FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Dear Tom => Topic started by: AllSussedOut on June 01, 2011, 09:19:52 AM
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I know Jim Carrey is a polarizing guy-- some like him, some don't. And I don't want to hate an actor for doing a family-friendly film. Carrey is more than entitled to make whatever decisions he wants, for whatever reasons he wants.
That being said... is this the most soul-crushing poster you've ever seen? Can you see the barely contained self-loathing beneath the penguins, as I can?
I can't shake this poster from my head.
(http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2011/04/14/mr-poppers-penguins-poster.jpg)
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I feel this movie is abusive towards penguins, even if they're CGI penguins.
Stop abusing CGI penguins.
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His face makes me think that he hates himself, but he also will not think twice about throwing flaming hundred dollar bills at anyone who asks him if he feels that he regrets any of the artistic decisions he's made in his life.
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And here I thought he was acting.
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Look, the guy's got a pretty flawless track record of work, can't we give him the benefit of the doubt for goodness sake?
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Finally, movie talk!
I will stand up for him. While he's done his fair share of stinkers, me and my patented (it's not really patented) film-actor's achievement assessment system places him at 91.3 on a scale from 0 to 100. He's not my favorite, but he is the centerpiece of two of my favorite movies, The Truman Show, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. If you compare him to somebody like Adam Sandler, who is in a similar position of power in Hollywood, and has managed exactly one good film, I like Carrey's record, and the selected filmography of what I think of as his ten best has some doozys on it. While he's no Steve Martin, another guy whose dreck is the lowest of the low, this is not a bad list;
1994 Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, Ace Ventura Pet Detective
1996 The Cable Guy
1997 Liar Liar
1998 The Truman Show
1999 Man on the Moon
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
2005 Fun with Dick and Jane
One of the things I post on my blog when I do these little actor blurbs is their "neighborhood"; a group of actors whose level of career achievement is closest to the named actor. Carrey's neighborhood is Gabriel Byrne, Jackie Chan, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and Edward Norton. Pretty good company. I put his artistic peak in 1996 - 2004
I don't want to see this Penguin thing though. Just like I pray I never see Cheaper By the Dozen 5. The Spanisher Prisoner might be OK though.
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I am a fan. Plus a friend of mine interviewed him and said that Jim was the nicest guy he ever interviewed (Burt Reynolds and Tom Hanks were the most unpleasant).
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Jim Carrey lost me when he started believing and promoting the crap from Jenny McCarthy about how she "cured" autism and the connection between autism and vaccines.
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I know just EVERYONE is dying to flock to my blog now to see my further takes on reducing art to numbers, no? NO?
gaughin.edublogs.org (http://gaughin.edublogs.org)
Just in case.
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If you compare him to somebody like Adam Sandler, who is in a similar position of power in Hollywood, and has managed exactly one good film...
Of course, until he makes a sequel to You Don't Mess With The Zohan.
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Wait, rewind for a minute there: Adam Sandler made a good movie?
Also, disappointed to hear that about Tom Hanks. Was your friend sure he wasn't just having a bad day?
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Wait, rewind for a minute there: Adam Sandler made a good movie?
Punch-Drunk Love!
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That's the one
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I accidentally watched one Will Smith movie after not watching anything of his for years. I'll not fall for losing my zero-for-Adam-Sandlerhood.
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I accidentally watched one Will Smith movie after not watching anything of his for years. I'll not fall for losing my zero-for-Adam-Sandlerhood.
Well it's more a PT Anderson movie than a Sandler movie. Plus Luis Guzman! And Emily Watson's big blue eyes!
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Aren't The Wedding Singer and Funny People supposed to be OK? Never saw 'em. Diidn't hate 'em. (As opposed to the rest of his ouevre excluding PDL: Never saw 'em. Hated 'em.)
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Was your friend sure he wasn't just having a bad day?
That is certainly possible, although he never really elaborated.
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Aren't The Wedding Singer and Funny People supposed to be OK? Never saw 'em. Diidn't hate 'em. (As opposed to the rest of his ouevre excluding PDL: Never saw 'em. Hated 'em.)
Wedding Singer was cute enough. I'd give it a 11.1/14.2.
And Funny People had some promise, and delivered with a few nice sequences... but then dragged on a bit too long. More like a 6.4/9.7 for that one.
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Sandler was great in Shakes, The Clown
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I've seen of ton of the earlier ones & most of them are totally forgettable now - however I laughed like a total moron at Happy Madison and Little Nicky.
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Do you have any idea how hard I am fighting myself not to share the Sandler assessment?
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I like Sandler as an actor (PDL, Funny People) but anything Happy Madison produces is awful. I liked Billy Madison a lot and Happy Gilmore. It is important point out that the bulk of Sandlers is known for came out before I had really developed my interest in good comedy, so I saw and enjoyed The Wedding Singer, Little Nicky, Mr Deeds and The Waterboy. I know it isn't Sandler but I think the first time I realized mainstream comedy wasn't for me was when I snuck into Old School in highschool. I felt so cheated. All that work for nothing.
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(http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2011/04/14/mr-poppers-penguins-poster.jpg)
Made me think of that squid-picture that Hokusai drew.
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I like Sandler as an actor (PDL, Funny People) but anything Happy Madison produces is awful.
Um, Grandma's Boy?
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Do you have any idea how hard I am fighting myself not to share the Sandler assessment?
Go for it, Dave. (He stinks, right?)
I have no blurb yet to fully describe my complicated feelings for him, but here's how the numbers run.
Percentile rating: 83.66
Ten best roles: 1) Punch Drunk Love 2) Funny People 3) 50 First Dates 4) Just Go With It 5) You Don't Mess With the Zohan 6) Bedtime Stories 7) Spanglish 8) The Wedding Singer 9) Click 10) The Longest Yard
Peak Period: 1998 - 2005
Neighborhood: Stephen Chow, Ray Liotta, Bulle Ogier, Jason Patric, Mickey Rourke, Tom Skeritt
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Do you have any idea how hard I am fighting myself not to share the Sandler assessment?
Go for it, Dave. (He stinks, right?)
I have no blurb yet to fully describe my complicated feelings for him, but here's how the numbers run.
Percentile rating: 83.66
Ten best roles: 1) Punch Drunk Love 2) Funny People 3) 50 First Dates 4) Just Go With It 5) You Don't Mess With the Zohan 6) Bedtime Stories 7) Spanglish 8) The Wedding Singer 9) Click 10) The Longest Yard
Peak Period: 1998 - 2005
Neighborhood: Stephen Chow, Ray Liotta, Bulle Ogier, Jason Patric, Mickey Rourke, Tom Skeritt
Wait. Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore aren't on the list?
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Do you have any idea how hard I am fighting myself not to share the Sandler assessment?
Go for it, Dave. (He stinks, right?)
I have no blurb yet to fully describe my complicated feelings for him, but here's how the numbers run.
Percentile rating: 83.66
Ten best roles: 1) Punch Drunk Love 2) Funny People 3) 50 First Dates 4) Just Go With It 5) You Don't Mess With the Zohan 6) Bedtime Stories 7) Spanglish 8) The Wedding Singer 9) Click 10) The Longest Yard
Peak Period: 1998 - 2005
Neighborhood: Stephen Chow, Ray Liotta, Bulle Ogier, Jason Patric, Mickey Rourke, Tom Skeritt
Wait. Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore aren't on the list?
Not on my list. You can put them on yours if you like.
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8)
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Dave, have you seen all the movies you list as top ten on your blog? If so, you must watch A LOT of movies.
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Dave, have you seen all the movies you list as top ten on your blog? If so, you must watch A LOT of movies.
I use a number of book and online resources to get a film's rating on a scale from 0 to 10, unless I have seen it, in which case I base the rating on my personal opinion. I use a combination of the sources to take an educated guess at the person's prominence in the film; they tend to be in pretty close agreement.
The last time I tried to check, about 3 years back, I estimated that I had seen approximately 8000 films. Someday I will make a list. Of course.
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The last time I tried to check, about 3 years back, I estimated that I had seen approximately 8000 films. Someday I will make a list. Of course.
I made a list last year. By the end of the year I had watched 635 films. I decided that this year I would a) not make a list and b) not watch as many films.
The trailer for Mr Popper's Penguins is awful, and I am someone who will give Carrey the benefit of the doubt. It may however be a film that I am forced to see, if my niece picks it for her next cinema visit.
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Aren't The Wedding Singer and Funny People supposed to be OK? Never saw 'em. Diidn't hate 'em. (As opposed to the rest of his ouevre excluding PDL: Never saw 'em. Hated 'em.)
Wedding Singer was cute enough. I'd give it a 11.1/14.2.
And Funny People had some promise, and delivered with a few nice sequences... but then dragged on a bit too long. More like a 6.4/9.7 for that one.
Liked FUNNY PEOPLE, but no movie starring Seth Rogen and Sadam Sandler needs to be 3 hours long.
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Sadam Sandler
That's either a Spike nickname or an obscure Jodorowsky film.
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I saw the trailer for this at X-Men: First Class. It's got a nutshot AND a bathtub fart, in case you didn't already know everything you need to know about it.
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Sadam Sandler
That's either a Spike nickname or an obscure Jodorowsky film.
It's just a typo, but Spike can use it if he wants it.
Sandler was in my hometown last week making a movie. Know what I learned about film making? That they erect these black screens so that passerby can't see anything. It makes sense that they'd do that, but it still annoyed me.
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Sadam Sandler
That's either a Spike nickname or an obscure Jodorowsky film.
It's just a typo, but Spike can use it if he wants it.
Sandler was in my hometown last week making a movie. Know what I learned about film making? That they erect these black screens so that passerby can't see anything. It makes sense that they'd do that, but it still annoyed me.
I lived in Vancouver for 4 years or so in the late 90's/early oughts, and since it's the popular stand in for, well, just about any town you can think of when they can't shoot on location, I've seen some pretty ridiculous stuff as far as movie/tv shooting goes.
My favorite was the giant rain machines. The amount of water they would release was mind boggling. And they'd usually be running them in the rain, since this was Vancouver.