Michael Douglas: Never an Academy Award?

One of the most versatile and talented actors of the last 25 years, Michael Douglas, has never won an Academy Award. Hopefully this post will serve as a notice, maybe even a petition, to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to let them know how Michael Douglas, through an brief study of his pivotal roles, deserved to win the Oscar for Best Actor, or at least Best Supporting Actor.

Wall Street (1987): Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, a man whose search for the American Dream takes him on a wacky set of adventures all around New York and Long Island (See Jay Gatsby?). At the end we find it isn't himself he was trying to save, but it was America. In a passionate speech given to a group of stockholders, Gekko reminds them, essentially, that America is built upon hard work and learning from our mistakes. This movie, which comes through in the form of a parable of a man searching for something more to life, also stars Douglas' father, Kirk Douglas as Carl Fox- the snivelling and whiny Union Representative who, indirectly, tries taking Gekko down.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992): Michael Douglas re-assumes his heroic Gekko role once again in this movie. At the beginning of this film, they explain how Gekko had to change his name and move out of New York because of the crackdown of the fictional bureaucratic agency, the SEC. He becomes known as Blake, the resilient real estate agent. After leaving New York, Gekko had nothing, but he built a real estate empire from scratch. He volunteers to give a motivational speech to a group of struggling real estate agents where he reminds them of their ABC's (always be closing) and promises them steak knives and Cadillacs for a job well done. He also informs them of the health risks of coffee and the dangers of driving around in, at the time, unproven Korean automobiles. He essentially promises them that if they can prove themselves to him, he will do everything he can to help, including giving them the hot Glengarry leads. He leaves on good terms and the real estate agents turn their unprofitable ways around, helping new families and the poverty stricken find affordable housing. Once again, Gekko (or should we call him Blake) saves America.

Boiler Room (2000): In the final installment of the trilogy, Michael Douglas, although looking quite aged, resumes his role as Gekko. After some greedy real estate agents went to far to get the Glengarry leads in the previous movie, Gekko is once again on the run. He has changed his name again to Jim Young, a managing broker at a low-key, suburban investment house. Through a savvy investment strategy, he has once again made himself a millionaire. He drives a new Ferrari and has a "ridiculous house in the South Fork". In his famous lecture to a young group of recruits, he tells them how happy he has become (complete with an "ear-to-ear" smile), reminds them that money is not the root of evil, and teaches the important life lesson to "act as if". He also guarantees everyone of them that through hard work and sticking with himself, they could all be millionaires within three years. This should serve as a reminder to the viewer of the value of hard work.

The boxed set of this trilogy was first on my Christmas list this year and I did not get it. However, maybe the Academy or the AFI will honor Gekko and Douglas in the upcoming years for these movies, which have not only changed the face of motion pictures, but changed America.

Greatest Modern Television Heroes and Villains

The two following lists correspond to one another, as you cannot have a great hero without a great villain.

I know I am not the American Film Institute, but I tried to do this list in their tradition. Following the list is some great moments, thanks in part to imdb.com, between the heroes and villains.

Greatest Villains

3. Goetz (D.B. Sweeney, Jericho): This show has crept into the limelight as one of my favorite of this season, possibly (depending on where the next season is going) of all time. Those are bold words from someone who watches as much television as me, but this show has really got me hooked. I am not sure whether I should have begun with this one, as he is one of the few characters on this list that is only apparent to avid watchers of this show. Many people may have trouble getting the pretty-boy D.B. Sweeney of The Cutting Edge and Memphis Belle out of their minds, but it takes about two episodes of Jericho to do that (coincidentally, the only episodes he was in the season). He had all the elements of a classical villain- he was ruthless and evil (massacring an entire hospital full of sick people). After a symbolic showdown between the show's hero, he feigns leaving the town of Jericho alone, but we can rest assured he will be back. If he doesn't, I am just going to go ahead and delete this post and pretend I never said that.

2. Ben Linus and Juliet (Michael Emerson and Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost): I could have just listed "The Others" as a group, but most of them seem simple and 'oafish'. These two are clearly the group's masterminds. Although nothing is certain until that show is over, I think most fans would agree that there is a good chance that these two are villains. Even if they end up being good, they give me the creeps and they are evil.

1. Nina Meyers (Sarah Clarke, 24): She was a great villain on so many levels. Not only did she deceive the entire cast of the first season of 24- by starting out as Jack Bauer's best friend and confidant (not to mention ex-lover), but she deceived every viewer who spent the first 23 hours of that season just as in the dark as the cast. Not to mention she came back in subsequent seasons and was just as nasty as ever.


Greatest Heroes

3. Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich, Jericho): If you had told me a year ago that I would be writing a list of television's greatest heroes and villains and that Skeet Ulrich would be on that list, I would have told you that you were as crazy as drunken Blue-Tick Hound! But seriously, I would have thought you were nuts. Anyway, he has done a great job in this show. His character has a questionable past and some issues with authority, but that makes it all the more poetic when he does the right thing. Not to mention he runs point on the town standing up to Ravenwood- the band of mercenaries led by Goetz. It is not just a love of the post-apocalyptic drama that drives me towards this show, this show has class.

2. Dr. Jack Shepherd (Matthew Fox, Lost): This show has so many characters it is literally hard to keep track of them. Many of them are secondary, but you could argue that some of them have very heroic qualities (i.e., Sawyer, Kate or Locke). However, only one of them has done all of the things on yet-to-be-released www.noseintheair.blogspot.com heroic quality list and that is Dr. Jack Shepherd. Jack has been a leader in the face of adversity, has always done the right thing and, to put it simply, is tough. I feel sorry for 'The Others' and whatever revenge Jack has planned on them for his season in captivity. Not to mention, the fact that Jack is a spinal surgeon and the lead villain has a spinal tumor.

1. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland, 24): According to some estimates I read a few months ago, Jack Bauer, in the course of 5 non-consecutive days, has killed over 100 people and died twice. Please don't think I am trying to make him sound trite, but he has literally saved the world like four times. I am not talking about the cheesy Austin Power's-esque saving the world, but a more believable saving of the world. In this post 9/11 age, I only hope that there are actually people like Jack Bauer working for the government fighting terrorism.

Memorable Hero/Villain Moments:

Jericho

Jake: What’s this town worth to you?

Goetz: You know, pretty soon, things are going to start to get back to normal. The government will put itself back together. And they’ll be looking to help you all get back on your feet, and you know who they’re going to send? Me.

Lost

Jack: [refering to Henry's spinal tumor] You don't understand, you needed to be in surgery yesterday.

Henry Linus: Alright then, whatever you need, it's yours, when do we get started?

Jack: [smiling] I think you misunderstood me... I didn't say I was going to do the surgery, I just wanted you to know how you were going to die!

24

Jack Bauer: [Jack has shot and wounded Nina] You don't have any more useful information, do you?

Nina Myers: [weakly] I do...

Jack Bauer: [notices Nina is inching for her gun] No, you don't. [fires and kills Nina]

'Tis the Season to be Ripped Off

For the past ten minutes, my hands were hovering over the keyboard, as I pondered whether or not I should begin my initial post in this fragile state. You see, I am becoming increasingly aware of the compromised state of film, and in my praise of many (seemingly) great movies, I feel I have been playing the fool for many years.

Let us begin with Black Christmas. (D: Bob Clark, 1974) I have been lauding this cinematic carbon copy to the skies to various friends and acquaintances who now must think I am a moron. Black Christmas is the tale of the Pi Alpha Sig sorority house in the fictional (?) town of Bedford. It centers around two girls in particular, sorority sisters Barb (Margot Kidder) and Jess. (Olivia Hussey) As their friends are systematically killed off one by one by an obscene phone caller, Barb and Jess struggle to uncover the identity of the killer. Jess suspects it may be her boyfriend Peter. Most of the time Barb is too drunk to suspect anything.

But I am straying from what I really want to write about. I figured that the holiday season is as good a time as any to write about movies that are ripping off other movies, (considering what merchants are doing to their patrons all over the globe!) so I think that Black Christmas is a good place to get started. Black Christmas is the first thing that came to mind, because I recently held a screening of it with some friends, and then an odd series of events occurred that caused me to reevaluate my original opinion of Clark's signature work.

As it happens, Black Christmas is a viciously efficient exercise in terror, utilizing point of view shots from the killer's eyes, as well as holiday-season set thrills and chills, and several sequences that skillfully ratchet up the tension. But the fact of the matter is that Black Christmas is unoriginal.

Just days after I held the screening of Black Christmas for friends, I happened upon another, lesser-known film on cable, entitled "Halloween." (D: John Carpenter, 1978) My mouth hung open as I watched in disbelief, realizing that Black Christmas was a complete ripoff of Halloween. Both films are set during a holiday, both concern young girls getting killed off by a maniac, and as if this wasn't enough, they employ many of the same gimmicks, technically speaking. Halloween contained many of the same point of view shots from the killer's perspective, most specifically in the opening scene of each respective film. In Halloween, young Michael Myers (the killer) stalks his own house, culminating with the murder of his sister, Judith. In Black Christmas, the anonymous killer stalks the sorority house, but the scene ends with him deciding to roost in the attic.

My realization of Black Christmas' unoriginality took another hit when, on a commercial break during my viewing of Halloween, I see a preview for...wait for it...Black Christmas. (D:Glen Morgan, 2006)

My once high esteem for Black Christmas (1974) has been reduced to this: it is a reunion of actors who have made careers out of appearing in inferior ripoffs and prequels. Let me explain.

Olivia Hussey, who was in Romeo & Juliet (D: Franco Zeffereli, 1967), a dreadfully inferior remake of a film immortalized by Baz Luhrmann, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, then decided to appear in Black Christmas which was a ripoff of Halloween and a prequel to Black Christmas (2006.) Margot Kidder shamelessly took on the role of Lois Lane in the prequel to Superman Returns. ("Superman" D: Richard Donner, 1978) Believe it or not, in that film the Man of Steel was portrayed by a paraplegic! And the suspected killer in Black Christmas is played by Keir Dullea who appeared in 2001: A Space Odyssey (D: Stanley Kubrick, 1968), which was another pale prequel to 2010: The Year We Make Contact. (D: Peter Hyams, 1984) Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the presence of John Saxon. I originally admired his work as the steadfast police chief Lieutenant Kenneth Fuller, but as it happens, not only is he reprising the exact same kind of role he played in the vastly superior A Nightmare on Elm Street, (D: Wes Craven, 1984) but that movie is also a prequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, (D: Chuck Russell, 1987) in which he plays the exact same part of Lieutenant Donald Thompson!

While I have yet to see the 2006 version of Black Christmas, I can tell from the trailer how much better it is than the 1974 version. It is complete with killer lines like when the little girl notices a shadow coming from the attic and utters "Is that Santa's reindeer?" There are no lines as punchy as that in the 1974 version.

My advice to you: Be wary of films that you admire the first time around. Do not recommend them until you have done your research, because the odds are that it is really just a lame prequel to a newer movie with better CGI and more cool one liners.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING
Glen Morgan, director of Black Christmas (2006) wrote the original screenplay for Final Destination 3! If this is not exciting enough, Black Christmas will be released on Christmas Day! No, I am not pulling your leg. Black Christmas will be in theatres everywhere, December 25th, 2006.

Of Mice and Men and Point Break

Special thanks to sparknotes.com for the refresher and imdb.com for helping with quotes.

The predatory nature of human existence....

Both of these works introduce some phenomenol characters with extraordinary depth. George in 'Of Mice and Men' is the Johnny Utah of 'Point Break'. They are hard working, driven leaders, yet profoundly lonely and cynical. In 'Of Mice and Men', George travels around with Lennie, a large, somewhat brain-dead man, as migrant farmworkers. Lennie is portrayed in 'Point Break' as the "live for the moment" Bodhi. Johnny Utah, the quarterback who led Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, went to law school to appease his parents. He then joined the FBI and his first assignment was to go undercover as a surfer to solve a series of bank robberies in the Los Angeles area by ex-president clad surfers. He befriends Bodhi, hoping to find out who the bank robbing surfers are, initially unaware that Bodhi is the leader of the gang. As their friendship flourishes, their respective organizations encourage them to essentially take the other down. This is the internal conflict that both Bodhi and Utah suffer throughout the film. Lenny, who is essentially a grown infant, is dependant upon George to take care of him the same way Bodhi is dependant on Utah not to arrest him.

Fraternal bonds and the idealized male friendship....

George and Lenny have a dream to one day own and work a farm together. Bodhi and Utah have dreams, although those dreams are somewhat mutually exclusive. Bodhi wants to go to Australia to ride the wave of the 50 year storm. Special Agent Johnny Utah wants to make sure he "always gets his man". Both pairs share these dreams and that is what holds them together. When one takes into account the harsh, lonely lives all of these men lead, it is no wonder they turn to each other in times of need.

Futility of the American Dream....

The American dream is a common topic of American literature around the era of the Great Depression. It is also a common topic on this blog. George and Lenny failing to realize their dream of farm ownership is certainly symbolic of this. You may be saying, how is that true in 'Point Break'? Bear with me and allow me to distinguish between 'Special Agent Johnny Utah' and the 'surfer Johnny Utah'. Bodhi is not one to let society hold him down. He says "the system kills the human spirit." Robbing banks is not about the money for Bodhi. Bodhi isn't doing what he does for himself, he is doing it to show "the guys inching their way along the freeway in their metal coffins that the human spirit is alive". In the end, the system, represented by Special Agent Johnny Utah (not the same as the surfer Johnny Utah), not only kills the human spirit, but kills Bodhi as well. However, Bodhi's crimes cannot be forgotten. On that Australian beach, surfer Johnny Utah (not to be confused with Special Agent Johnny Utah) essentially euthanizes Bodhi. Rather than having him face a fate worse than death (being locked up for the rest of his life), Utah allows him to die riding the wave of the 50-year storm. After Lenny accidentally kills a woman, rather than allowing the novel's antagonists to kill Lenny, George shoots him himself.

Strength and Weakness...

In 'Of Mice and Men', Steinbeck makes many a point about strength and weakness. Lenny is extremely strong. Perhaps intimidated by this, Curley, the novel's chief antagonist and champion boxer makes his strength clear to Lenny, George, and his wife. However, they are revealed as having significant weakness. Lenny's mental invalidity and dependance on George, and Curley's short temper. So perhaps it was all a balance? However, the notion that peace can be achieved through strength is brought up in 'Point Break'. At one point Bodhi says, "if you project weakness it promotes violence," to which the prophetic Roach answers, "peace through superior firepower." This is certainly the way they robbed banks: intimidation, organization and speed.

To Kill a Mockingbird and Lethal Weapon

Once again I have not read To Kill a Mockingbird in some time, but I am more than familiar with the Lethal Weapon series and hopefully today's entry, done in lieu of studying, will convince you of the similarities between the two.

Good and evil. It is a common theme in literature and Hollywood. A few years ago, the American Film Institute came out with a list titled the "100 Greatest Heroes and Villains" or something like that. Number one on that list was Atticus Finch, the protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird (or, more correctly, the Gregory Peck portrayal of him in the movie version) was named the number 1 greatest hero of all time. However the idea of a hero, like the idea of good, needs a counterbalance. So who was the villain in To Kill a Mockingbird? To put simply it was Bob Ewell, the personification of racism, a pitiful man and quite evil. He was the counterbalance to Atticus Finch and all that was good. Atticus, an attorney, took the case of a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl, Bob Ewell's daughter. after finding in himself a set of morals not allowing him to not take the case.

Martin Riggs, as portrayed by Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon series, did not make AFI's greatest heroes list. However, this does not do anything less to his roll as a hero. So just as Atticus Finch stood up against the racist white community of the fictional Maycomb, Alabama, Martin Riggs stood up against a band of mercenaries smuggling drugs into the city of Los Angeles. He had no one to help him and most people could not tolerate a cop on the edge. Riggs helps his partner, Roger Murtagh, an aging African-American cop played by Danny Glover, solve the mystery of his friends murder. They run across a band of mercenaries smuggling drugs into the city; the main antagonist being Mr. Joshua, played wonderfully by Gary Busey.

As we can see the stage is set for a great showdown between good and evil. Just as Atticus Finch could not morally recuse himself from not taking the case, Martin Riggs could not say no when Murtagh asked for his help after Mr. Joshua and his cronies kidnap Murtagh's daughter. In To Kill a Mockingbird a vicious mob gathers outside of the jail to lynch Finch's client. Finch literally stands between the mob and the jail and faces them down. In Lethal Weapon, after an extended torture scene of Riggs and Murtagh, Mr. Joshua's boss says to Murtagh, "no one is going to save you, there are no more heroes left in the world," at which point Riggs bursts in, killing everyone and they get the 'flock' out of there.

Atticus Finch confronts evil in the form of racism and teaches his children a valuable life lesson that "you must always confront evil, even if you cannot win". Martin Riggs confronts evil in the form of Mr. Joshua. As always, evil does not win.

The Great Gatsby and Weekend at Bernies

While I have not read The Great Gatsby since my junior year of high school, I have seen Weekend at Bernie's a number of times over the years. Though it is quite silly, I like the movie a lot. At the same time I want to make it clear I am not trying to trivialize what many scholars would call the pinnacle of 20th-Century American literature by comparing it to a cheesy-eighties movie. However, I hope this blog will show that the creators of Weekend at Bernies may have been trying to do more than create a cult classic. Starting with the simple, I am hoping to draw the reader through a wild ride of self realization by questioning life and fully analyzing the parallel themes of The Great Gatsby and Weekend at Bernie's.

SETTING

Of all the similarities, none are more obvious than setting. Both take place in New York City and Long Island. Bernie lives in an enormous house at "the top of the dune" on the fictitious Hampton Island. Jay Gatsby had an enormous mansion on the beach in the fictitious Long Island town of East Egg (or was it West Egg?).

SOCIAL COMMENTARYr

Nick Carraway, the narrator in The Great Gatsby, begins his journey into a life of wealth and privilege that he had never known before in much the same way that Larry Wilson and Richard Parker (side note: notice the close anagram between their names and Nick Carraway, although probably not deliberate) do, by going to a party. In both works, there is a wide array of interesting people at the parties, who, despite feeling quite welcome at the shindig, seem to know nothing about their respective hosts.

Our reluctant protagonists in Weekend at Bernie's, embodiments of stereotypical young, poor, single, professional, Manhattanites are invited to their boss's, Bernie's, lavish Hampton Island mansion. When they get there they discover Bernie's body sitting upright in a chair. Before they can react and make a rational decision, a travelling horde of drunken reviler's storm into Bernie's house ready for another night of Hampton Island partying. Not knowing, perhaps not even caring, that he is dead most of the 'guests' make small talk with Bernie. At the end of the night, the two main characters are still the only people that know that Bernie is dead, including Bernie's girlfriend who even went as far as having sex with the deceased Bernie. My own presumption is that all of the guests were too wrapped up in themselves to notice Bernie was dead, a direct commentary on the same hedonistic themes of The Great Gatsby. Pursuit of wealth and materialism are astutely criticised in both works.

THEMES

I cannot recall many of the themes from class discussions about The Great Gatsby, and unless you are ridiculously stoned finding a reoccurring theme in Weekend at Bernie's is impossible, but please bear with me.

I seem to recall the American Dream being a topic of discussion with regard to The Great Gatsby. When they first enter Bernie's mansion, Larry (who lives in a roach-infested apartment) and Richard (who still lives with his parents) are taken back by the incredible decorating and sheer size of the place. Original artwork, a piano and a cooler stocked with expensive champagne are only some of what they notice. Richard then says to Larry, "Larry, with hard work, you could live in a place like this." Larry's response is, "my father worked hard and all they gave him was more work." Gatsby was the embodiment of the American Dream. He was wealthy and that wealth was self made. Nick Carraway was an up and coming bond trader, much the same way Larry and Richard were underlings at Bernie's company. It is hinted at that Gatsby made his money from illegal bootlegging (as it was at the time of prohibition). Bernie was clearly involved in something illegal, which led to his death. This is made clear in the scene where he is at a restaraunt with some 'mob types', including the red-dressed temptress whom Bernie was having an affair with. Are you starting to see the resemblance.

Birth and death are hugely important in both of the works. Bernie dies close to the beginning of the movie, but is reborn as Larry and Richard need to fake Bernie being alive to have a good weekend on Long Island and fool the killers. Jay Gatsby's vision of Daisy Buchanan, the girl of his dreams, slowly dies and is replaced by a much bleaker reality of Daisy Buchanan. At the end of the novel Jay Gatsby literally and figuratively dies. The unusual choice of naming the town "Egg" in the novel, suggests an allusion to birth, as the egg is a symbol of birth and new life. Okay, now, maybe I am stretching.

In conclusion: Long Island, materialism, hedonism, pursuit of wealth and the American Dream, life and death... the similarities are endless.