I'll have to add that to my queue too.  Jon Cryer just popped up and it's like baby Jon Cryer.  I'm so hoping that we see a baby Charlie Sheen pop up in a bowling shirt.

You know, not to sound like a sad song but I never went to my prom (I would have had a miserable time anyway, I wasn't anything approaching fun until years after high school) so I'm interested to see where this goes.

There was an article I just read that started being about Ferris Bueller but wound up being about some other things, that pointed out that John Hughes characters might not be able to exist in the age of the internet.  I thought that was fascinating, as I'm watching this I'm noticing sh*t that wouldn't work now (a RECORD store?).  One thing I would totally include in a Hughes-esque story today is the Doctorow-esque idea that the main character built their own Linux laptop (heck, the protagonist in "Pirate Cinema" assembled his entirely out of free parts).  And yes, i just passed the computer "chat" scene.

You can thank Dan Trachtenberg for tweeting it.

Oh GOD, young James Spader.  WHOA.  For a guy who pretty much only knows him from Stargate and Boston Legal... WOW.  Funky.  Though I think it's strange to show preppies and not see the grunge people, which prep was a reaction to.  There's no context for these young kids dressing up like that, you know?

And wow, smoking in high school.  NEVER happen now.

Snitch

The premise for the movie is based on the minimum mandatory laws. In a nutshell, if you get caught in a drug deal, the law says, if you can provide help (snitch) on further known drug activity, then your sentence can be reduced. Dwayne's son gets accidentally caught up in a drug set up and sentenced to Prison for 10 years. His character is willing to do just about anything to get his son out. So he becomes the Snitch.

From the opening credits, Snitch is based on true events. I was thinking, cool, bring it on. So I’m torn because the core of the story is interesting. How it was presented… sucks. I gave Snitch only 2-1/2 stars because watching it literally gave me a headache. Hasn’t the message to Hollywood sunk in that shaky cam is annoying as **** for audiences. I’m not talking found footage, which can be equally annoying. I’m talking about the director and photographer who think hand holding a camera by giving it a little extra waver here and there gives the film a more real, gritty experience. In Snitch 90% of the film is hand held. The opening raid was unwatchable. I had to turn away from it. And to further the aggravation, they thought pointing the camera at every implied movement was necessary. Swing the camera down to see the bad guy is reaching for a knife, then swing the camera over to where the protagonist is looking and then swing it back to look at him. GAWD, I hated this.

I did hang on through the movie, despite many times of thinking of turning it off. I thought casting Dwayne Johnson was a ballsy move, in the context of the movie. The obvious bulk and presence The Rock demands while on screen, was reduced to real life situation of an ordinary man stepping into some pretty nasty environments. No super hero moves, no brilliant ideas. He was just as scarred and careful as any one of us would be in the situation. Dwayne Johnson did a very good job in this role. I thought they did a fantastic job of creating a look of that would scare the hell out of most of us.

Despite the ending, I would not call this an uplifting movie in any sense.  Jon Bernthal (Shane of Walking Dead) was connection needed to the seedy world. His character is exactly like in Walking Dead. Good or bad? He did his job for the character.

I’m biased and it becomes a deal breaker for me to watch a shaky cam movie. I will never watch this movie again. Saying that, I recommend it, especially if that kind of thing does not bother you, you might end up enjoying watching the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rieI5g9fgRc

I can take the 'Shaky Cam' effect to a degree. But it it's so over the top obvious and the film maker isn't giving the audience a chance to breath, than yeah, it becomes a bit too much to take in.

I am extremely particular. I tend to be rather sensitive to it, thus distracting me. This is nowhere near (except for the Raid which was ridiculous) the experimental Tony Scott ‘Domino’ or ‘Man on Fire’ B.S. But yea, most of the scenes were hand held.  I see no reason why a simple conversation becomes jarring and chore to watch because the cameraman is floating around, zooming in/out.

You might watch it and ask what the hell I was talking about.

Couldn't agree more.

Good gawd... Hold the phucking camera still... on a tripod Einstein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q33mqlFziOY

Oh by the way Chip we are talking about the movie 'Snitch', not that swedish import you special ordered.

Well,you'd think after watching it 300-400 times, you eventually would pick up the language.

(Splash)