These are films that I either suffered through, or whose trailers assaulted me while waiting to see something else.
Not So Bad Once You Get to Know Them
These are two individuals who made careers out of dehumanizing others. Yet, we're supposed to sympathize with them because one was a repressed gay man and the other a woman who faced off against men and is now suffering from Alzheimer's. Fuck them both. There are many legitimate ways to approach biopics about interestingly evil people (e.g. Downfall), but a liberalized understanding is not one of them.
I've previously expressed my horror at seeing simple 2D cartoonish figures rendered in photorealistic 3D detail. Who needs to count the black lines in Scooby's iris or see the snot dripping from his nose to get into the plot? But this grotesque disfiguration has really reached its aesthetic nadir with Spielberg's adaptation of the comic famous for its clear line style, Hergé's TinTin. Rather than believe Spielberg can't see how hideous these deformed monsters look, I suspect that this kind of adaptation is really a simulation of a live action adaptation. Ultimately, it's a portent of a later stage of the technological revolution in which actors and much of the old film crew will be out of a job. A perfectly realistic CG star can't join a union. Of course, that'll only happen if they can digitally create the voices, too, which brings me to why the Muppets are dead and should not be brought back as zombies. Maybe Gallagher and Sam Kinison can be safely simulated by a close relative, but there is no muppet without the original muppeteer. Kermit and Fozzie might look the same, but they're obviously defective clones, being revealed as recovering stroke victims upon opening their mouths. (Not that I've ever been much of a fan of the Muppet movies, which tend to identify more with the lame humans than the characters of interest.)
It is now December 1st and officially the last month of the year. Only Twenty Four Days until Christmas. And the Oscars are just around the corner. The Golden Globe Nominations come out Thursday December 15th. The Golden Globes Ceremony is Sunday January 15th. The Oscar Nominees are announced Tuesday January 24th. And the Oscars are on Sunday February 26th. Most of the nominated movies are released in these last couple of months of the year. And most of these movies have some great scores and soundtracks to go along with them. I like to think of it as soundtrack season as well. I almost love soundtracks as much as I love movies. It really is one of my favorite things about watching movies. The music is often what really makes me fall in love with the music. It is those cinematic moments with no dialogue and just the music that I really appreciate most.
In case you have not noticed, we are currently in the middle of Summer. It was like a billion degrees yesterday and it is a billion degrees today. I do love LA weather but I do also love complaining about the Summer. I love our mild Winters down here. And I do absolutely love the summer nights in Los Angeles. But I could do without the crazy hot summer days. I do know that as a planet we need the sun. So I have come to learn to love it over the years. But the goth in me still usually shields myself from the sun. More importantly I love all the things associated with Summer. I love the big summer blockbusters in the movie theater. I love the months of October through January and all the holidays associated with those months. And I love all these summer and fall albums coming out. August through November is an amazing time for music releases. All the labels are rushing to get albums out before the holidays. Just like the movie studios are rushing to get their best movies out at the end of the year for the Oscars. I guess it always depends on what you are into musically. But for me, there is a ton of my favorite bands putting out new albums in these next couple of months.
ed the world over by drummers and fans of drumming for his swift skills. In fact, back in his day he was commonly billed as "the world's greatest drummer." He is also one of the fastest, most skilled drummers of all time and got honored by Drum magazine for the "fastest drum solo ever" specifically for the song 
and as such he was an extremely successful young artist. In fact by the time he reached the ripe old age of 11 he was already a band leader. Unlike a lot of child stars Rich didn't quit or burn out but rather continued playing throughout his teens, consistently honing his style and getting better and better at his art. It has been written that Rich is one of the few drummers to ever master the so-called "one-handed roll" on both hands.
