So I've finally seen Snakes on a Plane, more than a year after the web-hyped, box-office dud ran rampant over the pop culture zeitgeist. Ok, not the actual film, but the 30-second version, re-enacted by bunnies.
I resisted the film because I was bothered by the attempt to create a cult classic, a mantle I believe is bestowed by the audience, not manufactured in advance. Ultimately it appeared most people agreed and the film slithered away, only to be remembered for Samuel L. Jackson's prodigious use of the word "motherfucker."
But now that the Bunnies have hopped all over it, perhaps I need to give it a look, if only so it doesn't become another one of my pop culture blind spots.
What would New Year’s be without me adding to the plethora of lists? So without further ado, here is my picks for the best in pop culture for 2006, in no particular order:
Heroes The most sci-fi show on network television since The X-Files is also the best show on TV this year, topping Prison Break and even Lost. Random people suddenly develop powers and must figure out how to handle and use them, for better or worse. It is the best comic-inspired work of fiction since Sin City, doling out plot developments at a furious pace.
Hiro Nakamura Super Hiro is the heart and soul of Heroes and the one character who wholeheartedly embraces his newfound powers and sets out to do good with them. Also, as a Star Trek quoting Japanese nerd, he provides the show with comic relief.
Truthiness Stephen Colbert was on a tear this year: he lambasted George Bush and the assembled media as a speaker at White House Correspondents' Association Dinner; he had his fans stuff the online ballot box to have a Hungarian bridge named after him; and the Merriam-Webster dictionary selected truthiness as its Word of the Year for 2006. The Colbert Report is spectacular satire.
OK Go I’d never heard of these guys until the day I got sent a link to a video for a catchy song – Here It Goes Again – and their treadmill-hoping, choreographic perfection. Then I watched it over and over and over again.
Royale With Cheese After the unceremonious dumping of Pierce Brosnan as the agent with the licence to kill and years of speculation on who would fill the tux, Daniel Craig emerged as the new, hard-edged 007, reinvigorating the venerable franchise without abandoning its past.
Parkour The most thrilling movie chase of the year had no gadgets and no cars, just two people making their way though a construction site at a death-defying, breakneck speed. The opening sequence of Casino Royale showed a terrorist using the technique, also known as free running, to escape the pursuing James Bond. Pure adrenaline.
Sloan After 15 years, the Canadian power pop quartet refuses to phone it in, releasing the 30-song Never Hear the End of It and heading back out on tour. Much goodness to be had.
Toronto During TIFF Visitors often complain that Torontonians are cold and aloof – and they aren’t wrong – but all of that changes during the Toronto Film Festival. Suddenly complete strangers are chatting with each other with ease while in lines and theatres. They compare notes, thoughts on films, celebs they’ve spotted and then as quickly as it began, it evaporates. I wish the city were like this year-round.
The Tick vs. Season One The big blue bug of justice finally comes to DVD after 12 years and multiple fan requests. A parody of superheroes, The Tick is as dim as he is strong – neigh well invincible – as he battles bizarre villains alongside an equally bizarre cast of characters, including American Maid, Die Fledermaus and the Civic-Minded Five. I’m so thrilled, all I can say is spooooon!
Shut Up and Sing I’m no Dixie Chicks fan, but the documentary on what the country stars went through after lead sing Natalie Maines said “Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas,” was a real eye-opener. Their statement is mild by today’s standards though it was almost a career killer a scant three years ago. I picked Fido as my top movie of the Toronto Film Festival, but months later, it’s the Chicks that I keep talking about.
S.O.A.P. Suds Despite massive amounts of internet hype, Snakes on a Plane is grounded. Turns out all the bloggers saying “wouldn’t it be cool if they did…” never had any intention of going to see it. Best web hoax of the year!
Video Mashups It was like the birth of a new art form as digital videos, YouTube and people with loads of free time collided to create some of the most hilarious web moments of the year, from Toy Story 2 recast in the Requiem for a Dream trailer to the Peanuts gang shakin’ like a Polaroid picture to Outkast’s Hey Ya. Absolute brilliance.
Britney Spears While there are many pretenders to her throne, Spears is in a class of her own when it comes to young celebrity train wrecks. From questionable parenting (now where did I put Sean Preston?) to finally dumping her parasite impregnator Kevin Federline, and then partying harder than Paris Hilton in a one-week period, she bows down to none. Keep trying Lindsay and Nicole.
Not Ready for Prime Time Players Saturday Night Live is hot this year, not so much the show, but the shows about the show. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip gives West Wing fans a taste of what they’re missing (even if it does take comedy writing far to seriously) and 30 Rock has all the laughs, especially with the sublime Alec Bladwin playing network blowhard Jack Donaghy. As for SNL itself, on the rare occasions it has a funny skit, I can watch it the next day on YouTube – see Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box.
Yul & Ozzie The top two finalists in Survivor: Cook Islands actually deserved to be there: Yul for his masterful playing of the game and controlling other contestants without it ever being obvious and Ozzie for being one of the most natural physical players ever to compete. The reality show granddaddy proved it still has chops.
For more lists than you can possibly imagine, be sure to check out Fimoculous' stunning list of lists, including such gems as the Best Re-cut Movie Trailers, the Top 10 Retro Gadgets, the Top 10 Sex Toys, the Top 5 Most Pretentious Looks and more music and film Top 10s than you will ever be able to read.
Happy Birthday Popped Culture! My blog turned two yesterday and it has turned into such a precocious little tyke.
As of yet I’ve have no book deals, I've made no TV appearances and I’m not topping any Technorati lists but I’m having fun picking apart the pop culture that surrounds me. My goal is to amuse myself and I’ve done that, so mission accomplished.
I’ve also come across some great blog (see the blogroll on the right) and have some great regular readers, some who blog and some who don’t, and even done some guest blogging work. There really is a community out there and I thank them all from dropping by.
The best advice I ever read about blogging is don’t apologize for not writing or posting, just get on with it… so enough with my self-indulgence. The best present I received are this weekend's box office results for Snakes on a Plane. It slithered to the top, but with results as low as a, um, snake’s belly. Despite being the most-hyped (at least on the web) movie of the year, the fanatics were only able to scare up $15.2 million.
Could it be that it was all just a hoax and my wish actually came true? “My hope is that this is all just a colossal joke on the movie studio – a huge prank to see what hoops web geeks can get focus group obsessed filmmakers and youth targeting marketing departments to jump through. With any luck, the theatres will all be empty on the opening weekend and all the “fans” will be at home laughing. Now that would be cool” Happy birthday indeed.
I’m fascinated with the speed pop culture absorbs daily events. Much as gossip stories rise and fall in a matter of days (see below), parodies are now appearing within hours of an event.
Look at today’s arrest of 24 suspects accused of planning the bombing of up to 10 airliners using liquid explosives (something that I never thought I would be writing about here). With travelers now restricted from carrying anything liquid, the Snakes On a Plane, um, takeoff was almost inevitable. Who the fuck brought this motherfucking beverage on this motherfucking plane indeed. Looks funnier than the ads for SoaP that I’ve seen so far.
Terrorism threats didn’t stop there though. Paramount Pictures considered pulling some ads for Oliver Stone’s film World Trade Center, concerned about people’s feelings and state of mind during an elevated terror alert. Just kidding, they were only concerned about how the thwarted attack would affect box office receipts. Ultimately the execs decided to keep the Nic Cage ads rolling. "The events of yesterday and today make this story even more poignant," Don Harris, executive vice-president of distribution at Paramount, said Thursday. "But I don't know whether it helps or hurts."
"I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" That about sums it up for me. I seem to be one of few people who isn’t looking forward to seeing Snakes on a Plane, the internet-fuelled, so-bad-it’s-good film that isn’t coming out for another month. The hype has been building for over a year, but has increased to a deafening roar in the past few months.
The concept is, as the title bluntly states, about snakes. On a plane. Of course that doesn’t get to the heart of the matter, which appears more about indulging in a schlock fest of a film than caring about the plot. This is, of course, a fine endeavor – who doesn’t enjoy a painfully bad movie every once and awhile?
What has annoyed me is how excitement (and thereby attendance) about SOAP is turning into a pop culture must. Sites like Defamer and Cinematical, among others, have added to the hype, Entertainment Weekly runs continual updates, an indie-centric soundtrack is being released and you can even buy a $170 gold pendant modeled after the film’s snake-circled plane logo. It’s like a hipster pile on – I haven’t encountered so much peer pressure since high school. It may have started as a fan joke, but it is now in the realm of blockbuster marketing.
Which leads me to the real problem: how can you deliberately manufacture a bad film? Bad films happen by accident. Low budgets, wooden acting, paper-thin scripts can all doom a flick, but how many writers/directors/producers start out thinking “Man, this is gonna SUCK!” But that’s exactly why people are planning to see SOAP – they expect it to stink.
When I first saw Johnny Mnemonic in a theatre, people walked out. Keanu Reeves gave the most stilted delivery since Captain Kirk, making it laugh out loud funny. I always tell people it’s the best comedy I’ve seen. Of course it wasn’t supposed to be. It’s now a prime example of the so-bad-it’s-good genre, the kind of bad that is earned, not bestowed in advance. SOAP is being given cult film status before anyone has seen it screened, with people expected to show up with rubber snakes at the screenings like some sort of 21st century Rocky Horror Picture Show. Pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman calls it “reverse irony.”
You can tell the marketing has gotten out of hand now that the studio is going to keep the film under wraps from critics. This is the usual method for hiding a terrible film before word of mouth kills it. But word of mouth already is that the film is terrible, that being the whole point. Are they just trying to convince the target audience?
My hope is that this is all just a colossal joke on the movie studio – a huge prank to see what hoops web geeks can get focus group obsessed filmmakers and youth targeting marketing departments to jump through. With any luck, the theatres will all be empty on the opening weekend and all the “fans” will be at home laughing. Now that would be cool.
With a stumbling couch leap, the summer movie season has begun. Mission: Impossible III debuted this weekend with $48.025 million, almost $10 million lower than the previous installment as viewers decided Tom Cruise was just a touch crazier than they were interested in seeing on the big screen, despite decent reviews.
Which leads me to my mini guide to summer in the cinema. I love summer movies – big explosions, over-the-top themes, pure entertainment. There are sure to be some huge hits, some colossal failures and somewhere in there a dark horse that nobody was expecting. So it’s time to turn off my inner art snob until the Toronto Film Festival rolls around in September.
Mission: Impossible III: While M:I3 makes my list, I view it with trepidation. Cruise has gone way off the scale and while a person’s private life shouldn’t impact my perception of their work, it does. I just watched M:I2 again and it really isn’t that good, despite the direction of John Woo. But we’ve got another chance with Alias and Lost creator J.J. Abrahms at the helm, and how could I miss one of the biggest movies of the summer. (May 5)
The Da Vinci Code: Like millions of others I’ve read the book and with few exceptions, the book is usually better than the film so I’m concerned but also intrigued to see how the handle the mental work – studying symbols and paintings – in a visually intriguing way. I don’t expect it to be a fantastic film, but it should be entertaining. Just what I want in a popcorn flick. (May 19)
X-Men: The Last Stand: One of the few superhero franchises that have been consistently entertaining. Great characters and great action – everything a summer movie should be as the mutants must face the prospect of being “cured” of their powers. (May 26)
A Scanner Darkly Richard Linklater takes on Philip K. Dick’s story "A Scanner Darkly" in the same semi-animated style he shot Waking Life. I’m a huge fan of Dick’s work, which translates well to celluloid – Blade Runner, Minority Report, Paycheck, Total Recall – and like Linklater, but I’m not crazed about the animation overlay. It’s a little clever-for-clever’s sake. Winona Ryder stars – perhaps this is the beginning of her post-shoplifting comeback. (July 7) Nacho Libre: Mexican wrestling and Jack Black – what’s not to love? Looks like the best shot at comedy this summer and even better, it’s not a sequel or a remake. Can’t wait. (June 16)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend: Matt (Luke Wilson) dumps his girlfriend Jenny (Uma Thurman), who turns out to be a spiteful superheroine. An interesting take on the super myth in the hands of director Ivan Reitman – I’ll be there. (July 21)
Of course with the good comes the questionable and the bad:
Superman Returns: Speaking of comic book heroes, we have the dubious return of Superman, the wimpiest of super pantheon. While potentially the strongest member, Supe has never had any edge – he’s got no personality and no dark side. Call him Mr. Bland. I’m not sure why he needs to be revived on the big screen anyway, as he’s been reinterpreted for years of the small screen. (June 30)
Miami Vice: This is not a remake of the ‘80s series says creator and current director Michael Mann. Forget what you know of the show says Jamie Foxx, who plays Tubbs. So why bother even calling it Miami Vice or doing a version of it? Are there so few original ideas? The saving grace – seeing a how greasy Colin Farrell as Sonny Crockett can be. (July 28)
Snakes on a Plane: I’m hoping this is just a huge joke being played by web fans to see what they convince a studio to make – how else to explain so much excitement based on a lame title and premise? What should have been a direct-to-video release is now being pushed by fans as must-see camp. Count me out. (Aug. 18)
Clerks II: Former wunderkind Kevin Smith demonstrates that his career has as much momentum as his characters, returning to the storyline that made him 12 years ago. I loved Clerks, but Smith keeps making the same film over and over again. Wake me up when he does something new. (Aug. 18)
It probably would have gone straight to video or at least died a quick death during the August cinema doldrums, but because of the rabid interest of fans on the web, Snakes on a Plane is well on its way to becoming a cult classic.
The film has been floating around Hollywood since 2000 and has since been the subject of fan art, trailer mashups, shirts and blogs, a phenomenon of its own. Interest in the movie has encouraged the studio to shoot more scenes, adding more deaths, nudity and, of course, snakes to the film. It’s called Snakes on a Plane, what else could you expect? Also on tap will be Samuel L. Jackson yelling: "I want these motherf**king snakes off the motherf**king plane!"
Jackson stars as an FBI agent who has to fight a planeload of snakes unleashed by an assassin bent on killing a witness in protective custody. "That's the only reason I took the job: I read the title. You either want to see that, or you don't," Jackson has said of the film. Collinder.com agrees, stating that maybe fans just want what they want, ironic or not.
Not all fans are quite so lucky. Depite much whiney resistance to new 007 Daniel Craig by fan groups such as the Craignotbond site, the blonde Bond has been signed on to a second round, once Casino Royale wraps.
Some have vowed not to see any Bond film starring Craig, despite there having been little footage to base their opinion of his work on. So here we have two films with intense online interest and it will be intriguing to see which group will impact the box office more.
So I've finally seen Snakes on a Plane, more than a year after the web-hyped, box-office dud ran rampant over the pop culture zeitgeist. Ok, not the actual film, but the 30-second version, re-enacted by bunnies.
