HOLLYWOOD ON A HIGH - FULL OF HEROES AND ANIMATION!

No signs of recession if the yearly, Christmas day and year-end box-office tallies tell us anything.

Check out the top films  grosses in this Yahoo slideshow or read the excerpted list:

• 10. HORTON HEARS A WHO Total Gross: $154,529,439
• 9. TWILIGHT Total Gross: $158,461,000
• 8. QUANTUM OF SOLACE     Total Gross: $161,300,000
• 7. MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA     Total Gross: $172,332,000
• 6. KUNG FU PANDA   Total Gross: $215,434,591
• 5. WALL-E     Total Gross: $223,749,872
• 4. HANCOCK   Total Gross: $227,946,274 
• 3. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL Total Gross: $317,023,851
• 2. IRON MAN Total Gross: $318,313,199
• 1. THE DARK KNIGHT Total Gross: $530,750,228

To confess, I have seen 60% of the films on the list. 40% of the films on this list are in fact animated (while not in the traditional hand drawn sense still animated) and two that I saw were animated…one is even on my list of the 10 BEST of 2008 (TEASE: to be published here on this Blog in the coming weeks). 2008 was a fun year for audience films but it seems like the critical and thought provoking contenders really did (like the old days) come out in the latter half of the year. I enjoyed and rate high champs 1-3…but BATMAN and INDIANA JONES are my kinda heroes! Daniel Craig’s sophomore outing as another of my favorite heroes, “BOND, JAMES BOND”  was not up to par with 2006’s CASINO ROYALE.  Still it was fun minus the foiled opening sequence. I think the two latest 007 films CASINO ROYALE & QUANTUM OF SOLACE work inversely as sequels in the same way KILL BILL VOL. 1 (2003) & KILL BILL VOL. 2 (2004) do. Whereas one represents “the story” the other represents “the action.” But as far as new heroes are concerned you can’t go wrong supporting WALL-E and IRON MAN was a welcome surprise amidst a glut of superhero-themed movies. I thought #10 was OK but prefer the old Chuck Jones’ 1970 verison of HORTON HEARS A WHO to the new one. Both TWILIGHT and HANCOCK  I have heard OK things about but probably won’t appear on many 10 best lists. 

Here’s to a great recessionless year in excellent movie attendance..may you spend your respective movie dollars on only the “creme de la creme!”

Ackerman, Harryhausen, Bradbury

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN…

In remembering the passing of great contributors to movie and pop culture during 2008…I remember “Forry.”

Once upon a time…, so the story goes three teenage friends went to see a landmark film - KING KONG (1933). I can not remember now whether it was all of them together or each separately. What I do remember is that each young man was so inspired by the film, having never seen anything like it, that they each became successful in and around the world of science-fiction/fantasy! They all were founding members (1934) of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc.

Those three young men were writer, historian, publisher and renowned movie memorabilia collector Forrest J. Ackerman, renowned science fiction author Ray Bradbury, and stop-motion animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen (see above photo). 

“Forry,” was greatly influenced by other films too, such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and fell, so to speak, for the female robot of the film, Maria. 

Before the world wide web, ebay, google, there was Forry and his FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. There you could find everything you wanted to know about monsters, special-effects, make-up, sci-fi, and the craft of Hollywood moviemaking. Ackerman was at the crossroads of “fandom” and “social networking.” His magazine publication reached out to the film fan and youth of the day with a unique passion! It was the AIN’T IT COOL NEWS for a generation. One success lays the foundation for others! 

Over the years, I attended several “film genre” themed conventions/events where Forrest J. Ackerman and his friends reminisced. I was even lucky enough to visit Ackerman in his home back in the 1990s when he still conducted tours of his Los Feliz home where he housed his collection. 

Autograph

A collection that contained over 300,000 pieces of authentic movie memorabilia and artifacts from the creation of science-fiction and horror.  At a young age Ackerman befriended Carl Laemmle Jr., the one time head of Universal Pictures and the man who “green lighted” the films that serve as the basis for the “Universal Monsters” franchise, and that relationship provided young Forrest a link behind-the-scenes of “old” Hollywood. There he began to amass his collection. (NOTE: Before you judge remember that the post WWII generation is a generation of collectors…Ebay proves it!) And over the years Ackerman befriended many of  the greats including Bela Lugosi. 

Forrest J. Ackerman is believed to be the first to coin the expression “sci-fi” in his writings. So the next time you watch an old film or google something in the “sci-fi/horror” genre take a moment and remember a fellow fan, Forrest J. Ackerman.

NICK CLOONEY hosts REEL JOURNALISM

In the first of a 4 part series, the Newseum and American University School of Communications distinguished journalist-in-residence, Nick Clooney began a behind-the-scenes and in front of the screen examination of the “sometimes accurate and sometimes questionable depictions of journalist and journalism.”

The series entitled Reel Journalism began with Broadcast News (1987). The invited speakers were  veteran CBS News journalist, Bob Schieffer, and CBS News producer, Susan Zirinsky (the model on which James L. Brooks based his Jane Craig character played in the film by Holly Hunter).

The amiable and well-versed Clooney began the evening with a humorous comment about how his obituary was already written. Stating, matter-of-factly, that it would lead by mentioning his famous relations - sister and popular singer Rosemary Clooney and son, Academy-Award® winning actor, director, producer George Clooney - before ever mentioning any of his own accomplishments. Far too modest an assessment for Mr. Clooney has logged more than 50 years in journalism from coast to coast, at both the national and local level. Clooney knows about journalism, history and film and how they all intersect. Read the evidence in his 2002 book, “The Movies that Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen.”

This film series is sponsored through a partnership between American University’s School of Communication and the latest museum to come to Washington, The Newseum.

I have worked as a broadcast journalist by profession for more than 15 years now. When I first saw Broadcast News 20 years ago I was engaged in the romantic comedy imagining I’d find love before I’d find a career. Instead my personal life and career are playing out much like the plotline of the film. When I met Academy-Award® winner James L. Brooks at a WGA event in 1997, I told him based on my first hand observations of Washington, DC broadcast journalism he had gotten it right! Upon watching the film again at this event, I was touched by the truthfulness of nearly every situation. I have lived this film.

Judging from the opinions and observations of Bob Schieffer (he said this and Good Night and Good Luck (2005) are two of the best films ever made about the profession) and Susan Zirinsky who was a consultant/associate producer on the film echoed how well it captured the day-to-day process of bringing the evening news to America.

Perhaps someday, I’ll do a scene by scene analysis of the truthfulness of this contemporary American classic! Right now I am too busy living it.

Look for my personal list of the best films about journalism in a future post related to this series. Feel free to comment on your own journalistic favorites.