CLERKS: Hardly Workin'

WELCOME TO SMITHMAS!!!!!!

Note: This is a new weekly (just for December) post dedicated to the films of Kevin Smith. This month, we'll be focusing on Kevin Smith's Clerks., Mallrats and Clerks II. Granted, the following post might include foul language, but this is out of respect to the filmmaker's original works. These feature posts will be noticeably longer than my regular posts because they will include a feature-length overview of the film. Thank you and I hope you enjoy it.

"Just because they serve you, doesn't mean they like you."

In 1993, New Jersey convenience store employee Kevin Smith wasn't just working his 9-to-5 job. He was putting together a movie. He maxed out ten credit cards, pulled from a tuition reimbursement because he dropped out of college halfway through, and used insurance money he got from a car that got lost in a flood. He shot for 21 straight nights (he was not allowed to film inside the store while it was open). He could only sleep for one hour, which often led to him falling asleep during the shoot. What the world got was Clerks.


Awaking from a deep sleep, everyman employee Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) is called into work on his day off. As he vehemently protests, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!", he is promised that another employee will come in later in the day to relieve him. And so, Dante goes to work at Quick Stop. Because he can't open the security shutters (there is gum stuck in the locks), he has to make a sign that says, "I ASSURE YOU, WE'RE OPEN!" He makes some coffee, brings in the newspaper and mournfully awaits the start of his day. Meanwhile, outside the store are two drug dealers - Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) who are all about partying, doing drugs and not doing much of anything else. From dealing with a chewing gum salesman posing as an anti-cigarette activist, an angry girlfriend with a distasteful secret and the upsetting news that his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin Bree (Lisa Spoonhauer) is getting married, there is not much more Dante can take. Enter Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson), who takes the title "employee" very, very lightly. He works at the video store next door but rarely stays inside for more than 5 minutes and often walks over to Quick Stop to bug Dante, his best friend. Because Randal is such a film geek, their conversations often go something like this:


Dante's girlfriend, Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), brings him lasagna for lunch and keeps begging him to leave the Quick Stop and go back to college where he can make something for himself. Dante is wrestling with his self-doubt and believes he is unable to bring about a change in his life. Randal is perfectly happy to stay right where he is and keep doing what he's doing (which isn't much to begin with). When Dante learns that that relief employee was just a ruse to get him to work the entire day, Dante decides enough is enough and closes the store to play hockey on the roof with his friends, as he planning to when he got off work.


After an annoyed customer joins them and knocks their ball off the roof and into a sewer, Dante and Randal return inside where they learn that one of their friends from high school, Julie Dwyer, has died and close the store again to go to her wake. Once inside, Randal knocks over Julie's casket and the two of them escape while being chased by Julie's family members. Back at Quick Stop, Dante finds his ex-girlfriend Caitlin. She reveals that the news of her impending marriage was made too quickly and that she is not really in love with her groom, an Asian architect. Tempted by her words, Dante goes home to change into new clothes to take her on a date. However, a mistake Dante has made earlier in the day has now come back to haunt him. An elderly man, who had entered the store a few hours before Caitlin walked in, asked Dante to use the employee bathroom. Believing Dante had already arrived, Caitlin entered the bathroom alone.


With Caitlin gone, Jay and Silent Bob enter the store. Jay derisively invites Dante to a drugged-up party and he declines. However, Silent Bob breaks his silence as he imparts advice to him, "You know, there's a million fine-looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you." Swayed by Bob's words, Dante is resolved to return to his girlfriend Veronica. However, Randal has already told her of Dante's plans to leave her for Caitlin. A furious Veronica breaks up with Dante and tells him:

"You don't know what you want, but I'm not going to sit here anymore holding your hand until you figure it out! I've encouraged you to get out of this fucking dump and go back to school, to take charge of your life and find direction. I even transferred so maybe you would be more inclined to go back to college if I was with you. Everyone said it was a stupid move, but I didn't care because I loved you and wanted to see you pull yourself out of this senseless funk you've been in since that whore dumped you, oh so many years ago. And now you want to go back to her so she can fuck you over some more? .... I want you to follow through on this, just so she can find out what a fucking idiot you are! And when she dumps you again - and she will, Dante, I promise you - when she dumps you again, I want to laugh at you, right in your face, just so you know that that was what you gave up our relationship for! I'm just glad Randal had the balls to tell me, since you couldn't!"

For Dante, this is the last straw. As Randal re-enters the Quick Stop, Dante ambushes him and they begin fighting using items from the store as weapons. They soon tire out though and end up lying on the floor.


No longer angry at each other, Dante and Randal clean up their mess. Dante tells Randal he's going to visit both Caitlin and Veronica, but will most likely try to patch things up with Veronica. Randal takes down the "I ASSURE YOU, WE'RE OPEN" sign and tosses it at Dante's head, happily exclaiming, "You're closed!"


Clerks. is a hysterically funny film. It shows a view into normal, everyday people that most of us all take for granted. The actors inhibit their characters fairly well for first-time actors. Smith follows the "work with what you got" filmmaking school. For instance, the real reason that the shudder locks are jammed with guns is quite simple. As mentioned earlier, Smith could not film inside the store during the day. He simply wrote in a simple explanation. He specifically wrote the character of Randal for himself, but when he realized he couldn't write, direct, work the store and play a major character all at once, he gave himself the small role of Silent Bob. I'm particularly a fan of the above "Death Star Contractors" conversation. It ended up leading to a change in Star Wars canon. In the DVD commentary for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, George Lucas confirmed that the Geonosians were created as the contractors for the Death Star to calm the fears of "Jay and Silent Bob" (mistaking Dante and Randal).


Clerks. was a huge hit and launched Kevin Smith's career. He started work on his next screenplay. Only this film would not be in a convenience store. It would be set... in a mall...

A GOOD YEAR: Ridley Scott Lightens Up

RETRO REVIEW

Today is Ridley Scott's 74th birthday. In his 34-year-long film career, he has been elevated to the status of living legend. And why not? He's the man behind such classics as Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. But I think that there's one of his films that is underrated among most. Why? It is Ridley Scott's *only* out-and-out comedy, A Good Year.


Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott have had a long and industrious relationship as actor/director. Starting with Gladiator, Crowe became an international superstar with his famous line, "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Commander of the Armies of the North. General of the Felix Legions. Loyal servant to the true Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife – and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next". After A Good Year, Crowe and Scott made three films together in a row: American Gangster, Body of Lies and Robin Hood (with only American Gangster being the clear box office success). In fact, Scott's next film, the eagerly-awaited Prometheus (his first in 3D), will be his first film without Crowe in 5 years. Crowe has also worked alongside notable director Ron Howard in A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man. Crowe's newest film, Man of Steel, features him taking up the mantel of Superman's father Jor-El (previously played by Marlon Brando). But going back to A Good Year...


Young Max Skinner (Freddie Highmore) grew up during the summers living with his Uncle Henry (Albert Finney) and his vineyard in Southern France. Henry teaches the boy how to treasure the finer things in life, especially fine wine. As he gets older Max (Russell Crowe) has forgotten the lessons his uncle taught him and has become a greedy stock trader, mistreats his staff and Gemma (Archie Panjabi), his personal assistant. One night, Max comes home to find that Henry has passed away and left him his lavish estate and vineyards. Planning to make a quick turnaround on the property, Max heads down to Provence to take a look around. After falling into the dilapidated swimming pool, Max meets Fanny Chanel (Marion Cotillard), a local woman he falls in love with. The more time he spends at his Uncle Henry's home, the more the past starts catching up with him. As the lessons his Uncle Henry taught him return, Max is shown a life more peaceful than he ever imagined.


In some ways, the film plays out as a European romantic comedy version of A Christmas Carol (but smarter than Ghosts of Girlfriends Past). I applaud Ridley Scott for wanting to play in a genre he hadn't before (as Martin Scorsese just did with Hugo). But the audience just didn't show up. In America, the film only made $7 million - $40 million less than Scott's previous film, Kingdom of Heaven. Even so, I quite enjoy this film for being a turn of pace for Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott.

NOTE: Happy Birthday, Ridley Scott! Thanks for reading - Zack

THE MUPPETS: They're Back

In 1955, Mississippi native Jim Henson took a green coat his mother had thrown out and two halves of a ping-pong ball and created a character that soon millions around the world would fall in love with. The character was Kermit the Frog and his message of believing in one's self to achieving the impossible was adopted by countless fans young and old. One of those fans was actor Jason Segel, a lifelong admirer of The Muppets. Teaming with Walt Disney Pictures, he set out to bring new life to the characters he adored and wrote, produced and starred in The Muppets.


But the Muppets had a long road to get back to the big screen. After “The Muppet Show”, The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan and The Great Muppet Caper, Jim Henson wanted to branch out into new directions (Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal) without solely being connected to the Muppets. In 1989, he decided he was going to give his company to The Walt Disney Company for near $150 million. This would allow him to go into darker material without leaving behind the Muppets. He completed two projects for Disney - a TV special “The Muppets at Walt Disney World” and the Disney World/Disneyland attraction “Muppet*Vision 3D”. Sadly in 1990, Jim Henson died of pneumonia. The world was shocked at this sudden death. At his memorial service (per his wishes), no one would wear black and the congregation would hold foam butterflies connected to puppeteer's rods.


As he had not signed an actual contract that signed away the characters, Disney could not take hold of the Muppets but distributed the two following Muppet films, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. Columbia Pictures took the next film Muppets from Space, the first completely original Muppet film since Muppet Caper, and delivered the Muppets' first bomb (mostly because it came out the same summer as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Wild Wild West and Runaway Bride). Frank Oz said, “[Muppets from Space was not] up to what it should have been. [It was] not what we wanted it to be.” After laying dormant for 5 years, The Walt Disney Company and the Jim Henson Company reached a mutual agreement and bought control of The Muppet Studio. Two TV specials were made - “If's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas” and “The Muppets' Wizard of Oz” (featuring a notable appearance by director Quentin Tarantino).

Disney had tried to get a new feature Muppet film off the ground by going straight to Frank Oz. They had found an unused script that Jim Henson had approved called “The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made!” where Gonzo makes a new Muppet movie but blows the entire budget on the opening credits. Oz did take the offer under consideration, but parted ways when he and Disney had disagreements over the budget - Disney wanted $12 million to do the film, Oz wanted $24-$50 million ( he reportedly quipped, “Do you know how much money it takes to make things look cheap?”). After the release of his last film, Death at a Funeral, Oz dropped out of public view; however, recent reports have said he has moved onto the stage, directing plays. In 2008, Muppet fans Jason Segel Nicholas Stoller pitched an idea for a new Muppet film to Walt Disney Pictures. Segel had made no secret of his love for the Muppets in Stoller's film Forgetting Sarah Marshall - singing a melancholy version of “The Muppet Show Theme Song”. They opted to write their own script rather than use the “Cheapest” idea. After having script meetings with Pixar Animation Studios, the film started production in late 2010.


The Muppets begins with the story of Walter (Peter Linz), a young boy doesn't seem to fit in with everyone else. Always getting hurt because of his small stature, Walter always sensed he was different until he happens to catch a rerun of “The Muppet Show” on TV. He instantly becomes infatuated with meeting his heroes, the Muppets, because of their similar looking appearance. He lives in Smalltown, USA, with his brother Gary (Jason Segel) who is dating a girl named Mary (Amy Adams). Gary decides that he is going to take Mary to Los Angeles for their 10th dating anniversary. Knowing that Walter would love to meet the Muppets, Gary invites him as well, though this secretly doesn't please Mary because she wanted Gary all to herself. Nevertheless, the trio leaves Smalltown, USA in a jaunty (and insanely catchy) musical number called “Life's A Happy Song”.


Arriving in Los Angeles, Gary, Mary and Walter discover that the Muppet Studios has been mostly abandoned and shut down. Walter sneaks into Kermit's old office and overhears a plot by evil oil tycoon Tex Richman (played diabolically by Chris Cooper) to destroy the Muppet Theater because of the oil that is underneath it. The only way the Muppets can save their theater is if they can raise $10 million considered to theaters in two days. Walter, Gary and Mary set out to find Kermit and put things right. They find him alone at his house with only his ‘80s robot servant (named ‘80s Robot) for company. A melancholy Kermit admits that he and the Muppets had gone their separate ways and there seems to be no hope of saving the Muppets had gone their separate ways and there seems to be no hope of saving the Theater until Walter makes an impassioned speech convincing Kermit that if the Muppets returned, the world would appreciate them again. Together, the gang goes out to find the rest of the Muppets for a televised Muppet telethon - Fozzie has reluctantly joined a Muppet “tribute” band, Gonzo had become a rich plumbing mogul, Sam the Eagle has become a talking head pundit on a FOX News-lite network and Miss Piggy, a Vogue editor in Paris. With time running against them, the Muppets band together to refurbish their old theater, find a celebrity host and remind the world of what used to be and could be again.


When I walked out of this film, I was conflicted. A rarity for me. I knew this film was gonna be good. I knew it. 90% critical ratings are not given to Rotten Tomatoes every day (certainly not on three different films released in the same time period; the others include Arthur Christmas and Hugo). But there were A LOT of things in The Muppets that raised my ire. The first was the Toy Story 3-esque opening montage of Walter's early life (which hurt all the more because a “Toy Story Toon” had just finished playing). For some reason in the first act of the film, Walter becomes less of a character and more of a punching bag for Jason Segel's character. Walter is hurt, thrown, slammed and abused in countless ways often directly due to Gary. Not that he's meaning to, of course, but it just makes him look bad. Speaking of Jason Segel, I think he actually wrote himself into the backseat of this film (practically literally). If he's not with Mary or Walter, he's really given nothing to do. Now, this is somewhat practical for this film because it *is* a Muppet movie, but he ought to give himself more stuff to do than just sing and dance. It just makes his character seem bland and boring, when you know Jason Segel is actually a funny guy.


Two of my favorite Muppet characters are Statler and Waldorf, those hecklers you love to hate. They are consistently crotchety, pessimistic and senile - which makes them hysterical. Which is why I was saddened to see they were given SO LITTLE to do in the film. They only appear in like 4 scenes (and steal each one). In fact, this film has a terrible habit of introducing Muppet characters and then pushing them to the background of the background. For instance, Rowlf, at the end of the “‘80s montage” comments that he just showed up and nobody got to see his backstory which is nothing more than Kermit waking him from his sleep in a hammock and asking if he wants to rejoin the Muppets. That's funny. But then Rowlf doesn't appear or have any lines for the rest of the movie (albeit a brief appearance in the credits). The same goes for a lot of the Muppet characters and that's not good. Granted, I know the main characters are more important but there is no sense in introducing well-known characters and then giving them nothing to do.


I like Amy Adams as an actress. I can't wait to see her play Lois Lane in 2013's Man of Steel. But in this film, she's not great. Her character of Mary is a bit conflicting. The movie would like you to believe that she's completely lost without Gary and that through their adventure, she gains modern-day women's lib independence. She just has everything set up in her mind and if it doesn't go that way, it's instantly Gary's fault. She has a completely unnecessary musical number in the film called “Me Party” that intersects with Miss Piggy and is about “girl power; I don't need no man to make me happy”-type stuff. It does not advance their characters or their story and just ends up making then look bad and selfish. She also seemed ambivalent to the plight of the Muppets. When she reminds Gary that he promised to take her to dinner, this is the middle of Gary helping the Muppets rebuild their theater. Can she not tell that Gary is trying to help the Muppets in their time of need? It's not like she's helpless and can't do anything; she teaches children how to fix cars. It just seemed as though the film is trying to portray her in two different lights and it doesn't work.


The cameos also don't work as much as they ought to. When “The Cheapest Muppet Movie” was announced, several celebrities were rumored to be connected with the film such as Billy Crystal, Barbara Eden, Lady Gaga, Ed Helms, Sean Penn, French Stewart, Eric Stonestreet, Rachel Ray, George Clooney (attending the premiere of Michael Clayton 2), Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn (reprising their roles from Swingers) and Christian Bale (as Batman). I don't know about you but I would pay money to see Christian Bale's Batman and Gonzo in a scene together. That would be comedy gold. But the cameos here don't quite measure up. For example, Alan Arkin plays the Muppet Studios tour guide that only appears on camera for exactly 60 seconds. He's dull. He's boring. Alan Arkin is a great actor, he doesn't have to play dull and boring. Now, had the character been played by Ben Stein, that would have been more acceptable. Being dull and boring is his shtick. That's what makes him funny. Sarah Silverman is also given a cameo that could've just as easily been given to another actress. Nevertheless, it's always good to see Mickey Rooney in a film.

Song used: “The Rainbow Connection” by The Muppets

This is not to say I didn't enjoy the film. Indeed, as I pointed out earlier, the film is completely centered around the Muppets and Jason Segel makes no attempt to overshadow them. In fact, without Segel, this movie would not have been made at all. He and Stoller have written a screenplay that allows the Muppets to be themselves and try to find their place in this world that seemingly had abandoned them. Rather than be a reboot of the Muppets, it plays more like a long-awaited sequel to The Muppet Movie. It's precisely what they needed. Chris Cooper stands out as the villain, not only a no-good jerk but also very dark for a kids' film. At one point in the movie, he just out-and-out says, “You're dead, Muppets. And I'm here to bury you.” I was astonished. Wow. I will be very angry if “Life's A Happy Song” does not get nominated for Best Original Song because that is one peppy song. Speaking of songs, I literally got goosebumps when I heard “Rainbow Connection”. It was as simple as it was at the beginning of Muppet Movie, but had a new sense of poignancy. The shot-for-shot recreation of “The Muppet Show Theme Song” also made me smile. I may get a lot of flak for the somewhat overblown negativity that I listed, but I sincerely assure you that I had a wonderful time watching The Muppets and would easily recommend it to anyone - long-time Muppet fan or newbie. I think Jim Henson would be proud.

“So, that dumb geek decided to give us the last laugh.” “‘Last laugh’? Don't you mean the first?” “OHHH-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO!”

SPACECAMP: Huntsville, We Have A Problem

RETRO REVIEW

In the news recently, NASA has announced that they are reopening positions for astronauts. There had been some discussion as to whether or not manned space missions were economically feasible. It seemed that unmanned missions would be safer and more cost effective. But by removing humans from the equation, the space program seemed like a thing of the past until earlier last week. Children today need to grow up believing that they too can be astronauts. Who cares if they don't get to be? It won't hurt them to dream. Movies like Star Wars and Star Trek inspire young ones to want to go out and explores those galaxies far, far away and the final frontiers. All it takes are dreams. This is the message of SpaceCamp.



SpaceCamp stars Kate Capshaw (Willie Scott from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Steven Spielberg’s wife) as a wannabe astronaut who gets stuck training teenagers at the famous Huntsville, Alabama facility. Among them is the arrogant yet somewhat likable jerk Kevin Donaldson (Tate Donovan of “Glee”, “Gossip Girl”, Nancy Drew and The Pacifier; most famous as the voice of Disney’s Hercules), the ambitious Kathryn Fairly (Lea Thompson, hot off the hit Back to the Future and soon to be “not hit” Howard the Duck), the geeky Rudy Tyler (Larry Scott of Revenge of the Nerds), the vapid Tish Ambrosé (Kelly Preston of The Last Song, Old Dogs, Sky High, Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat and John Travolta’s wife) and of course, the Star Wars-loving kid who just can’t relate (I know the feeling) Max Graham (Leaf Phoenix, who later grew up to become Oscar-nominated prankster of the world Joaquin Phoenix).

So that we know the players, we can go on with the story. All the teenagers cannot work together as a team and quickly become the laughingstock of SpaceCamp. Max ends up meeting a sentient robot named JINX (voiced by master voice artist Frank Welker). JINX is NASA’s “$27 million handyman” but has the unusual problem of taking humans’ orders too literally. JINX overhears a tearful Max desperately wishing he was in space after an argument with Kevin ends up shattering everything he loves about Star Wars. While the group is exploring a not-flight-ready Space Shuttle just before an engine test, JINX hijacks a computer and causes an engine malfunction that forces Launch Control to ignite the rocket boosters in order to avoid a crash – sending the trainees into space. Now out of orbit and options, they must work together to get back home.

While most people would think a movie called SpaceCamp would be an extended commercial for the actual SpaceCamp, it really isn't. Yes, there are training montages going around the facility and its uses. But at the actual SpaceCamp itself (where I have been many times), there is no mention of the film whatsoever. Strange, right? Well, the biggest bruise that SpaceCamp ever got was 1986 - the same year that the real-life Challenger tragedy occurred. Americans simply did not want to watch a film about a Shuttle mission gone haywire. SpaceCamp had suffered a case of "Too Soon?". However, another film released the same year, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (which ironically, had a similar premise of "The adventure of their lives will be getting back home") paid tribute to the fallen astronaut heroes by beginning their film with this message:

SpaceCamp is for the kids that couldn't go to SpaceCamp. It fell out of popularity, mostly because it also has fallen out of availability. This is why I think it ought to be re-released on DVD/Blu-Ray on this occasion of astronauts returning to space so that kids of all ages can once again reach for the stars.

Movie Talk on Sunday - Time Travel Films

Hello. My name is Zack Parks and I am a movie geek. ("Hello, Zack!") All my life, I seemed to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, in my high school in West Tennessee, I was tormented relentlessly because of my love of Star Wars. People were like, "Star Wars is lame, ya pussy!" Thankfully, college is a world of difference. But if you are unaware, I am not alone. Thanks to Twitter, I have been able to get connected with film fans all across this great land of America and abroad. It helps to talk with people who are just as intelligent (if not more so) about the cinematic subjects I hold so dear. And now, you can too with Movie Talk on Sunday (#MTOS)!

What is Movie Talk on Sunday (#MTOS)? At 20:00 GMT (3:00 EST) every Sunday on Twitter, movie fanatics join together on Twitter to rap about about different genres of film. A different blogger hosts each week and posts questions for discussion. There are 10 questions, with one posted every 10 minutes.
All you have to do is go to Twitter on Sunday at your designated time and search #MTOS. Make sure all your tweets have that hashtag as well so others can find you and join in on the conversation. Also, be sure to number your answers with A1, A2, etc.

This Sunday, I will be bringing time travel (a subject I am dearly familiar with) to the table of #MTOS.

1. What is your favorite time travel movie?
2. What is your favorite genre associated with time travel?
3. What is your favorite method of time travel in movies?
4. What film character(s) would you time travel with?
5. What is your favorite era of time travel?
6. What cinematic future do you prefer - dark and Orwellian or bright and happy?
7. Name some time travel movies that just don't interest you?
8. If time traveling, what one snack would you carry with you? (fun question)
9. If you could time travel and stop one movie from being made, which one?
10. If you had a time machine, where/when would you go?

So, be sure to hop into your DeLorean, step into your TARDIS, sit back and relax in your H.G. Wells time chairs and follow me through time for #MTOS!!

P.S. Follow these Twitter film fans, if you aren't:
@raghavmodi
@askimrach
@filmoria
@cine_cite
@realtormatthew
@moviemarker
@discuss_cinema
@poppeelings
@love_cinema
@filmsamurai
@UberTorso
@kindamoviesnob

THE AVIATOR: A Sky Without Limits

RETRO REVIEW

The Aviator, from director Martin Scorsese, is a thrilling and intriguing portrayal of one of the richest men in the world, Howard Hughes. Scorsese masterfully recreates the more positive eras of Hughes' life from the 1920s to the 1940s. Leonardo DiCaprio brings Hughes to life as a true American visionary driven by genius, and later enveloped by madness.


The film presents Hughes as a man of many talents besides being an aviator - film producer, airline owner and bachelor. He balanced multiple relationships with Hollywood starlets like the vivacious Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and the temperamental Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale). However, he most dearly loved aviation. Flying gave him complete control of the world around him. He gave the world a new adventure every time he flew around the globe, every time he invented a new plane, broke world speed records and won the hearts of Americans everywhere by doing what was considered impossible - flying the largest plane ever built, the Hercules. When called to testify to Congress after being accused of being a war profiteer, Hughes publicly defended himself and Hughes exposed the corruption of a Senator under bribes from one of Hughes' enemies. Through his life, he also suffered from a disturbing case of undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder; making him hallucinate over minor details like touching doorknobs, clean water and germs. A man with genius like Hughes can be rendered helpless by the inability to touch a doorknob and walk out of a room.

Director Scorsese is at his best in this film, replicating the early 20th century in minute ways including using period music, era-correct costumes, even decolorizing the film so it would match films that were made at around the same time. He took care to make sure that audiences were as swept up by Hughes’ aviation adventures as the world was in 1935 when he broke the speed record for planes in the H-1 Racer. The music by Howard Shore is also an integral part of the film. It is heroic and triumphant when Hughes takes the Hercules into the air and it is dark and moody when Hughes is locked in the screening room. Other films like A Beautiful Mind portray mental illness as something that can be overcome. Hughes was not able to control his mental disorder and eventually succumbed to it.

I believe that The Aviator is a fascinating film because it is a character study. It is not just a story about a man who liked to fly airplanes. It is a story about a man who stopped at nothing and would not let the limitations of his time slow him down. He was an innovator, giving the world modern air travel. One does not have to be a pilot, or an engineer, or a filmmaker, or a millionaire to understand that this film tells to story of a man whose genius was balanced by a dark enigma that eventually consumed him. The film is important to me because of its message of perseverance through times of crisis. The adult Hughes’ first two lines in the film are, “Don’t tell me I can’t do it. Don’t tell me it can’t be done.” Later, when Hughes is told that he can’t get any more cameras for Hell’s Angels, he tells his press agent Johnny Meyer, “What I have isn’t enough, John, not for how I see it.”

Howard Hughes was one of the world’s greatest enigmatic figures. Together, DiCaprio and Scorsese showcase Hughes as a man who loved the sky and was willing to fight for it.

NOTE: This was a review I had written last year in Introduction to Film at the University of Memphis. It got an A. Happy Birthday, Martin Scorsese! Thanks for reading - Zack

THE FRIGHTENERS: Who Ya Gonna Call?

RETRO REVIEW

In one decade, Peter Jackson has gone from a little known New Zealand director of gory, scary (but with a dark twisted sense of humor) films to one of the living legends of modern filmmaking alongside Steven Spielberg. Of course, everyone knows him from his beloved Lord of the Rings films which have become Oscar-winning epics. In between those films and his ongoing Hobbit two-parter project he's directed two films -- King Kong and The Lovely Bones -- and produced another, the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin. However, there is one of his previous films that I don't think gets the fandom it deserves. That is The Frighteners.


On the surface, I can see how the one-sentence concept would sound like a rip-off of Ghostbusters: a man, specializing in professional paranormal investigations and eliminations, goes around ridding ghosts out of people's houses but gets caught up in a case that puts him way over his head. However, this film has enough new and interesting ideas that it can easily differentiate itself from its more popular American cousin. For example, all the ghosts in The Frighteners are human or human-like rather than gruesome creatures as in Ghostbusters. All the technological whizbangery that Dan Aykroyd loves to write so much for Dr. Ray Stantz to use is nowhere to be found in The Frighteners.

The movie is centered around Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox, in his final live-action feature film performance) as a shady guy who runs a ghost-removal/psychic-communication business. The locals in this small, American town hate him vehemently, mostly because he goes around funerals and hands out business cards. However, a local doctor named Lucy Lynsky (Trini Alvarado) starts to believe him when unseen ghosts infest her house. Calling him in a panic, Frank arrives and using what looks like a toaster eradicates the invisible ghosts. However, her sports-nut husband, Ray, (Peter Dobson) thinks he is nothing but a con artist and demands he leave his house. Before leaving, Frank spots what looks like a number 13 carved into his forehead. As Frank arrives home, it is clear that Ray is somewhat correct. The ghosts that haunted the Lynsky house actually work for Frank (who, after a car accident, can see and hear ghosts), scaring people in the houses so they call him up and he can charge an exuberant fee. The three friendly ghosts that live with him are '50s nerd Stuart (Jim Fyfe), '70s pimp Cyrus (Chi McBride) and an Old West gunslinger known only as the Judge (John Astin; famous for playing "Gomez Addams" in "The Addams Family", his son Sean was cast by Jackson as Sam in The Lord of the Rings).

However, Frank and the town of Fairweather are about to be haunted by a not-so-friendly ghost. The next morning, Frank discovers that Ray is now a ghost. Ray tells him that the last thing he remembers was feeling his heart being crushed. Because he was the last person to see Ray alive, the local sheriff (Troy Evans) targets Frank as the prime suspect. Later, at a group "seance" with Lucy and Ray, Frank stumbles upon the true murderer, a ghost that takes on the appearance of the Grim Reaper (called in the movie "The Soul Collector"). The Collector has been killing people with the intent of pinning the crimes on him. Frank has to team up with Stuart, Cyrus and the Judge, keep Lucy safe, face not only his tragic past but Fairweather's, and -- most importantly -- stay alive.

"'Go ahead. Make my day.'"

This was Michael J. Fox's final live-action feature film starring role; he has since moved to guest-starring on TV dramas and animated films (including one of my all-time favorite Disney films, Atlantis: The Lost Empire). What better film to end his feature film career on (thank God it wasn't The Secret of My Success)? Not to mention, it was Peter Jackson's first film to get a wide American audience. Unfortunately it was released the same weekend as the opening of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but the film was picked up on VHS/DVD. It also introduced the world to WETA Digital, the New Zealand effects company that rivals Industrial Light and Magic for imagination domination. The effects that began in The Frighteners led to use in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, The Lovely Bones, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Fox was joined by his Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis (credited as executive producer), who brought his own special effects team (after they had made a similar film Death Becomes Her) to help with WETA.

"Doc? Doc, is that you?"

All in all, The Frighteners is a scary yet silly film. Michael J. Fox stepped out of the box to play in a genre he hadn't before: horror. It wasn't given much notice at the time of its theatrical release, but like its ghoulish inhabitants, it came back from the dead as an example of the genius of Peter Jackson.

Who is Zack Parks?

Thought this was fun. Hope you enjoy!!

The Learning Curve

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

- Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) Ratatouille (2007)

I've been garnering a lot of approval of my positive review of Drive and my negative review of Yogi Bear. However, I've also gained highly negative criticism for my positive review of Footloose. This is not to say people can't enjoy one film and not another. This is America, the land of opportunity. Anybody can say whatever they want about a film they enjoy or don't enjoy.

I can't change my opinion of Footloose. It is a highly entertaining, wonderfully charming and all-in-all sweet film. Many, including film fans that I have deep respect for, have flat-out told me that Craig Brewer should not have wasted his time on this "stupid remake of that $#*!ty-ass '80s movie". Others have said:

"He has NO valid artistic reason for doing this!"

"If you think Footloose is a good movie, then I think drug testing is in order."

"Here's how much [I] want to see Footloose..... ZERO."

"Why anyone would want to remake a piece of tripe like Footloose is beyond me!"

I would imagine you get the point. If Footloose was as painful-looking as Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star, I would gladly join them. But enough care and time was given to it by Craig Brewer to elevate it beyond the simple title of "unwanted remake". It includes a lot of warmth and love to soften even the hardest critic's heart, if they are legitimately open to it and not let cynicism rule their lives. Filmmakers often get too much anger over their projects and when they come out to explain their choices, fanboys often rip them to shreds and want to string them up by the celluloid strips of their most-hated films.

As I've said before, Steven Spielberg received a lot of anger and hatred from displeased fanboys over elements (and to some, the whole) of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg did his best to douse the flames by proclaiming that the Blu-Ray of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial would only include the original 1982 version of the film and not the 2002 Anniversary Edition featuring digitized walkie-talkies replacing shotguns. And now, Spielberg has finally answered the damning 2008-era critics.

"I'm very happy with the movie. I always have been... I sympathise with people who didn't like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin. I didn't want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings. But I am loyal to my best friend. When he writes a story he believes in - even if I don't believe in it - I'm going to shoot the movie the way George envisaged it. I'll add my own touches, I'll bring my own cast in, I'll shoot the way I want to shoot it, but I will always defer to George as the storyteller of the Indy series. I will never fight him on that."

"Hey, George? George! Watch me invent the troll face!"

Now, granted, I can see how easy it would be for Spielberg in his position to say, "IT WAS ALL GEORGE'S IDEA! IT WASN'T MY FAULT! I SWEAR!" Especially when most people are seeing red after the double-whammys of the altered Star Wars Blu-Rays and the upcoming release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D. I'm sure he's received a damn decent share of death threats (maybe even from people I consider friends).

"Man... I'm standing next to Steven Spielberg. My life has meaning!"

May 22, 2008: When many people claimed their childhood was raped. When their hero was seemingly destroyed across a vast cinematic canvass. Indiana Jones, to them, was dead. The blame game had started. In 2010, during press tours for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, Shia LaBeouf was reportedly prodded about his role in Crystal Skull and its derided place in pop culture. LaBeouf was said to have gotten heated over the question and said, "I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you’ve made (slop). And I think if you don’t acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you’re promoting a movie. You can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven.... We [Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn't happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted….We need to be able to satiate the appetite. I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate. I’ll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I’m not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he’s a genius, and he’s given me my whole life. He’s done so much great work that there’s no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball." A year later, during his own press tours for Cowboys & Aliens, Harrison Ford had simply this to say, "I think he was a f*cking idiot. As an actor, I think it's my obligation to support the film without making a complete a** of myself."

So who is really at fault here? Many would scream their heads off saying, "LUCAS!" Others would vehemently say, "SPIELBERG!" Still few would say, "LABEOUF SUCKS," and not even be referring to Crystal Skull (while they beat him up outside a bar). Personally, I don't know why anyone hasn't blamed Jeff Nathanson, specifically by name. Oh wait. Cause he only wrote Crystal Skull, Catch Me If You Can, Rush Hour 2 and 3, The Terminal, Speed 2: Cruise Control and the upcoming Tower Heist (and we all know there's plenty wrong with that movie). Not the best track record ever.

I would like to think Steven Spielberg is one of those rare directors who learns from his mistakes. Take 1941. Yes, 1941. This was after Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He was on top of the world. This was his chance to do a real big-budget comedy epic. About the day after Pearl Harbor. Yeah. Though he was smart to make fun of his own movie Jaws in the opening scene, Spielberg was dismayed to see that no one was laughing in a test screening. Although the film was a financial hit, it did not make the same amount of money that Spielberg's previous films made. Spielberg was practically defeated. Until he was sitting on a beach in Hawaii with a friend of his who had a new idea for a film that would feature America's version of James Bond. That friend was George Lucas and the movie was Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I would take Spielberg at his word here and trust that he will not lead audiences astray with The Adventures of Tintin. And from all the reviews coming from overseas, it appears that we Americans have quite a treat coming in December. And if you don't like that... hey, you get a drama from Spielberg. War Horse.

DRIVE: Ryan Gosling's A Real Hero

Let's face it. Action is one of the greatest genres Hollywood brings to the general public. And why not? It is riveting, full-blown and never fails to give audiences adrenaline-packed thrills! But of course there are differences in this genre. In essence, there is dumb action and smart action. Dumb action movies include Justin Lin's Fast and Furious, Neveldine/Taylor's Gamer, and of course, the grandaddy of 'em all, Michael Bay's Transformers series. Smart action movies include Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, Duncan Jones' Source Code, and Michael Mann's Heat. But there is a new film to add to the smart action group, Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive.


You may be noticing I'm not posting the full trailer. I think it's a bit spoilerish to be bluntly honest. That and you'd possibly mistake it for Fast Five.

The first major thing I took away from this movie: Never again will I ever underestimate Ryan Gosling. Before I saw Drive, I saw him (as must guys probably do) as "that Notebook guy", the pansy, the hearthrob. In my particular case, he's also the guy who's taking Emma Stone away from me in movies (Crazy, Stupid, Love). But that's a different story. (Emma....) But in Drive, Gosling is allowed to show his badass side. His character doesn't even have a name, just "The Driver". How cool is that?

The film opens with the best subtle action set piece I have seen since the opening of The Dark Knight. You see The Driver laying down his rules (as you heard in the above video): "If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. I don't sit in while you're running it down; I don't carry a gun... I drive." Automatically out of the gate, the character is laying down the law. Immediately after this is the heist (which we don't care about) and The Driver sitting, waiting. He has a watch with him and its ticking is almost pulse-like. We're led to believe that the goons are not gonna make it and he's gonna drive off and leave them. But they make it in enough time and so starts the getaway:


The clip ends just as the going gets good. But there's a small taste of the quiet yet thrilling action that fuels Drive.

The Driver spends his days as a stunt driver for movies (although he has no name, on his police officer's costume a nametag reads "McCall", so I figured that just as well could be his name). He impresses his boss, Shannon (Bryan Cranston), so much that he mentions him to a friend of his, former movie producer Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks in a rare non-comedy role). Shannon says: "You put this kid behind the wheel and he can do anything." Shannon wants The Driver to drive a racecar that Bernie has just bought. Bernie himself is impressed when he meets the usually quiet Driver.

"I'm looking for my son, Nemo."

At the same time, The Driver meets a young woman, Irene (Carey Mulligan), and her son, Benicio who lives a few doors away from him at his apartment complex. He begins to feel affectionate for them as he helps her out with her constantly malfunctioning car and offers them a ride home. Here's a clip from the scene that details a bit of backstory of The Driver and shows his sweet sensative side:


She clearly feels the same towards him but she already has a husband, a soon-to-be-released convict named Standard. When Standard meets him, the tension is near unbearable. Is he going to be upset after hearing about how much time The Driver has spent with his wife? Unusually (at least in my opinion), Standard does not feel any anomosity towards The Driver and accepts him as a friend of the family. One night, The Driver finds Standard beaten and bloodied in a parking garage. Standard tells him that he is supposed to owe $20,000 in "protection money" from a guy he knew in prison. The Driver wanting to protect this family, offers Standard his help. Without spoiling anything, the heist to take $20,000 goes horribly wrong and sends The Driver speeding away from the caper with another car chasing after him: something that's never happened before (outside of the police).  The Driver is furious and wants justice. With his set of skills and a little attitude, he's gonna find out who is chasing him and end it.

This is one of those films that on the outside looks like a straight-forward action film with dumb, senseless action. But what differs Drive from Fast Five (like the dumb woman who is suing FilmDistrict will never recognize) is that it has a beating heart and soul. Its characters are infinitely more important than its action sequences (there are really only two decent car stunt sequences in the entire film). Gosling delivers a solid performance as The Driver. Mulligan is an actress I'm not quite fond of but she did well in this film. Thanks to Drive, I will never be able to watch Finding Nemo the same way again. Albert Brooks really went out of his way to break free of his comedy roots (his last feature film was The Simpsons Movie) and tried something new, showing his amazing prowess as an actor (his next film will be a return to comedy in Judd Apatow's This is 40). So, if you haven't seen this movie, rev up your engines and get out there! The clock is ticking.


Song: "Tick of the Clock" by The Chromatics

FOOTLOOSE: Let's Hear it for the Boy!

NOTE: Please be courteous and read the ENTIRE review before responding. Thanks - Zack

"I know you gotta do what you gotta do, but that ain't gonna stop it from happening."

"This is our time."

- Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald) Footloose (2011)

Public opinion is an immovable, unshakable animal. It can either lift movies onto a pedestal (The Hangover, The Blind Side) or tear them apart and throw them into the abyss (Mars Needs Moms, Take Me Home Tonight). This is, in part, due to instantaneous social media like Twitter and Facebook. Today, a film's reputation can live or die online before a person even walks into a theater. The type of films with automatically bad reputations these days are remakes. Most people think of remakes as Hollywood scraping the bottom of the barrel, eager to find something easy to slap a brand name on. People are disappointed to see recast, retooled, reinvented versions of movies they knew from the past. Now, I'm not saying all remakes are bad. Many great filmmakers have helmed remakes - Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear, the Coen Bros.' True Grit, John Carpenter's The Thing (which of course also gets a remake/prequel today as well, Peter Jackson's King Kong, and Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Good remakes must always pay tribute to its predecessors (in subtle and tasteful ways) while also telling their own version of the same story. This is completely true of the 2011 version of the classic "fight-for-your-right" dancing movie Footloose, directed by Memphian Craig Brewer.



The original Footloose was released on February 17th, 1984 starring rising star Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, Chris Penn, Dianne Wiest, (a young) Sarah Jessica Parker and John Lithgow. With an $8 million budget, the film skyrocketed to an impressive $80 million worldwide. The film's rockin' title song performed by Kenny Loggins and Deniece Williams' "Let's Hear It for The Boy" were nominated for an Academy Award (alongside Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters"). A decade later, Footloose was adapted into a stage musical which revived popularity in the film. Actors like Bacon and Lithgow were asked if they would attend a few of these performances, which they genuinely enjoyed.


However, in Hollywood, many executives saw value in these dance films like Footloose, Dirty Dancing, and Flashdance and wanted to replicate them - as cheaply as possible. So movies like Step Up, You Got Served and Honey were made. Out of these, only Step Up found immense success and led to three sequels. In 2006, Disney Channel landed an unexpected cash cow with famed choreographer/director Kenny Ortega's popular TV movie High School Musical. With bright, happy young people dancing and grooving singing to hip music - it was a license to print money. Then came the repercussions - a remake of the John Waters film Hairspray (which was based more off of the Broadway musical), a remake of Fame (which, although the film was a box office success, went nowhere with the general public) and the popular TV show "Glee" (which is worshiped by the general public). Paramount still thought a Footloose remake had value and after Adam Goodman stepped in as the head of the studio, he wanted a new director.

Enter Craig Brewer. He had directed the urban hit Hustle & Flow (which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" by Three 6 Mafia) and the blues drama Black Snake Moan (starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake). Brewer had grown up being a fan of the '84 film, even going so far as to record the entire film on a Walkman so he could listen to it wherever he went. He could identify with Ren McCormack, the city boy who came down to the country and was chastised for listening to rock music. Brewer was offered the director's chair two separate times and turned it down both times. He didn't see the need to tell a story when he felt it had already been told better the first time. A few months later, he realized that there was another way the story could be told: bringing an emphasis on the overreaction of the Bomont townspeople and why they banned dancing. In the '84 film, audiences learn an hour into the film as to why public dancing is outlawed. He returned to Paramount and agreed to direct as long as he didn't have to make the cutesy Ortega musical version (there is only one instance of people singing in the original Footloose, in the church scene where the congregation stands and sings "What a Friend We Have in Jesus"). He asked the executives to go back and watch the original film to see how much they got away with in 1984. The executives agreed to let Brewer make the film his own way.

Kenny Wormald plays 18-year-old Ren McCormack who comes to Bomont, GA. He boards up with his aunt's family after a personal tragedy. As he soon discovers, the town is under strict laws prohibiting public dancing and loud music. This is due to a horrible accident that took the lives of five teenagers. The head pastor of the town, Rev. Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) - who lost a son in the crash - was behind the ban. Ren decides he is going to stick up for the beleaguered teen population and protest the law. As he does so, he falls in love with the preacher's licentious, sexually-driven daughter, Ariel (played to near perfection by Julianne Hough) which, of course, raises the ire of her father and her stock-car driver boyfriend Chuck (Patrick John Flueger). With nearly everyone in town against him, Ren becomes a rebel with a cause and must be true to himself in order to cut loose. Footloose.

The acting in the film is incredible. They are not "Glee" rejects or bland, unimaginative line-readers. These are quality actors who deeply care about making their performances real and believable. Like his extremely light and athletic counterpart, Kenny Wormald will be springing from near obscurity to the top of the spotlight. He is much better than Zac Efron and Chase Crawford would ever have been. Likewise, Julianne Hough's performance personifies the vivacious Southern bad girl who falls hard for the boy from Boston. She is definitely one to watch. What more can be said about Dennis Quaid? I love his films - especially Innerspace, The Rookie and Great Balls of Fire. His role of Rev. Shaw Moore is actually more credible today that John Lithgow's was in 1984. Because Quaid chooses to play an ACTUAL Baptist preacher rather than the well-known and well-derided screaming pastor stereotype, he adds emotionality to what was once a one-dimensional character. Not to say Lithgow isn't a quality actor, but - to me - he just went straight for the stereotype.

The supporting cast is just as impressive - Miles Teller is a comedic wunderkind who must surely have a long and healthy career or I will be highly, highly disappointed. He brings the film a sense of light and fun in between the drama. In fact, if you are not smiling or laughing when (the original) "Let's Hear It For the Boy" comes on, you have no soul. Ziah Colon, who takes up the role of Rusty from Sarah Jessica Parker, is an absolute vision. She is just so much fun to watch and her scenes with Teller are genius. Like Quaid, Ray McKennon takes the relatively mild and thankless role of Uncle Wes from 1984 and brings a warmth and heart to the character in 2011. It really shows that Ren is not alone in his fight.

In the end, Footloose's message of fighting (either peacefully or violently) for your rights is an important one for the former generation and today's generation. Although dancing is a large part of the film's celebration, it also celebrates friendship and morality. If one takes both films with this in mind, there shouldn't be any hate or snarkiness. You should just be true to yourself and cut loose. Footloose.


"It seems that a lot of people are pointing the finger in your direction lately."
"And what have they said?"

- Wes (Arthur Rosenberg) and Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) Footloose (1984)

Song: "Footloose" by Blake Shelton

"'You deal with your pain in extremes,' the minister is told. The line is a key to Brewer's filmography: All the director's movies are about people who deal with their pain in extremes, and the plots chronicle the consequences of their coping." - Commercial Appeal
"Footloose is fancy-free, an iconic movie's tribute that could stand on its own two, tapping feet." - St. Petersberg Times
"Sure, it sings a familiar tune. But it's got a good beat, and you can dance to it." - Hollywood.com
"'Footloose' remake is almost paradise." - Boston Herald
"By the time four little girls teach a dorky guy to dance to (the original) "Let's Hear It for the Boy" I was a gelatinous blob of pure affection." - New York Post
"It's the single most harmless teen movie in the recent cinematic landscape, and also one of the most charmingly fun." - Movies.com
"Give credit to Craig Brewer, the filmmaker behind the new Footloose, for realizing a new step was in order." - Dallas Morning News
"It's a vibrant youth musical that will appeal to audiences who haven't seen the 1984 original. And it has enough charm and life to it to compete with the memory of the earlier version." - San Francisco Chronicle
"Brewer's hot-and-bothered remake uncorks the original's raging libido, and it's as seamy and sordid as that damnable PG-13 rating will allow." - A.V. Club
"Don't hate Footloose because it's a remake. The dance-movie-love-story-freedom-of-expression thumper is a rollicking good time." - Cleveland Plain Dealer
"It's as if Brewer is taking a stand for movies that look like movies instead of audience hipness barometers." - Movieline
"If you can leave your cynicism at the door then this is top-quality Saturday night popcorn entertainment." - Digital Spy

UPDATE
How the above picture was taken (from my Best of 2011 list):
"The first time I saw it was in July, when director Craig Brewer brought the film to town for a special sneak preview. I waited in line in front of a local DVD/Blu-Ray store at 8 AM, he came and brought donuts, recognized me BY NAME (nearly lost my $#*!) and handed out tickets. I drove over to the theater and waited across the parking lot outside of a Whole Foods Market sweating to death with only my laptop, a Mexican Coca-Cola and a small cup of Ben & Jerry’s. Finally, it came time to see the movie (before waiting in another line). Mr. Brewer came out to introduce it, told us some stories about how he was offered the movie and what the original Footloose meant to him. I saw it, I enjoyed it immensely. I thanked Mr. Brewer for the opportunity to see the movie early, got a picture with him and an autograph. Then came October 14th, when the movie was released to the general public. I didn’t have the money to go see it opening day, but I heard Craig Brewer was in town to open it up locally and I wanted to wish him good luck for the movie’s opening weekend. I went by the theater where he was, bumped into him and said good luck to him. He asked me if I was seeing the movie that night. I told him, I would love to, but I simply didn’t have the money. He says, 'No problem,' and he hands me a free ticket. Cue exuberance. So I brought my laptop into the lobby, sat at a table and started writing while he’s signing posters and posing for pictures with people. After about two minutes with no one coming in, he comes over and sits down and we start chatting. Then, his phone rings. He says, 'I’m sorry, I gotta take this.' He then looks at the screen and says, 'Look who it is.' He shows me the screen and it says 'Dennis Quaid'. Cue awesomeness. He gets to talking to him and I’m just sitting in awe."