Posts tagged Ivan Shaw
“Get Him to the Greek” Self-Indulgent Knockoff
Jun 10th
Self-Indulgent Knockoff
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
GET HIM TO THE GREEK starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand is a major disappointment if you were expecting something original from the team that made the 2008 FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL.
On the other hand, as I have been saying for years, “Hollywood has run out of ideas,” and what can you expect when almost every other new movie is a sequel, a prequel, a remake, or even “based on the characters” from another movie as this one is?
This movie should have a title in the closing credits that says “Based on the premise of the 1982 My Favorite Year,” which starred Peter O’Toole and Mark Linn-Baker.
You be the judge: Leonard Maltin says in his MOVIE GUIDE that the earlier film is “about a young writer on TV’s top comedy show in 1954 who’s given the job of chaperoning that week’s guest star, screen swashbuckler and off-screen carouser Alan Swann.”
This film is about a record-company intern who’s given the job of chaperoning a British rock star from London to the Los Angeles Greek Theater in 72 hours, where he is scheduled to give a concert, and the rock star’s name is Aldous Snow. Same initials. Coincidence? Or intentional?
Anyway, the record-company executive is played by Sean “P. Diddy” Puff Daddy Do-wah Diddy Combs, and he tells his staff, “We got to thicken our revenue stream.”
Aaron Green suggests the idea of putting on a 10th anniversary concert at the Greek with Aldous Snow, and once that Snow agrees, Aaron is given the task of getting Snow from his home in London to Los Angeles in time for the concert.
And, of course, nothing goes as Aaron plans.
Snow believes that the concert is in two months and that Aaron chenged the date on him. So, Snow would rather party than catch a flight.
To keep Snow sober, Aaron drinks all of Snow’s booze in his flask and smokes all of Snow’s weed.
A stop in New York City for an appearance on the “Today” show doesn’t go well at all.
Snow asks Aaron to do something for him that is illegal as well as disgusting.
And then Snow changes their flight to go to Las Vegas so he can visit his father.
GET HIM TO THE GREEK is not much more than a self-indulgent knockoff.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Get Him to the Greek – Movie Trailer
Jun 9th
An ambitious young record company executive attempts to transport an unpredictable rock star to L.A.’s Greek Theatre in time for his hotly anticipated comeback performance in this spin-off of the comedy hit Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) has just landed his dream job in the record industry, and he’s eager to prove his worth. His first assignment: travel to London and escort British rock god Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) to the show that will re-ignite his career. Before he departs, Aaron is warned by his boss Sergio Roma (Sean Combs) to never let Aldous out of his sight, and never underestimate his capacity for mayhem. Immensely talented yet deeply tortured, Aldous hit the bottle hard after his popularity began to wane and his girl walked out on him. Aldous is locked in the midst of an existential crisis, and rues the thought of being accompanied across the pond by an insincere sycophant. Though it seems like sex is the only thing Aldous ever thinks about, his thoughts turn to romance when he discovers that gorgeous model/pop singer Jackie Q (Rose Byrne) will be in Los Angeles at the time of his concert, too. Jackie Q is the love of Aldous’ life, and he’ll do anything and everything to win her heart. With the concert fast approaching and Aaron’s fledgling career on the line, the race is on to get Aldous to the Greek, and ensure the big show goes off without a hitch.
“The September Issue” Over The Top
Sep 16th
Over the Top
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE is an excellent documentary about the making of the September 2007 issue of VOGUE magazine and its legendary editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, said to be the inspiration for the Meryl Streep character in the 2006 THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA.
Wintour is called the single most important figure in the $300 billion fashion industry. That is a lot of dresses, shoes, accessories, makeup, a lot of woman, and by that I don’t mean Wintour, but all the women all over the world, as well as the ones in every man’s life.
Now, I know what you are thinking: “Sure, women will like this movie, because it is all about fashion and clothes, but will men like it, too?
Of course, women will love it for the fashion, and men will love it for the beautiful models. You will see beautiful outfits on beautiful women and ugly, atrocious outfits on beautiful women.
As someone in the film says, “Anna is the most powerful woman in the United States.”
Why? Because Vogue is the so-called “Bible” of the fashion industry, and if VOGUE–meaning Anna Wintour–gets behind something, it sells.
However, as Anna herself says at the beginning of the film, “There is something about fashion that can make people very nervous.”
The film begins in 2007 in New York City, and we see what goes into the making of the September issue of the magazine, because “September is the January in fashion.” A film crew was given access to everything, including the offices, the private lives of the editors and creative directors, the photo sessions, and the trips to Paris, Rome, and London for the fashion shows, meetings, and photo shoots for the cover with actress Sienna Miller.
The film also spends a lot of time with Grace Coddington, the magazine’s creative director and “resident genius,” as TIME magazine called her.
She and Anna started working at the American VOGUE on the same day 20 years ago, and Grace serves as some of the comic relief in the seriousness of the film, as we see her frustration after spending a lot of time and money on portions of the magazine only to have Anna take them out at the last minute or order a reshoot.
THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE is over the top, but fascinating, just like fashion.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
