January Awards

On Sunday, January 27th, 2008, the Screen Actors Guild Awards were held in Los Angeles. Seeing this award is from the actors to the actors, I think it is worth more than most. Like the foolish Golden Globes. The winners were:

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Movies:

Cast - No Country for Old Men

Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will be Blood

Actress - Julie Christie, Away From Her

Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Supporting Actress - Ruby Dee, American Gangster

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Television:

Drama Series Cast - The Sopranos

Actor in a Drama Series - James Gandolfini, The Sopranos

Actress in a Drama Series - Edie Falco, The Sopranos

Comedy Series Cast - The Office

Actor in a Comedy Series - Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Actress in a Comedy Series - Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Actor in a Movie or Miniseries - Kevin Kline, As You Like It

Actress in a Movie or Miniseries - Queen Latifah, Life Support

Lifetime Achievement - Charles Durning

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Every year, I give out my own awards. They encompass any movie I have seen over the past year, new or not. No one gets anything, but I like to give shout outs when they are earned ... and shout downs when they are earned, also. The winners for 2007 were:

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Favorite Movie - 30 Days of Night

Least Favorite Movie - Urban Legend

Best Movie - John Carpenter's The Thing

Worst Movie - Urban Legend

Best Actor - Daniel Craig, Casino Royale

Best Actress -

........ Imelda Staunton, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Worst Actor - Nicolas Cage, Ghost Rider

Worst Actress - Tara Reid, Urban Legend

Most Surprising Movie - The Host

Most Disappointing Movie - Urban Legend

Movie I Wish I Saw on the Big Screen - The Host

Movie I Wish I Waited to See on DVD - Ghost Rider

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Let me know what you think. Peace out.

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-- JFLY

Heath Ledger, Dead at 28

On Tuesday afternoon, January 22, 2008, Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment in New York City. He was 28.

I don't really know what to say about someone who I don't even know. I can't say that Heath Ledger was a great friend, or that he was fun to be around. I can't say that he was happy or sad. I can't even say what kinds of food he liked or disliked. I can only say two things about him. One, he was a great actor (one of my top five modern actors). And two, he was not in the news for any real celebrity foolishness.

For an actor of such, relatively, little acting experience, Heath Ledger was exceptional. He mastered the ability to make you like his characters, and to make them seem real. He showed a range that spread from comedy to action / adventure to drama. And he was able to portray each character with a quiet power that other actors of his age and experience sorely lacked. Am I saying this just because he is dead? Hell no. Just watch Brokeback Mountain and you will see. Heath Ledger is able to take his character throughout decades, aging the character as the film goes on, without the use of any real makeup or special effects. He was like an actor of old, like a Henry Fonda or a William Powell; he acted his roles, and acted them well.

In today's Hollywood, Heath Ledger was downright boring. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Ledger), Heath Ledger had only three "scandals" to his credit. One was a run in with the paparazzi (happens). One was his perceived demeanor during a formal announcement (chalked up to "stage fright"). And one was erroneous information that he relayed that he heard (in truth, the info was only 50 years off the mark). In Hollywood, with that record, Heath Ledger should be put up for sainthood!

So I don't have much to say about the man, but I will say that he was a great actor and, apparently, a gentleman. I pray that his family and friends find the strength to get through this time of loss.

Heath Ledger, may you rest in peace.

Heath Ledger (April 4, 1979 - January 22, 2008)

The State of ReclaimHollywood.com Address

Greeting, movie fans, and welcome to the year 2008. I hope that it is a better year than last year, not that last year was especially bad, but we can all use a little betterment in our lives these days.

Towards the beginning of any new year, we turn our thoughts to New Year's Resolutions. I never make too many of those, or take much stock in them, because I never seem to be able to keep them for very long. This year, however, I intend to change all that.

The best kind of resolutions are the ones in which someone promises themselves that they will do a certain thing. See the Grand Canyon, skydive, etc. That will be the kind of resolutions JFLY will be enacting this year. Many of the people who know me have been shocked that I, a self-proclaimed moviebuff, have not seen so many of the films that people consider classics, or even just favorites. I am guilty as charged, folks. There are plenty of great movies that I have not seen. Some, not so great, but enjoyable or famous, all the same. I give to you, the faithful of ReclaimHollywood.com, a list of my resolutions. The following is a list of movies that I wish to see this year, in alphabetical order. Movies in red I have not seen. Movies in black, I have seen this year. I will add to this list and scratch off from this list as the year goes on.

- All That Jazz

- Apocalyspe Now

- The Black Hole

- Casablanca

- Citizen Kane

- A Clockwork Orange

- The Godfather

- The Godfather II

- The Godfather III

- Gone With the Wind

- Johnny Dangerously

- L.A. Confidential
- Lawrence of Arabia

- The Seven Samurai

- A Streetcar Named Desire

- To Kill a Mockingbird

Now, on a different note, what will Hollywood be doing this new year? Well, I am sure certain members of the Hollywood elite will be making fools of themselves, as per usual.

I am sure that certain disgusting debutantes will be drinking and driving and flashing themselves throughout the year. They seem to have high opinions of themselves, but in reality, they are nothing but filthy trash who break the law and flaunt their influence. Let's just hope that their recklessness does not cost the lives of innocent people.

And I am sure that certain Hollywood hunks will not be able to see how good they have it. Those particular "dudes" will certainly turn to drugs again, and maybe they will decide to attempt suicide again. Let us hope that they do not succeed, more for the sake of their families and the emergency workers that will no doubt be called upon to respond to the mansion.

On a lighter note, the movie companies are planning some "new" films for this year and the next couple of years. Would you believe these "pieces of art" ... Hawaii 5-0, CHiPS, Kung-Fu, Land of the Lost, The Smurfs, Oh God!, Logan's Run, Scanners, Masters of the Universe, Fantastic Voyage, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Lost Boys 2: The Tribe, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian, Pink Panther 2, Transformers 2, Ace Ventura 3, Back to School, The Thomas Crown Affair 2, Creepshow, The Birds, Them!, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Wolf Man, Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, Child's Play ... just to name a few ...

Hey, who says there aren't any original ideas anymore?

Listen up, movie fans ... this is what we are talking about here at ReclaimHollywood.com. Hollywood is churning out more crap these days than ever before. And something has to be done: DO NOT GO TO SEE ANY OF THESE MOVIES! The more we support them, the more they are going to do this to us. It is unfair for them to ask $10 a head plus $10 for snacks PER PERSON, and provide a subpar product.

This is JFLY. Peace out.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

I am very excited about this movie. It is not often, in today's society, that an action / adventure movie is made so that the whole family can enjoy. Leave it to Disney to do just that. They did it with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which was a well-received project that was not only loved by millions, but a boxoffice bonanza. I could go on and on about how fantastic Pirates was, but I won't. Instead, I will gush about the National Treasure franchise.

With National Treasure and National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Disney has taken a sorely overlooked subject, namely American history, and it has forged that subject into a fun set of films. They have also added to the mix a great combination of actors and actresses, who all seem to work well together. Also present are some great, globe-trotting locations to sate the hungry eye. And, of course, there are the puzzles and the riddles. Everyone loves a good puzzle or a riddle, especially one you have a chance at solving. Now, you do not get that chance too often in the National Treasure franchise because the main character, Benjamin Franklin Gates, played by Nicholas Cage, is usually far ahead of everyone in thought, whizzing through puzzles and riddles faster than the mind can calculate. Don't feel bad; this is just part of the recipe. The real treat is watching Cage take the character through the steps of solving, on the spot, one impossible historical puzzle after another.

If youloved the first one, you'll love this sequel. In fact, I liked it better than the first. The characters have already been introduced, and we get right into the meat of the new story.

Kids movie? Certainly. I might leave the little ones at home (as should be done most of the time anyway), but I would bring the kids that would appreciate the fun and the action, yet still not be too bothered by the dramatic elements. There are lots of those, but more along the lines of action and suspense. There is a very low death toll here, folks, and the deaths happen in dramatic ways (and mainly off camera). I would say that there is a death toll of four total in both movies. And one of the deaths is none other than - SPOILER ALERT! - President Abraham Lincoln. Surprise!

Date movie? Absolutely. This is a fun movie with no embarassing or squirmy scenes.

I give National Treasure: Book of Secrets six out of six hidden clues. Enjoy!

Will Smith's Comment

Celebrities make me sick.

(You may think I am going one way with this, but just stick around...)

They are over-privileged. They are overpaid. And they are overrated. They flaunt their money and turn that money into power. They think that they can do no wrong. They think they are above the law. They think that they are gods.

And the populace has put them there. JFLY is not a highly paid celebrity because no one would even consider buying a JFLY t-shirt or seeing a JFLY movie. We have made these celebrities the new gods because we continue to idolize them by flocking to see their movies, purchasing their jerseys, and gossiping about the latest dirt spilled on those worthless early evening Hollywood TV shows.

Do some celebrities not suck? Yes. Do some of them do good in our society? Yes. I would love to shake Bono's hand for his work. And I would love to tell Oprah that she is an inspiration. But that's all any celebrity is getting from me; no autograph requests, just a handshake and a kind word - when it is deserved.

That is not often, by the way, but here is a nice blog that shows some of the good work that celebrities do: http://celebrity-do-gooders.blogspot.com/

Now that I have bashed the new gods, let me even out the scales. Celebrity does have its disadvantages. The most obvious one is privacy. Watch those garbage Hollywood TV gossip shows for more of that crap. Another is that even though those same celebrities are worshiped by the sheep of this world, they will be torn apart by those same sheep when something bad happens. Real or perceived.

Take Will Smith. Does Will Smith suck? I think not. But he is a celebrity and recently he was targeted by some vicious gossip journalists for something that he said. Allow me to reprint that quote, thanks to CNN.com:

"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think that he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good'."

What Will Smith said was anti-Hitler. That is plainly obvious to me.

Okay, now here is where the stupid comes in...

The sheep out there in the world hear the word "Hitler" come out of somebody's mouth and think one of two things: 1) That was obviously anti-Hitler, so I like that person, or 2) That was not obviously anti-Hitler, so that person must be a secret Nazi.

The press knows that there are only two boxes in which to place a "Hitler" comment. They play on that. And they targeted Will Smith because they knew the stupid sheep would not be able to place such an intelligently phrased statement into box #1. The gossip press does not care. They will tarnish the good name of anyone to get a story. And when that story has played itself out, they will move on to another story. However, that person's image will still remain tarnished.

Will Smith issued a statement that pointed out the heinous disregard that the gossip press had for the context in which he issued his original comment. Part of that statement can be read on CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/25/people.willsmith.ap/index.html).

Will Smith, if you read this then know that the majority of the intelligent people out in the world realize what you were trying to say. Allow me to paraphrase it:

Adolph Hitler did not get up every morning and rub his hands together like a vaudeville villain. He did not try to think of new and interesting ways to do evil just because it is evil. Adolph Hitler did do some of the most horrible things this Earth has seen, and he did them because he though that what he was doing was right. That is the real horror of Adolph Hitler; in his own mind, he was doing good. In reality, he was bringing Hell to Earth.

How's that? What box do I fall into, huh?

Will Smith, you're alright in my book. And I would shake your hand if I ever met you.

And gossip press? If you are listening, then hear this: Hollywood is crawling with filthy, disgusting scum; pick on them! Leave out the folks who are trying to do the right thing. Focus on the scumbag drunk driving debutantes or the scumbag abusing athletes. Goodness knows that there are plenty of them out there! When you take comments out of context just because they have key buzzwords in them, then you are worse scum than the worst celebrity.