVD (the first season of the show was great), Family Guy has its sixth volume coming out, and, the big one, the latest big Troma movie hits at the end of the month with Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead. It's a zombie chicken satire musical or something like that. I haven't seen it, but from the trailer I've seen, there's a talking cheeseburger in it. Why the hell wouldn't you want to watch that? And, according to IMDB, Fred "The Hammer" Williamson is in it for some reason. That may not be true, but if it is, how did it happen? Why did Lloyd Kauffman get Fred to do it?

Classic Movie of the Month: Messenger of Death, the 1988 Chuck Bronson flick featuring Chuck as an investigative reporter hell bent on finding out the real motive behind a Mormon family massacre. It's a great little movie where Chuck is tough as hell, although he doesn't wield a gun as much as he normally would (Chuck isn't a cop or Paul Kersey here, so I guess it's to be expected). I believe this was the second to last flick Chuck made for Cannon Films, and while it's kind of bizarre considering the kinds of movies he made for the Cannon people before it, it's quite good. "Guns have their uses." That's Chuck's big line.

Movie Quote of the Month: Jack Sayer: "You're huntin' it, ain't ya? Yeah, you're huntin' it alright, just like me!"
Dr. Loomis: "What are you hunting, Mr. Sayer?"
Jack Sayer: "Apocalypse, End of the World, Armageddon. It always has a face and a name. I've been huntin' the bastard for 30 years, give or take. Came real close a time or two. Too damn close! You can't kill damnation, Mister. It don't die like a man dies!"

Reverend Jack Sayer (Carmen Filpi) and Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)

Rick Tym

Biggest Winner of the Month: It's got to be the Coen brothers and Burn After Reading. I know it was mostly hit or miss with the critics, but I enjoyed the hell out of it and all the performances contained within. The scenes with J.K. Simmons were particularly tremendous. Plus it opened at number one, which even without much competition shows that the Coens are now more recognizable after their Oscar win for No Country. Hopefully this will continue to ensure the continued release of their excellent work.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Actually I'm going to go plural and list losers: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Samuel L. Jackson all get the honors here due to their choice of roles lately. Nothing will or probably ever should tarnish these actors' legacies but c'mon, what's going on here? All three actors are capable of so much more than Lakeview Terrance or The real losers here aren't these guys but the audiences who have to endure such tripe from them, all the while remembering how great they once were.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: The passing of Paul Newman. The man was, is and always will be a legend. He was just as influential in his charity work and his racing endeavors as he was in his many film roles. He lived a long, full life that was still deemed too short by many, myself included, when he succumbed to cancer at the age of 83. Personally, I will never forget Newman as Fast Eddie from The Hustler and The Color of Money. Of all the icons he created on screen, this character was my personal favorite. Rest in peace, Mr. Newman. Hollywood and the world in general are better having known you.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Body of Lies There's a lot of interesting movies coming out this month, but this is the one I am most enthusiastic about. Ridley Scott doesn't have many misfires, and the story and cast here intrigue me just a bit more than all the other October releases. I look forward to seeing Crowe once again team with Scott, along with the continued growth of DiCaprio as an actor.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: I'm a bit new here, so I don't know if Iron Man is a legit pick since it is technically released in late September, or if I should just stick strictly to October releases. If I have to pick out of October's stash I'm going with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I plan on watching both anyway since I really want to see which one holds up and which one still disappoints after seeing each in the theater. Although I think I already know how that one's gonna turn out…

Classic Movie of the Month: Halloween, no doubt. This is one of my favorite movies of all time and though in my opinion not the scariest (which would be a tie between The Exorcist and Jaws, for those wondering), one of the best horror films ever made. Let us never forget that this was the Blair Witch of its day (only better), made for around $320,000 and going on to become one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time. It was even been selected for inclusion into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry due to its cinematic influence, no small feat for a horror film. Like everyone always says, forget the sequels and the remake. The original is the one to see and celebrate as October 31st draws closer.

Movie Quote of the Month: "You've fooled them, haven't you, Michael? But not me." - Dr. Sam Loomis to a six year old Michael Myers (from the television edit of the film)

Jason Chamberlain

Biggest Winner of the Month: TV fans, with the return of great shows like Heroes, Chuck and Smallville! It almost makes up for the crapfest that is September at the movies. Almost.

Biggest Loser of the Month: The entire world and certainly Hollywood lost an icon, fantastic actor and a great man in Paul Newman. R.I.P. Reg Dunlop.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire re-upping for Spidey's 4 and 5. Money talks, baby. I just hope they man up and finish it out right with a sixth movie that has Spidey taking on the (you guessed it) Sinister Six! It markets itself.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Zack and Miri. Star Wars themed porn? I am in!

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: A thousand times Iron Man. And I'm rocking Blu-Ray myself.

Classic Movie of the Month: As a hockey player and fan, what else could I say but Slapshot? In memory of the great Paul Newman, you should all take a seat, grab a cold beer and watch the best damn sports movie ever made.

Movie Quote of the Month: "They brought their fuckin' toys with ‘em!" – Reg Dunlop (Paul Newman) isn't happy with the Hanson Brothers in Slapshot.

Jeremy Thomas

Biggest Winner of the Month: I hate to make things sound like a broken record between us, but by any criteria, the Coen Brothers and Burn After Reading are the biggest winners of the month. They've got the highest gross of any film that opened this month, the best critical reception, and they're building momentum off their big Oscar year.

Biggest Loser of the Month: It's hard to vote against Bangkok Dangerous, a film that may have won it's really lousy first weekend but has quickly disappeared into obscurity. Apparently, not even Nicolas Cage and his wacky haircut can bring a quality Asian remake to the States.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: The passing of Paul Newman is a pretty huge one, and a blow to the industry. Newman was one of the greatest actors of his generation without question, and was a true role model in a time when there were (and are now) few such people of that caliber in Hollywood. He'll be sorely missed.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for Saw. While last year's wasn't up to the standards of previous ones, I want to believe that it'll get back on track this time around.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: I have to go with The Incredible Hulk. I really liked the movie in theaters, and considering what Marvel's got planned as extras, it should be well worth the buy.

Classic Movie of the Month: It's Horror Month, and thus, I have to give props to a great horror film. That film is 1932's White Zombie, the first film that ever featured zombies. Bela Lugosi (of Dracula fame) is amazing as Murder Legendre, the Voodoo master that turns Charles Beaumont's forbidden love Madeline into a zombie. Anyone wanting to see one of the first truly great horror films would be well-advised to check it out.

Movie Quote of the Month: "You must bring her back!"
"Aren't you a trifle afraid, monsieur? How do you suppose those eyes will regard you when the brain is able to understand?"
"Better to see hatred in them than that dreadful emptiness."

- Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) and Murder Legendre (Bela Lugosi), White Zombie

Trevor Snyder

Biggest Winner of the Month: Well, at the risk of being boring, I'm gonna have to go with the Coen Brothers, as well. Burn After Reading wasn't the unanimous critical hit that No Country For Old Men was, but it was well-received enough, and it opened in the #1 spot – not something the Coens are used to.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Righteous Kill. It's pretty sad to see a Pacino/De Niro pairing fail so badly, but it also perfectly represents the current state of both of their careers. Oh well, at least we still have Heat.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Well, I was gonna go with the announcement that Ghostbusters 3 is actually moving ahead, but the sudden death of film legend Paul Newman has certainly overshadowed any other news. We'll miss you, Mr. Newman.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: The red-band trailer for Zack and Miri Make a Porno was funnier than most of this year's comedies. I can only imagine how great the entire movie will be.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: 30 Rock: Season Two. Judging by the ratings, there are plenty of people who could benefit by checking these DVDs out and finding out why this won the Best Comedy Emmy two years in a row.

Classic Movie of the Month: It's tough to pick just one Paul Newman movie to recommend, but if pressed I'd have to fall back on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so why not give that a look (or another, if you've already seen it) to pay tribute?

Movie Quote of the Month: "If he'd just pay me what he's spending to make me stop robbing him, I'd stop robbing him." – Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Owain J. Brimfield

Biggest Winner of the Month: Since everyone else seems to be taking the view that this was the Coens' month, and it's actually kind of hard to disagree, I'm going to set myself apart from the pack and make a choice out of left field, that being Bryan Cranston. Yeah, the dad from Malcolm in the Middle. Cranston was vastly underrated in his role on that show, and his new effort Breaking Bad has just debuted here in the UK. It's a corker, folks. The cracking pilot, in which Cranston's depressed chemistry teacher turns to the manufacture of crystal meth, is one of the few non-sci fi shows I've been interested in for a long while. Here's hoping it gets the success it looks like it deserves.

Biggest Loser of the Month: Hard to disagree with the pick of those involved in Bangkok Dangerous. Well, actually, it isn't, because that wasn't the worst film September said - the holder of said accolade being the atrocious The Women. Feminism by itself doesn't equate to quality, people. This was a horrible outing and completely sullied the reputation of its grandmother.

Biggest Movie News of the Month: Paul Newman, RIP. The most dignified film star the world ever saw and a person who will be sorely missed.

Your Most Anticipated Movie of the Month: Had it not been for the increasingly child-friendly trailers it'd be City of Ember, but since that seems to be going the obnoxious "family" route I'll have to cave and pick Kevin Smith's latest effort, even though it pains me to be one of the sheep. Nah, I'm just kidding folks, it does look pretty good.

Recommended DVD Release of the Month: The Incredible Hulk. Is it better than Ang Lee's effort? Hard to say, but it certainly set the ball rolling for a major Marvel release slate over the next few years and although it was of variable quality, still represents a pretty important comic book movie.

Classic Movie of the Month: The Color of Money, for reasons that shouldn't have to be explained.

Movie Quote of the Month: It's not strictly a movie quote, but a wonderfully self-deprecating remark from a mini Paul Newman autobiography: "He is generally considered by professionals to be the worst fisherman on the East Coast."

CONTINUE TO PART 2!