Is it Overrated? - "The Dark Knight"

Welcome to yet another type of entry I'm doing for this blog. I'm going to take a look at a random movie that the internet has ranked above "The Bible" in its list of things that are "culturally significant". I'm going to go over the internet's most popular opinions and determine whether or not Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is overrated.

WARNING: The following blog post contains opinions that the internet won't agree with. Not facts, opinions. If you hate opinions, think I'm an idiot, and want to continue to profess the "facts" to people you think care to hear them, click here.

OPINION #1 - CHRISTIAN BALE IS THE BEST BATMAN EVER: Debatable, but I can see where you're coming from. Christian Bale embodies the Bruce Wayne side of things impeccably. The greatest "Batman" on the other hand is a toss-up. On the one hand, Bale does a phenomenal job of carrying himself like Batman and feeling like Batman when he's on screen; it's just that fucking stupid voice. Here, almost ten years later (Fuck am I old) and that voice still sounds ludicrous. "But he's trying to sound intimidating". Please, my grandfather had vocal problems near the end of his life but I moreso had trouble understanding him than fearing him. "But he had to disguise his voice somehow". Come on, even Val fucking Kilmer did it effortlessly. A slight rasp is all you need in the comic book world to throw people off. Hell, in a universe where Superman teaches us that you just need a pair of glasses to fool people, a slight rasp isn't going to give you away at all. Plus it only makes it harder to understand him when he's yelling. When he screams "Where's the trigger?" at Bane, it almost becomes laughable. Yes, Bale's Batman had some cool moments and some cool lines, but "best Batman ever"? Gotta go with my boy Michael Keaton on that one. Next.

OPINION #2 - THE MOVIE IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF HOW TO MAKE A COMIC BOOK MOVIE: Eh, yes and no. While I am all for making comic book movies more epic on a wider, blockbuster-sized scale, taking them into a realm of reality defeats the purpose of even making a comic book movie. The very idea of comic books were to suspend the reader's disbelief, to make them take a break from reality and delve into a world of fantasy for a read. Hell, that's just about any book. The Dark Knight trilogy instead makes you look at what would actually go into dressing up as a bat and fighting crime in today's day-in-age with today's technology. Now, granted by the time Rises came out that "technology" was getting back to comic book-level antics, but that only shows how one movie can be thought of as a prime example for how comic book movies are made only for its sequel to reneg on that.

OPINION #3 - THE FIGHT SCENES ARE THE BEST OF THE BATMAN FRANCHISE: I agree. I think if you take the fight choreography here and put them into Tim Burton's Batman, my personal favorite, you'd make it a perfect Batman movie. Just like if you put Michael Keaton in this movie, you'd make this movie a perfect Batman movie...well, sort of.

OPINION #4 - HANS ZIMMER's SCORE IS BETTER THAN DANNY ELFMAN's: Well that's just simply wrong. Danny Elfman's score is eons superior to Zimmer's score for Batman, just take a look at the theme songs. Danny's theme is an actual theme; a repetitious motif of comprised notes that provide the musical aura for a character. Zimmer's "theme" sounds like pretty much any time anything happens in the. Danny's felt more comic book-ish and gothic. Hans Zimmer's sounded like literally everything else he's ever done. Zimmer is woefully overrated and musically speaking, I think Elfman's Batman score blows Zimmer's Dark Knight score clear out of the water.

OPINION #5 - GARY OLDMAN IS THE BEST JIM GORDON EVER: Yeah, pretty much. I agree that Oldman's Jim Gordon is more natural and more involved in these movies and is therefore the much more likable Jim Gordon. Pat Hingle's Jim Gordon was too much of a background character and didn't really do much. Bob Hastings is extremely memorable as the voice of Jim Gordon in the DCAU and in my view he's a close second to Oldman. Gary Oldman somehow knew what to do with the Jim Gordon character managed to make him an interesting character in all three performances.

OPINION #6 - THE BATPOD IS BADASS: Not really. Maybe the scenes it was in were badass, but the vehicle itself kind of look like something somebody threw together five minutes before its presentation started. It doesn't even look very practical. Even the special features on the Blu-ray talked about how cumbersome it was and its difficulty making simple turns on-camera. I think the backlash against the Tumbler was justified; that thing is a generic looking pile of garbage that in no way spells "Batmobile", but if this is what we get in return, I'll take the Tumbler back.

OPINION #7 - THE MOVIE IS EQUALLY PACED FROM START TO FINISH: Bullshit, the movie is too long and has about three endings. The movie is equally paced...until Harvey gets scarred and Rachel dies, then its pace goes all over the place. You're slow and somber, then you're action-packed, then you're tense, then you're worn-out, then you're wondering when the hell its going to end by the time the Joker's upside down. You'd think since Batman Begins was the origin film, this one could be a little more light-hearted and ease up on the runtime, then you find out its actually longer than Batman Begins and it makes you want to jump off a bridge. I have ADD man, it's hard for me to finish long movies. By the time Batman and Gordon are arguing with Two-Face, I don't even care anymore. Just kill the guy and get it over with. Even Batman's very last shot, the final running from the police is drawn out so Gordon can have a short speech. JUST END.

OPINION #8 - HEATH LEDGER IS THE BEST JOKER EVER: Ah yes, the main event. This one has always been the debate, and it's a tricky one. You want to say "no" because of Mark Hamill, but you also want to say "yes" because the guy died doing this role and it shows in the movie that he gave every single scene he's in so much power and finesse. He was creepy, and in an insanely dark Batman movie, he'd be fucking scary. Ledger did steal the show with every single scene he's in and is the poster-boy for the whole movie. More people remember Heath for this movie than anyone else that's in it. I remember in 2008 in high school. It was like Heath Ledger's year. Every single girl had a crush on Heath after that movie came out (Which is weird for a shitload of reasons, mostly because he was dead by that point). I'm going to cheat and do a cop-out here: I'm not going to compare him. Every single Joker we have to compare him with was played differently than he was. You can easily compare the animated Jokers for sure, but you can't compare every single Joker with one another. There's different part of Joker's personality that different shows/movies utilize, whether by necessity or choice. For instance, you could say this Joker's darker than Mark Hamill's Joker because he kills people, but in the Animated Series, Hamill's Joker wasn't allowed to kill people because of the television censors. So you really have to know the background before you go making rash judgments. It's like comparing Nicholson and Ledger. Nicholson was more of a gothic, sarcastic, laid back, cartoon gangster while Ledger was more psychopathic and animated. He was a weird mixture of Hamill and Nicholson, with a little Charles Manson thrown in there.

OPINION #9 - THIS IS THE BEST JOKER EVER: See that? Two different things. Yes, we can't debate who's the best Joker ever, but we can debate if this character of the Joker is the best one. Visually, I'd have to say pretty much. He was an interesting, greasier take on the clown prince of crime. His hair was always so ratty, his make-up was poorly smeared on, and he had facial scars that he repeatedly made up the story for how he got them. Still, he looked like the Joker so I guess that counts. However, his abilities were through the roof of ridiculous. I mean, how impervious is this guy? He's supposedly just a regular dude dressed up as a clown, but he's not just committing petty crimes like the Joker; this guy is a full-on, large-scale terrorist who repeatedly slips through the police's grasp and continues to outwit and escape them. How smart is this guy? What are his powers? How stupid is the Gotham City Police Department that they can't catch this guy? Again, it all comes down to the runtime. When he blew up the jail, escaped with Lao and was back on the loose, I stopped caring. I knew by that point that they were going to kill him by the end...but they didn't. They just apparently re-captured him. Wonder how long he lasted in that incarceration before breaking out again.He was cool, he had great lines, he was creepy and haunted every scene...but he fucking wore me out.

So...the movie The Dark Knight as a whole; is it overrated? Yes, but not that much. It's still got phenomenal characters, great acting, spot-on dialogue and fantastic, on-the-edge action scenes. Its plot fumbles as the movie runs too long, its scenarios get too over-the-top, and a few of its objects and characters seem a little misinterpreted by the Nolan nut jobs out there. I get that they're great. I re-watched them recently and they still hold up (Well, two of them do. The Dark Knight Rises gets a little weaker with each viewing). I think its still a great comic book movie and a testament to a generation, but it does have flaws. It's not a perfect movie by any means, but its the closest we've come in a long, long time.

A Review of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"

Well, it's that time of the year, isn't it? The time where the temperatures are dropping, the snow is coming, and Santa's finalizing his lists to deliver gifts to all of the silly kids of the world. The time when gingerbread cookies are in the oven, frosting's on its roof, Christmas Vacation is on TV non-stop, and the presents lay nestled under your brightly-lit, well-decorated Christmas tree. If you think I'm talking about Christmas, check again. It's apparently "Star Wars" month, thanks to Disney. For the past three years, Star Wars movies have been shoved into theaters whether we want them or not. You know? On a George Lucas-timeframe, we wouldn't be getting Episode VIII until next December...with literally no movies in between. God, I hate Lucas for some of the things he's done to his own movies, to pop culture, to the history of filmmaking, and to some of the best actors in the world...but boy do I miss him these days...I'll bet he's rolling around in his grave, right now.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi...the eighth episode in this overcooked franchise that someone left in the oven to go settle an argument. A franchise that's been released, slightly-altered and re-released, re-edited then re-re-released, corrected and re-re-re-released, poorly re-re-re-re-released for some anniversary special edition cash grab, re-re-re-re-released with absolute garbage coloring and even more bogus changes, and finally re-re-re-re-re-re-released on the digital airwaves at the low-low price of $20 a title, or if you're really a sap...$100 for SIX of the movies. Seems like a fair trade again...Fuck I got off topic.

LOL

Well, I can safely start off by saying the movie was very "Star Wars-y". It opens with a space battle, Poe Dameron being the cocky schmuck that he is, fighting as a single X-Wing Fighter against a Dreadnought class Star Destroyer of the First Order. Also, Dreadnought class? Ripped right out of Star Trek, that one. Well, somehow it works out in the Resistance's favor because he wins...with the help of a few bombers of course. For some reason, he's demoted by General Leia because despite the fact that they won, she's upset that many were killed. I guess for getting their bombers destroyed, but that's one-less Dreadnought-class Star Destroyer in the galaxy.

Leia was just as Leia-y as ever. She was just in the background, seldom seen and heard. She's the one that demotes Poe, but then gets sucked out into space when the room she's in on the star cruiser explodes from a laser blast. Just when you think she's dead, she does the strangest impression of Mary Poppins I've ever seen, takes a page out of Christopher Reeve's Superman and flies back to the ship and saves herself. Okay...I mean, Star Wars has expected me to believe dumber things, but that's pushing it. I like that she got to live, but now it means that Disney's written themselves into a hole. Carrie Fisher's dead but Leia's still alive, and Mark Hamill's still alive but Luke Skywalker's dead. So...uh oh...somebody fucked up. Can't wait to see how this will all pan out. Well, in Leia's absence came Laura Dern as a new admiral: Admiral Something-Too-Weird-to-Remember. Hang on let me look it up...

...Amilyn Holdo? Okay, the lady with the purple hair. I enjoyed her character as the admiral whom you initially think is a turncoat or some kind of bad leader, but it turns out she's the best leader in lieu of Leia that the Resistance could have. Also, the scene where she jumps to lightspeed and tears right through Snoke's Star Destroyer? Bad. Ass.

"Hello, you're my Yoda and I've come to be your Luke."

Believe it or not, Kylo Ren was probably the best character in the movie. Kylo shows the most struggle and inner turmoil, and it was really his character that was given the most of a story arc. From starting off in his helmet on, until Supreme Leader Snoke makes him feel like a loser for wearing it, then he just sort of loses it for the remainder of the movie. Kinda sad. Loses that Darth Vader vibe to it all. I guess that's good, so he's not a total carbon-copy of Darth Vader. He's just as whiny as Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker, though. I guess we can attribute that to inheriting it from him biologically. Also, a few of his lines are delivered in the goofiest manner. "TARGET THAT MAN AND BLOW HIM THE FUCK UP!!" (Warning: Not actual line). It's also revealed that Kylo and Rey have some Force connection where they can see and hear each other no matter where they're at. It's weird and first, but then it's just swept under the rug after a few scenes of Kylo being like "I believe in you" and she's like "Shut up, you monster". All in all though, Kylo kills Snoke in a very surprising twist. I mean...not that surprising considering Vader turned on the Emperor and killed him, so when you use that hereditary inheritance again, not that surprising. In the moment though, holy Snokes was that unforeseen. I wouldn't have guessed that if I had a million guesses.

Speaking of Snoke's death, I'm SO glad I was thinking all this time about who Snoke would turn out to be and what his origins were. Turns out I didn't have to give a flying frack about it because Disney clearly didn't either. Stock bad guy is stock. I award Disney negative twenty-five million billion points for building up a character's identity in the scheme of a trilogy then taking a giant dump on all their plans. It's like if I wanted to hype punching you in the face and then just shot myself in the balls instead. What a waste. I sure hope you paid Andy Serkis by the word, because he must've been pissed. AWESOME stuff, Disney. Sure hope you got the money invested into all those Snoke action figures.

So, you might be wondering where Luke Skywalker is in all this. Well, if you remember the ending of The Force Awakens, you'll know that he was on the planet Acht-To...or Atch-To...or Ah-Choo, or whatever it's called. He's there because "he went there to die" so that the Jedi would end. Why does Luke want the entirety of the Jedi religion to end? Because he royally screwed up training the next generation of Jedi, including Ben Solo, and decided that rather than fixing what he did, he just does what every Jedi does when things get tough...disappear into obscurity and die cold and alone. GREAT PLAN. Rey, however, visits him and does that thing from Rocky V. You know, the 'sports/drama moment where she goes to Luke and says "Hey train me" and Luke says "no, I don't train people anymore, but ask me again in twelve minutes and I'll say yes"' thing. Luke grants her three lessons, which I guess is all it takes to be a Jedi. Her first lesson goes well until she sees a dark hole in a vision and goes to it. Luke yells at her for "running to the darkness" first-thing and dumps on her training...only to return the following day for lesson #2. Luke's more indecisive than the people making these movies. Eventually, Rey sees another vision where she sees multiple of herself (which was a truly tripping scene) and decides that she must go and face Kylo before her training finishes. "You mean like when Luke rushed from his training to go face Vader in Empire?" I hear you ask. "Shut up. This is nothing like that," replies Disney, counting their billions of dollars. So then you see Rey and Kylo enter Snoke's throne room and the scene literally starts mimicking the ending of Return of the Jedi. If not verbatim, in tone and style alone. What is it with these movies and mimicking what's already been done? You proved the franchise can still be profitable, if not completely misguided with The Force Awakens, so it was time to branch out. Instead, you have the lightsaber next to Snoke, Snoke disconnecting Rey's shackles with the Force; even Snoke showing Rey the Resistance fleet that's in peril. But that's totally not like Return of the Jedi with the Rebel fleet that was flying into a trap. Snoke then says "It was I who did that thing that ultimately led your path straight to me" which (again) is nothing like when the Emperor said "It was I who did that thing that ultimately led your path straight to me" to Luke.

Permission to go 'blow shit up'?
'Crap', commander Dameron. These are kids' movies.

I liked that Yoda was back. I especially liked that he was the goofy, senile puppet Yoda that came off like he mixed up his meds and didn't know which way was up. The one from The Empire Strikes Back. Wait what's that? Another allusion to The Empire Strikes Back? Well played, Disney, you unoriginal schlock-factory. People seem to rip on this Yoda for being too much of that looney-tune, dementia-ridden muppet and not being the uptight, all-serious CGI Yoda from those one movies that couldn't foresee his way out of a paper bag, but hey if you take this shit seriously then maybe you're the one who needs help, weirdo. I jest...but seriously, this was a welcome addition to the movie. Watching Mark Hamill interact with Frank Oz operating a Yoda puppet must've brought back some serious Empire Strikes Back flashbacks for both actors. A truly warming scene to watch.

Finn's story was boring. Finn got the shaft in this movie. I'm glad he's got a love-story now and that he and Rose are a thing, but if you're not making Titanic jokes throughout this whole sub-plot, then there's really no enjoyment out of it. I'm just happy Poe got more screentime and a bigger character arc. They realized their mistake with The Force Awakens by giving everyone who wasn't Rey the boot, in terms of their story. I mean, Finn had a good arc in Awakens, but so did the lightsaber that severed his spine. Sure, don't sever Rey's spine.

I find the idea behind the force projection fascinating. It's an interesting force technique we haven't been introduced to yet. Seeing Luke Skywalker be the Jedi to do it was also satisfying, seeing as how (once again) I see Luke as the be-all, end-all Jedi who's the most Jedi-est Jedi of all the Jedi we've seen already. Channeling an entire image of yourself to anywhere in space as long as you meditate? What's not badass about that? Well...the fact that it kills you and ultimately can't do anything while your projecting yourself is a bit of a turn off. Turns out Luke Skywalker isn't the be-all, end-all Jedi we've grown to admire and root for over the past forty years. You know that legendary movie character that's existed for four decades? The one who killed Vader and the Emperor, was the star of an entire trilogy, and helped bring about the "Return of the Jedi" (wink)? Yeah...he was just passing the torch to that annoyingly perfect British girl I couldn't even get behind after the first adventure. She's the one who's going to end the entire saga and actually bring peace to the galaxy. Up yours, OG Star Wars fans. Boy, they played you good. You should see the looks on your guys' faces. I'll bet your thinking imaginative ways to...oh right, you guys bailed on the franchise when Phantom Menace came out. My bad. Moving on.

The courageous species that crush and destroy the First Order
at the end of Episode IX

Yeah, Luke is done justice and at the same time, he isn't. He doesn't really "kick some ass" like you would hope, but then again, is he supposed to? Alec Guinness got in a lightsaber fight in his 60's for Star Wars, so there's no reason why Luke couldn't have a duel with Kylo here. Instead, they tease you with the Force projection crap. He stands there, they dance and twirl blades for two moves, then Luke fades away. Luke couldn't even come visit his sister in person before he died. What an asshole. Look, Luke didn't need to kick ass in this movie. If you want to watch Luke Skywalker kick some ass, watch The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. These aren't Luke's movies anymore. They're Rey's, whether you like it or not. Luke's now the Obi-Wan character, he's the wise old sage passing knowledge on to the next hero...Rey. His "fading away" or "becoming one with the Force" was a beautiful ending for the character, though I guarantee we'll see Luke back as a Force ghost in Episode IX. Also, the ending with the kids who have the Force? Nice little vague ending to set something else up. If it's Episode IX I'll be very happy. If it's Rian Johnson's stupid spin-off trilogy Disney couldn't pay me to give a shit about, I'll be upset. I'll bet they're "the next generation" of Jedi in Episode IX. Shoot, what if IX takes place like ten-fifteen years after The Last Jedi and its Rey training these kids to help  her take down the First Order once and for all?! WAIT. That would also explain how Lucasfilm can just say "No, Leia won't be in the film" despite the fact her character didn't die here! HOLY JUMPING FUCKING SHIT BALLS.

Woah, I just blew my own mind. Not Kurt Cobain-style, though. I'm still intact.

All in all, contrary to my griping, I did like this entry. It's a decent Star Wars movie that situates itself somewhere into the middle of my ranking. It's got some original trilogy elements in it, it does the Luke Skywalker character great justice, Kylo's internal struggles explode into the greatest display we've seen with him yet, Poe and Finn do a great storyline and get more screentime for both of them. But Leia gets underutilized and just stands there most of the time, the tease of a major lightsaber duel turning into nothing but a popcorn fart, the Finn/Rose storyline that doesn't really do anything, the overuse of slapstick comedy, John William's phoned-in score that recycles previously heard music cues instead of creating new ones (especially just carrying over The Force Awakens' rendition of the opening crawl)...and other things. It was the most wishy-washy, polarizing movie I've ever seen. There were things I really liked and things I really didn't like. Overall, I'd give it a 7.5 if I had to grade it. News outlets calling it "The best one since Empire" haven't seen a new Star Wars movie since Empire, clearly. Those reports are falsified and my team of specialists are cracking down on them to have them removed from the internet. It's a pretty decent entry, just not "the be-all, awesome Star Wars movie" that we've all been waiting for since Return of the Jedi.

A Review of "The Disaster Artist"

Holy crap. What a movie. I went into this, having been a fan of "movies about making movies", with Ed Wood being my favorite. This movie was no exception to a contender of my favorite. It was fun, humorous, human, spectacular, and most of all; it was entertaining like most movies today aren't.

For those who don't know, The Disaster Artist is a movie directed by James Franco based on the book out by Greg Sestero. Sestero is most famous for starring in The Room, the world's most notorious and fun-loving cult film. Often considered one of the worst movies ever made, The Room's theatrical run is only rivaled by that of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, both of which have obtained this "cult status" and air all over the country at "midnight movie" screenings. The Room is a movie produced by, written by, directed by and starring Tommy Wiseau. It was until very recently that a lot about Tommy Wiseau was kept secret. Nobody knew how old he was, where he came from, or where his vast amounts of wealth had come from to fund the movie. Nowadays, The Room is one of the most recognizable movies on the internet. It has become memes, its clunky dialogue has become memes, its goofish acting has become memes; The Room was a movie made to be an internet trend. We'll do a review of The Room another time.

L: James Franco as Tommy Wiseau
R: The REAL Tommy Wiseau

The Disaster Artist is the story of Greg Sestero (Dave Franco), who befriends a foolish, difficult-to-understand man of undeterminable origins named Tommy Wiseau (James Franco). Both of them are in an acting class in San Francisco. They both make a pact over a humorous impromptu acting session in a diner to move to Los Angeles and get their acting careers up and running. Greg gets to join an acting agency and even meets a beautiful bartender who becomes his girlfriend, all while Tommy struggles to get anything up and running. When Greg's career stalls, he and Tommy deduce on the rooftop that they need to make their own movie. Tommy then spends the next several months writing the script of an all-American man who has it all, who gets betrayed by the world when his best friend sleeps with his fiancee. Tommy then somehow self-funds his project with Greg, The Room. They purchase cameras from a studio that rents them, Tommy hires an entire crew after they only introduce themselves, Tommy has the actresses auditioning for Lisa do stupid things in their interview, like ride horses and play saxophone.

As the shoot goes on, Tommy becomes increasingly enraged as he hears people on the set ridiculing his work and his methodology, which all leads to an explosion on set when a naked Tommy, ready to shoot his sex scene, criticizes Juliette Danielle's (Ari Graynor) skin for being "too ugly for Hollywood", which causes a lot of crew to intervene and a screaming match takes place. Tommy calms down and apologizes, but the cast and crew later become angry when Tommy doesn't pay for air-conditioning, leading to Carolyn Minnott (Jacki Weaver), who plays Lisa's mom Claudette in the movie, faints on set due to the hate. Against all odds, the movie is finished and a premiere is held at a small theater in LA. Tommy drives by with Greg in the car, sees that there isn't very many people out front, so he drives around the block...much to everyone's confusion. Tommy then pulls up again, gets out after some begrudging, and joins everyone in the theater for the premiere. The movie starts out as a serious drama but as the it wears on, people start inadvertently laughing at the movie more and more and more. Tommy becomes enraged and upset as the laughter becomes more uproarious and boisterous, and soon leaves the premiere in a huff. Greg, who was also laughing, joins him in the lobby and talks him into going back in, saying that he's getting a response to the movie like none they've ever seen before. They open the door to go back in and watch the audience cheer and rave like crazy as Johnny, played by Wiseau, kills himself in The Room's climactic ending. Tommy then returns to the front stage of the auditorium and exclaims that he hopes "everyone enjoyed his comedy film". The rest of the movie shows anecdotes about what the cast of The Room has been up to since th release of the heinous picture.

The movie felt very real. Not only because it was based around actual events that took place but because the emotions of wanting to succeed were greatly conveyed. There were some generally uncomfortable scenes due to the characters' desperation to succeed in Hollywood. There's a scene in a restaurant in Hollywood when Tommy gets to meet famous producer/director Judd Apatow (playing himself). Judd becomes violently angry at Tommy interrupting his dinner and lashes out at him, telling him that "he'll never become an actor in a million years, and not even after that". It is through this scene that Tommy becomes discouraged with his dream. Throughout the movie, it's normally Greg questioning his presence and whether or not anything he's doing is worth it, but here it's Tommy who decides to feel dismay and discouragement toward his dreams. Greg has to remind him to stick with it and it is here in this scene that the two conceive the idea to make their own movie. I feel like the desperation to be famous in real-life was quite the trial of struggle for Wiseau, as he just isn't as good looking as Sestero, which is another point of capture in the movie. There are scenes were Tommy feels jealous as we get the feeling Greg's acting career is taking off whereas his is not. The best part about all this is in real life, during this movie's promotion just prior to its release, James Franco was on Jimmy Kimmel and he brought the real Tommy Wiseau with him onto the show, who to my knowledge had never been on any talk show before. That, to me, was the "He made it" moment.

Tommy directing a scene? Or James Franco directing a scene?

James Franco fuckin' steals the show as Tommy Wiseau. You wouldn't think an actor like James Franco, known for making low-brow comedy flicks that don't have much thought behind the dialogue and scenarios, would be worth a consideration for Oscar gold, but this is it. This could be it. The genius behind it is that it feels like Franco didn't put much into his performance, but it still came out so genuine. It is very reminiscent of Martin Landau playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. You tend to forget that that isn't Tommy Wiseau on the screen. James Franco makes you think that that is Tommy Wiseau on the screen, from his laugh to his deadpan look to his slurred, Polish-like accent as he jovially teases someone or pushes them to be better performers. James's brother Dave plays Greg Sestero, and with James as Tommy, commands each scene they're in. The scene where Tommy is becoming verbally and emotionally abusive to the other members of cast & crew while he's trying to shoot his sex scene, you get to see Dave and James act out potentially violent confrontations between these two characters so well. Hey, even James Franco's good buddy Seth Rogen is in this movie, and he's actually doing what he did in Jobs; playing an intelligent character with intelligent, yet humorous dialogue. I have a love-hate relationship with Seth Rogen. I enjoy his dumbass characters but I also get annoyed with them to the point where I feel like he needs more characters like this.

I actually didn't know that the actor who plays Chris R., the character who holds Denny up for money in the movie, was played in this movie by Zac Efron. It was just one of those crazy celebrity cameos that took place. Plus, Bryan Cranston plays himself. He meets Greg Sestero in a diner and offers him a small role on Malcolm in the Middle as a lumberjack as long as he doesn't shave his beard. Greg takes this news to Tommy, who refuses to reschedule the shoot to allow Greg to keep his beard for the Malcolm shoot. Tommy demands that Greg chooses between The Room and his guest role on Malcolm in the Middle. The next shot is Greg getting his beard shaved on the set of The Room with a look of absolute despair. Heartbreaking stuff, but it shows Greg's commitment to Tommy, who gave him his first break by allowing him to star in this movie. Considering the scene where Tommy first gives Greg the script to read in the diner, Greg's face clearly demonstrates his disbelief in this project, though he saves face and tells Tommy that the script is good.

I like how a lot of Tommy's common phrases eventually became lines the script. There were parts in the movie where Tommy says "keep your <something> in your pocket", which is a notoriously goofy line that's said by Greg Sestero in the actual movie. You get to see at the end of the movie the cast of The Disaster Artist's version of The Room act their scenes side-by-side with actual footage from the original The Room. I hope on the Blu-ray there's an actual, shot-for-shot remake of The Room starring James Franco's cast. That'd be the funniest fuckin' thing on the planet, considering all the clips we were given in the end credits.

Tommy Wiseau posing with a poster for The Disaster Artist

The idea behind how The Room was made was so fascinating to me. I never understood because Tommy Wiseau played Johnny as such a kind, gentle soul on screen that you never would have guessed that he would be a tyrant behind the camera. This movie brings so much into light and it also brings The Room back into the mainstream. I was just watching a YouTube video last night after I got home from the movie and an ad had two guys trying to sell me something, but they were standing in front of a crummy green screen, one dressed as Mark and one dressed as Johnny, both tossing a football around. Several years ago, no one would've made an ad basing themselves off of characters from The Room. My only hope now is that Tommy Wiseau appears in dealership commercials or a Super Bowl ad. He and Greg Sestero both. I doubt the entire cast would want to have a reunion, considering the turmoil that went on behind the scenes, but who knows? Maybe they made up by now.

The Disaster Artist is the best movie of 2017, in my opinion. It was well-acted, well-directed, and a perfect addition to the "movies about making movies" genre. James Franco was phenomenal playing Tommy Wiseau, so much so to the point that you forget it isn't actually Tommy Wiseau up on the screen. The rest of the cast members look exactly like the cast of The Room that they're supposed to play, and scenarios that show how actual scenes were filmed were priceless. The infamous rooftop "I deed naht heet hurr" scene is depicted as being painfully awful to shoot, taking near-seventy takes for Wiseau to get the lines right. I enjoyed this movie start to finish, and I cannot wait for it to come out on Blu-ray so I can watch it again and again. I just may officially induct it into my own personal "Motion Picture Hall of Fame". It was that great. I recommend it, then if you haven't seen The Room before, go watch it after you watch this. The Room is one of those movies that you have to see to believe, and The Disaster Artist is the perfect movie about it. I laughed and got emotionally involved from beginning to end. Go see it. You'll love it.