Thursday, January 3, 2013

Movie Jail Relay Race


Nostra of My Film Views and Terrence of The Focused Filmographer have created a relay race in which we put people in jail.

Here's how they describe it:
It’s time to put some movie people in jail. The object is to give a prosecutor’s argument as to why these movie people belong in “Movie Jail” whether it be for violating the integrity of the content source of one their films, or being a sell-out, just making bad movies overall, getting worse as time goes on or not being in a good movie for many years.
The baton will be passed to another blogger who will have to do the following:
In order to free someone from Movie Jail they have to do 2 things
1 – Give a defense attorney argument defending the plaintiff
2 – Pay bail: the cost of which is another case for the court and a prosecutor’s argument against the actor/director of their choice that will replace the one set free.
There must always be 10 people in Movie Jail.
I was passed the baton by Stevee at Cinematic Paradox, who put in Adam Sandler in there. Here are the current inmates:

Adam Sandler

Al Pacino

George Lucas

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer

Jennifer Aniston

Michael Cera

Raja Gosnell

Sam Worthington

Tom Cruise

Here are the previous entries in this project:

Nostra of My Film Views
Sati of Cinematic Corner
Alex of And So It Begins...
Steven of Surrender to the Void
Stevee of Cinematic Paradox

Who I'm Defending: M. Night Shyamalan


One of the most criticized filmmakers out there, this director has fallen from grace with critics and moviegoers alike. For instance, his breakthrough film The Sixth Sense received a Best Picture Oscar nomination and grossed over $672 million worldwide. However, his last three films have been nominated for Worst Picture Razzies, with his most recent one The Last Airbender "winning" the award. But those films have also grossed over $554 million on a total budget of $268 million. Apart from 1998's Wide Awake, his only true flop is Lady in the Water, and his failure with The Last Airbender gets thrown out, because it was never going to be easy to turn an anime series into a live action film. He didn't pull it off, but his work from The Sixth Sense to The Happening is full of interesting genre fare. Furthermore, I consider Signs to be one of the best thrillers in recent memory. Needless to say, I'm one of his few remaining fans, but even the Cahiers du Cinema voted The Village and Lady in the Water into their respective top 10 lists. Though he has support that is few and far between, he's no Uwe Boll. Not sure what After Earth will bring us, but go free and create, Shyamalan, before you end up in movie jail again.

Who I'm Throwing In:
Eddie Murphy


Arguably an easy target, he is still guilty. Despite his recent performances in Dreamgirls and the (early) Shrek films, he has also appeared in Meet Dave, Imagine That, and A Thousand Words in the past few years.  Admittedly, I haven't seen any of those films. I couldn't be bothered after the reception they got. Not to mention witnessing Murphy's train wreck Norbit, a multiple Razzie winner that somehow grossed $159 million worldwide. The last time he didn't work for a paycheck, he received an Oscar nomination. Ever since, he's been cashing in on flop after flop, even if Tower Heist was a moderate success. For over three decades, he's been in box office hits, critical darlings, and fan favorites. The problem is that he's also done many forgettable, if not horrible, ones, such as Beverly Hills Cop III, The Nutty Professor films, Showtime, and I Spy. (Again, I couldn't bring myself to watch films like Harlem Nights, Boomerang, Metro, or The Adventures of Pluto Nash.) The star of 48 Hrs., Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, and Coming to America has gradually faded since the 1980s, and, until he can make better career choices, he deserves to be in the slammer.

I pass the baton to Nikhat at Being Norma Jeane. Can't wait to see who she picks.

24 comments:

  1. Nice choice here. Yes, Eddie Murphy belongs in Movie Jail. But...at the expense of freeing Shyamalan? Come onnnn maaannnn!! :D

    Surely he will find his way back in jail. But hopefully Murphy stays as well. Solid choice.

    *Nikhat, I want to put up Kristen Stewart for your consideration as she was recently bailed out and must return! :)

    Thanks for being a part of the relay race!

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    1. Thanks. Haha, I knew Shyamalan would get this response, but I couldn't resist. I suspect he'll be back in jail in no time. :)

      No problem. I enjoyed participating!

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  2. LOL, this is funny! Lock them all up forever and ever!

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    1. Ha! 2-time Oscar nominee Shyamalan begs to differ. ;)

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  3. Yaaayy! Thanks so much. I have had my eyes on a particular inmate for a while now. Will have to think who to put in though.
    Agree with both your choices.

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    1. You're welcome!

      Yay! Really glad you agree on Shyamalan.

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  4. Eddie deserves to be there after the movies he has been doing over the past few years! Horrible, just horrible!

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    1. Eddie's a pretty obvious choice, but I definitely think he deserves to be in there more than Shyamalan.

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  5. Interesting choices! I agree with Murphy, not sure about Shyamalan - some of his movies are good and I enjoyed Signs too, but Lady in the Water and The Happening are some of the worst ones I've seen.

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    1. Thanks! Like I said, I'm one of the few remaining Shyamalan fans. ;) Glad you liked Signs.

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  6. Put Shyamalan back in prison! The man has committed many sins! He's done wrong to the film gods!!! Yes, Eddie Murphy should be in there for his sins but letting Shyamalan out is wrong!

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    1. Haha. Don't worry! I'm sure he'll be back soon!

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  7. Eddie Murphy is a fair choice. I remember him being funny in the '80s but since then, except for the Shrek movies, he's pretty much fallen off my radar. The handful of his films I've seen in recent years, like Daddy Day Care, are cringe-worthy.

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    1. Ahh, Daddy Day Care... At least it was better than Daddy Day Camp. ;)

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  8. Poor Eddie. Shyamalan deserves to be there more than Eddie does. With the recent inclusion of Adam and Eddie, I'm hoping this list is not soon filled with comedians. Also, I've been looking for your blog for a few months now, so I'm happy that my following this relay race has brought me here.

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    1. Fair enough. Ooh, I didn't even think of that. Hope it doesn't either.

      Glad you found it, and thanks for the follow! :)

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  9. I agree with who you rescued, Josh. I like three of M. Night's films, especially Unbreakable, so I think he deserves a break. I hope he'd wow me again, though not gonna happen with After Earth.

    In any case, yeah I'd put Eddie Murphy in jail too!

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    1. Haha. Glad you like some of his films.

      Yay! Murphy seems to be an acceptable replacement for an (mostly) unacceptable release. ;)

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  10. Anime just shouldn't be turned into live action, I don't know why people try (I saw about five seconds of Dragon Ball Evolution on TV once and turned it off in disgust - when they try and take it seriously like that it's ridiculous).
    Yeah, I kinda agree on Eddie Murphy. He's made films almost as bad as Sandler in his time.

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    1. Yeah, anime shouldn't be tampered with like that.

      Glad Murphy is going down well with everybody.

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  11. Shyamalan is a guy I consistently want to root for, because he seems like such a good guy, but his films are just... I just can't get behind them. Unbreakable is remarkable, but since...?

    Still, Eddie Murphy deserves to be in there over Shyamalan, no question.

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    1. That's understandable man. I'm not a fan of Wide Awake or The Last Airbender (not seen Praying with Anger), but I consider most of his work B movies at the very least.

      Whew! Murphy is a success! :)

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  12. I understand you putting Murphy in jail, he has been in a lot of horrible movies

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    1. Thanks, Nostra. Knew Shyamalan wouldn't be a popular choice, but I'm happy that most agree on Murphy.

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