Talent is rarely celebrated. In our culture of public mediocrity, talent becomes just another thing that the left despises. How often we hear, “Oh, so in so, is only good because they are rich/white/privileged.” Indeed, whole swaths of our society – from everyone-can-go-to-college cheerleaders to the welfare state itself – believe that success is the product of self-esteem, not effort. They tell us that notions of character just don’t work in a 21st century world. Seldom do we hear the truth: that talent is preparation meets love. Ratatouille is one film that gives it to us straight.

Set in the obscure French countryside, an aspiring chef, Remy, follows the televised culinary advice of his idol, Auguste Gusteau. Remy dreams of following him, but there’s just one problem: he’s a rat and rats don’t belong in the kitchen. Fate offers Remy an opportunity Separated from his family during a farmer’s raid, Remy falls into the sewage, traveling thousands of miles, until, at last he finds himself underneath Gusteau’s very Parisian restaurant!

 The choice of locale is deliberate, of course. Paris, long the home of big government and bien-pensant, is also the home of gourmands, haute cuisine, and critique, so Remy’s passion might yet find outlet. Alas, in France, the hopes of the entrepreneur are subordinated to the plans of others. The word for the French economic system, “dirigiste,” means to direct and the French love nothing more than to direct their citizenry, and that, of course, includes who is and who is not among the crème de la crème par excellence. While his keen sense of smell saves the family from rat poisoned garbage, but Remy knows it still stinks to be a rat who loves food amongst those who couldn’t care less. He is his family’s bête noire. Quelle horreur! (more…)

The Pixar movies have always had a special place in the heart of conservatives and libertarians because they show a commitment to human excellence without apology. While the films are directed at children, they are anything but childish.  Each of the Pixar films deserves celebration in its own right, but here are a few of my favorites.

In Ratatouille, in the obscure French countryside, an aspiring chef, Remy, follows the televised culinary advice of his idol, Auguste Gusteau. Remy dreams of following him, but there’s just one problem: he’s a rat and rats don’t belong in the kitchen. Fate offers Remy an opportunity Separated from his family during a farmer’s raid, Remy falls into the sewage, traveling thousands of miles, until, at last he finds himself underneath Gusteau’s very Parisian restaurant!

 The choice of locale is deliberate, of course. Paris, long the home of big government and bien-pensant, is also the home of gourmands, haute cuisine, and critique, so Remy’s passion might yet find outlet. Alas, in France, the hopes of the entrepreneur are subordinated to the plans of others. The word for the French economic system, “dirigiste,” means to direct and the French love nothing more than to direct their citizenry, and that, of course, includes who is and who is not among the crème de la crème par excellence. While his keen sense of smell saves the family from rat poisoned garbage, Remy knows it still stinks to be a rat who loves food amongst those who couldn’t care less. He is his family’s bête noire. Quelle horreur! (more…)

Using reader scores, IMDB ranked their top 15 films produced since 2000. Other than “The Departed,” which along with “Mystic River,” “Crash,” “Crash,” and “Crash,” ranks in the top 5 over-rated films of ever, there’s little to quibble over. Taste is a subjective thing.

My personal Top 15 are ranked as my favorites always are — based on nothing more than re-watchability. “Rocky Balboa” might not be better written, photographed or acted than any number of films not on this list, but I’m going to watch it a helluva lot more, that’s for sure.  

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – Ever since the lights came up after that first screening, like a drug this lyrical, gorgeously photographed piece of myth-making has tugged me back for another taste. This isn’t easy to admit, but I think I admire Andrew Dominik’s directorial debut even more than John Ford’s “Young Mister Lincoln” (1939), which it resembles in so many ways. Were this also a listing of the greatest performances of the new millennium, Casey Affleck’s portrayal of Robert Ford would rank #1, as well.

2. The Passion of the Christ (2004) – Easily, the purest and rawest emotional cinematic experience I’ve ever had. The Left’s bigoted, venomous attacks combined with the film’s eventual blockbuster success were almost as satisfying as the re-election of George W. Bush. (more…)

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Dreamworks Animation have definitively proven that Digital 3-D is a blockbuster format. Not only has Monsters vs. Aliens seized a monstrous $58.2M in opening weekend ticket sales, Real-D (the technology provider) and Dreamworks have revealed that $25M or so of that gross was generated specifically from 3-D and IMAX 3-D. Fox is reporting that fully 43% of the total take was from the estimated 2,218 Digital 3-D screens.

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS tore up the box office this weekend - especially in 3-D

That means that the Per Screen Average for the movie in 3-D was about $11,700, while the 4,800 or so traditional 35MM 2-D engagements had a Per Theatre of just an estimated $4,780. Exhibitors who figured out a way to overcome the credit crunch and pay the estimated $100,000 to convert a traditional theatre into one that can show Digital 3-D made a killing this weekend.

(more…)

DreamWorks Animation has created a niche all their own; great looking, high-concept computer animated films with about as much thematic depth as an installment of “Josey and the Pussycats.” It’s as if Pixar created DreamWorks Animation just to make themselves look good.  

“Monsters vs. Aliens” has an awfully great title going for it – who doesn’t want to see that? – but is merely adequate in the execution. Considering the potential of the idea and that there are five credited screenwriters, you would expect a memorable sequence or two and a few clever characters, but lacking in every story element is an inspired imagination.

Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is about to get married when she’s hit by meteor. The good news is that she’s not hurt, the bad news is that she grows to be about fifty stories tall and is promptly captured by the military and imprisoned in Area 51, where all “monsters” are locked away to keep the public from panicking. The warden is the oh-so cleverly named General W.R. Monger (Kiefer Sutherland), and he explains to Susan, code name Ginormica, that she will never see the light of day again.

Yes, another film aimed at your kids that paints the military as oppressive, robotic and reactionary. (more…)

National Review’s 25 Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years did what all good lists do, ignite debate and discussion. Last week, NRO’s own Kathryn Jean Lopez jumped in to make a solid case in favor of “Rocky Balboa,” yesterday Maura Flynn stirred things up with a little disagreement and smart choices of her own, and on Monday Ben Shapiro weighed in with a line by line argument for and against the NRO picks and a few excellent additions, including “Tombstone,” and “L.A. Confidential.” Thus far, it’s been a fascinating conversation, and while I normally don’t argue “taste,” Ben’s opinion on “Braveheart” requires a response:

It’s an action epic with some romance thrown in.  Liberals could easily caricature Braveheart’s Longshanks as a redneck, particularly after he defenestrates the prince’s gay lover. 

Ben’s correct about what “Braveheart” is and what liberals could do with it, but you also have to look at what “Braveheart” is about. The film’s essence is about fighting and dying for liberty, a value the Left conceded thirty-plus years ago on the Killing Fields of Southeast Asia straight through to their call last year to strip 25 million innocent Iraqis of their liberty (and security) in the hopes of embarrassing George W. Bush. Like patriotism-when-the-guy-you-didn’t-vote-for-is-in-office, what was once a universal value has become through default, a conservative value. (more…)