During one point in the half concert film half documentary “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop,” the interviewer asks Conan if it’s possible for him to have fun without an audience. And if you watch the movie you’ll see why he looks on in response baffled and without speech. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop has never been such a literal title as it describes the essence of Conan O’Brien who is a man that is desperate to perform. It’s an all consuming urge within Conan to perform and be on the stage so much to where he puts his family life at jeopardy.
Tag Archives: Biography
The Social Network (2010) (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD)
While reports of David Fincher’s “The Social Network” being a modern “Citizen Kane” have been absolutely outlandish and ridiculous, Fincher’s courtroom drama about wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg is a near masterpiece and one that works as a cultural zeitgeist depicting the beginning of a technological revolution and the end of intimate human communication as we know it. “The Social Network” is one of David Fincher’s most verbose and openly intellectual mainstream films to date, a film about the cultural zeitgeist that is social networking and the social animal that derived such pleasure not only from devising such a complex and magnificent program that would distance each other forever that ironically required close and intimate quarters and contact, but from using this program to scorn the individuals who used their own upper class status to keep themselves differentiated from Zuckerberg.
The King's Speech (2010)
Director Tom Hooper’s British drama about the power of words and the man lacking the stature and power of such abilities in the face of a looming evil with the power of speech is something of a quaint animal. Seemingly sneaking out of nowhere, Hooper’s drama is a film not only about a man stricken with the disability of stammering, but a man finding his power in the face of ultimate powers around him. This is a man of pure impotence, a man whose felt dwarfed by the importance around him. And when he’s finally forced in to the world that demands his capacity to become an individual, now it’s a time where he must show the world that he is someone of immense presence. He is someone demanding of a capable individuality. Even to his wife whose unabashed support is laced with a sense of patronizing tone and dominance over his lack of speech functionality.
Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work (2010)
For the past twenty years Joan Rivers, once a notable female comedian, went from telling jokes to becoming a walking joke. And though she has always been convinced the audience was laughing with her, she’s been wholly unaware that the public is actually laughing at her. In spite of the obvious fact that Rivers long lost her comedic power after her stint on the Tonight Show, she’s gone from a legend to an absolute shell of a woman whose entire career has relied on gaining work more than garnering work of respectability. Whether it’s judging celebrities’ fashion and weight on a premium cable channel, appearing on reality shows for no apparent reason, or continuing her saggy dated comedy routine, River is indeed what the film proclaims her. She’s a real piece of work. And not one who is bound to become a female role model any time soon.
The Fighter (2010)
I’ll admit I had little to no expectations for “The Fighter” primarily because the stylish trailers have made it feel almost like a clone of the Channing Tatum clunker “Fighting,” when in reality it’s truly an Oscar caliber drama about a man who has the potential to become a boxing legend, but cannot escape the clutches of a family who refuses to let him rise above their lower class pit of despair, regret, and broken dreams. “The Fighter” is based on the true story of Mickey Ward, a low level boxer out of Boston who dreams of becoming the legend his brother Dickey touts himself as.
The Social Network (2010)
As long as you don’t buy in to everything “The Social Network” tells you, David Fincher’s 2010 film is actually a compelling and engrossing exploration of the evolution of socializing through computers and how it’s shaped and defined our new generation turning us in to passive aggressive bullies and thugs who seek one another out through text and HTML code. David Fincher’s film is not perfect. It’s sexist, sensationalist, and turns an internet revolution in to a mere game of revenge from a lovelorn geek. But for its faults, “The Social Network” is a truly gripping and entertaining courtroom drama about the construction of Facebook, and how it managed to affect every single person who ever came in to contact with Mark Zuckerberg. He’s depicted as a narcissistic social outcast who brought down the walls of class, superficiality and exclusivity by allowing people the advent of elitism by virtue of distance that could allow anyone from the gorgeous woman to the awkward nerd to become the kings of their own personal domains.
Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics (2010)
The purpose of “Secret Origins” is two fold. What with DC Comics finally putting their characters on the fast track to big budget films in the box office, this ninety minute documentary is meant to school new audiences that might be interested in learning about characters they’re only vaguely familiar with. If you’ll notice, the only characters spotlighted in this documentary are those that have had movies in theaters or have big budget movies coming to them, thus we get to explore Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Watchmen and The Flash, all the while this is meant as a promotional tool for the magic and wonder that is DC Comics. The documentary is really just a recounting of the creations of classic iconic superheroes from their company and there’s never really an exploration in to the darker side of the company.