411 Fact or Fiction Movies/TV 12.05.08: Week 155

Posted by Ben Piper on 12.05.2008

Will Sean Penn be oscar nominated for his work in Milk? Will Frost/Nixon be this year's Oscar frontrunner? Are people interested in checking out William Shatner's new talk show? 411's Owain J. Brimfield & Tony Farinella debate these and other subjects in week 155 of Fact or Fiction: Moives/TV!



What's happening? Welcome back yet again to another terrific installment of everyone's favorite source of internet unrest, turmoil and upheaval; Fact or Fiction! This week we've got Owain J. Brimfield and Tony Farinella matching wits and opinions. Let's see what they have to say…

1. You have little doubt that Sean Penn's performance in Milk will be Oscar nominated.

Tony Farinella: Fact. Nothing is a sure thing in Hollywood, but I have a pretty good feeling about this one. Sean Penn is probably my favorite actor in Hollywood, and I'm glad to see he's slowly getting back in the spotlight. It seems like after Mystic River, his career has been all over the place. Sean Penn is probably the closest thing we have to a modern-day Brando, and I'd like to see him tackle more challenging projects in the future. Will he win? It's hard to say, because he has already won an Oscar, and they might want to go in a different direction. Plus, even though Sean Penn is a very good actor, he's not the most popular guy in Hollywood, because he's a bit of an outcast.

Owain J. Brimfield: Fact. This is the first set of Academy awards that has me interested in a long time; admittedly in part because, like everyone else, I'm hugely curious to see whether Oscar will risk nominating The Dark Knight for Best Picture. However, the rest of the awards are the widest open they've been in years. Penn is certainly tackling the usual awards hot buttons with this performance - real life personality, check; tragic story, check; gay, check - but who else is likely to get the nod for Best Male this year? Brad Pitt, potentially. Mickey Rourke, if the buzz is to be believed. Heath Ledger, if there's any justice. Frank Langella, for the simple fact of portraying an American cultural icon. Arguably Leo DiCaprio and Richard Jenkins could slip in there, but Penn's performance has arguably more Oscar heft than any of the aforementioned save a resurrected Rourke. Plus, you have the simple fact that Penn accomplishes the task of completely masking his dour, sullen real-life character to actually make Harvey Milk likeable. Real acting, folks! I'd certainly be surprised if his name wasn't to be found on Oscar day.

Score: 1 for 1

2. You fully expect Punisher: War Zone to suck.

Tony Farinella: Fiction. Well, it depends on what you expect from this sort of film. If you go in expecting a bloody good time with a paper-thin plot, you're probably going to enjoy yourself. If you're looking for a film that challenges you and forces you to think, you're probably going to be disappointed. Look, the title of the film really says it all. It's a war zone, by god. So, I think you know right away if this film is your cup of tea or not. And if you don't, you only have yourself to blame.

Owain J. Brimfield: Fiction. What Tony said. No one is going into the third Punisher flick with high expectations, surely? Ray Stevenson, bless him, has none of the charisma of Thomas Jane (or even Dolph Lundgren) and Lexi Alexander's resumé doesn't exactly inspire confidence. It's a pretty similar situation to the new Transporter flick - audiences know exactly what they're likely to get, which is a passably entertaining action-popcorn movie that passes ninety minutes of your time adequately and then leaves your mind. I can't believe that anyone is going into this expecting the next Dark Knight, or even the next Dark Man. In fact, I'm almost surprised it's getting a theatrical release, but I suppose the Punisher name apparently still has some kind of clout with the studios. That said, I don't expect this to be an outright stinker. It'll be mildly entertaining if you know what you're in for, and mildly irritating if you don't. The choice is yours.

Score: 2 for 2

3. Frost/Nixon will be this year's main Oscar frontrunner.

Tony Farinella: Fact. Almost every film directed by Ron Howard is nominated for some type of Oscar, and this film should be no exception. I've heard a number of people talk about Kevin Bacon's performance in this film, and I really hope that he FINALLY gets nominated for an Oscar and also wins an Oscar. I mean, come on, there is a game out there called the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. How has he never been nominated? Hollywood loves political films, and they also love Ron Howard, so this looks like a match made in Oscar heaven.

Owain J. Brimfield: Fiction. As I said earlier, I'm fully expecting this year's Oscars to be somewhat of a wide-open contest. There's not a lot of arguing that Frost/Nixon will be a strong contender; it looks like a solid drama, and will surely bring a handful of nods (hopefully Michael Sheen may squeeze in as Supporting Actor; the man is surely, by now, the world's foremost expert on portraying real-life media personalities on the screen, after his small-screen stints playing Tony Blair and Kenneth Williams and the upcoming role as football's most outspoken manager Brian Clough). However, to call it the main frontrunner is misleading, as there are a number of other deserving pictures that will be clamouring for the big awards. Whether or not, as Tony postulates, Kevin Bacon may get a look-in is a matter much more worthy of debate. Has the man ever turned in an Oscar-worthy movie outside of Tremors?

Score: 2 for 3

Switch!!!

4. The idea of a Planet of the Apes prequel is a bad one.

Owain J. Brimfield: Fact. I'm a little torn on this one. On the one hand, of course it's a bad bloody idea. What are they planning on doing, showing the evolution of apes to the position of earth's dominant lifeform as some grand time-spanning epic drama? On the other hand, it's no worse an idea than any of the interminable sequels to the original (which, for the record, is one of the greatest science fiction movies of last century), and certainly more than on a par with Tim Burton's damp squib of a remake. On reflection though, I'm going to have to side with my elitist sci-fi snob split-personality on this one. Even if there is, in some genius writer's mind, a compelling story that would fit the brief of bridging the gap between present day and the original Planet, is it really worth telling? The franchise, after years of being dragged through the mud, retains very little lustre (if indeed it had any after becoming a "franchise" rather than a single movie), and such a movie would undoubtedly by greeted by pre-empted derision from any number of critics and audiences alike. That's not to say it would necessarily be a bad thing.... oh, well alright, it is to say that. Anyone with common sense can see that a prequel would be a bad idea. Let's leave the original film's tarnished legacy alone before anything else is done to cheapen it.

Tony Farinella: Fact. Why is this idea even being considered? It's a movie about apes! What else is there to discover about them? If I want to know more about apes, I'll watch the Discovery Channel. It just seems really pointless and like a big waste of time for everyone involved. I totally agree with Owain on this one. Hasn't this film been damaged enough? Enough is enough already. This would just be like putting perfume on a pig that already has way too much perfume on in the first place.

Score: 3 for 4

5. You generally enjoy the holiday movie/TV season.

Owain J. Brimfield: Fiction. Please bear in mind I'm speaking about the UK holiday season here. The one and only thing I consistently enjoy about Christmas television here is the bumper festive edition of the 'Radio Times', which makes for a pleasant evening's read and generally features a rather nice drawing of old Father Christmas on the front cover. Other than that, Christmas TV is relentless adverts for children's toys, repeats of every Christmas special of every bad sitcom ever made, and countless backing tracks of all the Christmas music we love to hate. Oh, and "premieres" on Christmas Day of whatever crappy family movie the BBC has got its stinky hands on (invariably Shrek or Toy Story again. And hey, maybe ITV will break the mould and show the Bond movies for a change! Christmas, if I may don my old man's hat for a moment, has become little more than a rampant feast of commercialism, and I'm not much of a fan. This year, like the several recently past, I'll be hooking myself up with a few choice DVD boxsets and declaring "humbug" to the world. Bah!

Tony Farinella: Fact. I love the holiday/movie TV season. It's always fun to watch It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, and the rest of the Christmas classics. Is the holiday movie/TV season perfect? Hell no. There are way too movies about the awkwardness that ensues when you have to meet your significant other's family. Yes, we get it. Everyone has a crazy uncle or a crazy grandmother that says inappropriate things or causes trouble. I don't know, maybe I'm stuck in the past, but I still get excited to watch a Christmas movie with my family and have some hot chocolate and relax before the big day hits. I don't think I'll ever lose that excitement. It sort of goes hand-in-hand.

Score: 3 for 5

6. You'd be interested in checking out William Shatner's new Biography Channel talk show Shatner's Raw Nerve.

Owain J. Brimfield: Fiction. I honestly didn't know about this, but for all I was expecting myself to say "Wow, the Shat, who would pass on that!" - yes, the man is a legend and is endlessly entertaining in a variety of guises. I just hate talk shows. My girlfriend has Maury on all hours of the day and it makes me want to murder kittens. Not that I'm lumping old Bill in with the deadweight of Maury Povich, but it's just a genre of television I can't stand, like "talent" shows and anything featuring Noel Edmonds. Count me out, thanks.

Tony Farinella: Fact. I love interviews (obviously) and I love William Shatner, so this sounds like a great idea. I'm always interested in learning new things about actors, and I think Shatner will offer a unique perspective, because he's an actor himself. I have a feeling that Shatner's show will be quirky, unique, and a whole lot of fun. I mean, look at the Bonnie Hunt Show for example. I think she does an excellent job and she really knows how to talk to people and get them to open up about their past, present, and future. It's a lot easier to talk to an actor than a random interviewer, because you can relate to them on the same level.

Final Score: 3 for 6

Bonus Non-Fact or Fiction Question: If you could resurrect one cancelled TV show, new or old, which one would it be and why?

Owain J. Brimfield: Does this have to be a show that was specifically cancelled? If not, I'm going to take my pick as Spaced. Sure, every man and his dog knows it these days as the show that gave Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright their big breaks (not sure why everyone seems to ignore the multitude of talent that made up the rest of the show's ensemble, but there you go - shed a tear for Nick Frost, star of the equally hilarious Hyperdrive and steadfastly un-Hollywood actor these days), but if you take the time to actually explore the show, it's a treasure trove of geeky humour, surreal moments, awesome cameos and genuinely compelling on-screen relationships. Of course, the problem is it wasn't really "cancelled" as such. So if we're going with the spirit of the question, may I submit The Adam & Joe Show, which lasted for a mere four seasons and was one of the highlights of 90s television. Although Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish have gone to better (although not necessarily bigger) things, the "best-of" DVD you can probably find cheap on Amazon is one of the funniest things you'll buy. Oh, and it's worth mentioning that Ad & Joe pre-dated Robot Chicken's shtick by a decade, and not only did it better but made it almost throwaway material. Wonderful stuff.

Tony Farinella: I'm going to go with The O.C. I know it's probably not the most popular show with 411mania.com readers, but I thought it was good, trashy fun. Plus, any show that features Rachel Bilson is alright in my book. The show was not perfect by any means, but it always entertained me, and, at times, it made me think. The show started off like gangbusters, but then it sort of slowed down near the end of the third season. I feel like they did so much in the first season, that they put themselves in a tough spot, because they had to keep coming up with off-the-wall storylines to keep the audience entertained. I heard it was supposed to get picked up by The CW Network, but it didn't work out in the end. And that's a shame, because I think the CW Network would have been perfect for this show.

And there you have it, Owain and Tony split the difference. Thanks to them both for taking part, and thanks to you for clicking the link. Check back next week for more exciting Fact or Fiction action!
-BP