Trade Show Guru » Movies

Slumdog Millionaire ROCKS

The Trade Show Guru — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:42:13 +0000

If you’re a regular reader of the Trade Show Guru, you know I’m partial to the word “rocks“. Some might even say I overuse the term, as I have written the posts “Netflix ROCKS” and “Avast AntiVirus ROCKS“, and the post “Balance” using the metaphor of a pile of rocks. Well, in this case, the word is appropriate. The movie Slumdog Millionaire ROCKS!

We saw Slumdog Millionaire last week. We got the DVD from Netflix. I think we may have been the last people on this planet to see the movie. Anyway, with all the hype around it, my expectations were low. I find that usually when I expect a lot from a movie, I’m disappointed. I know this movie received the Oscar for Best Picture, but I usually don’t agree with the judges. Well, this time I did. Slumdog Millionaire is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.

The surprising thing is that Slumdog Millionaire is not my favorite type of movie. I like action flicks, pure comedies, and “feel good” “Hollywood ending” movies. Slumdog Millionaire was more of a drama. But what a drama! It was one of the best “put together” movies I’ve seen. It had some very disturbing scenes, but they were real. Perhaps that’s why they were so disturbing. Anyway, I don’t want to give away the plot (if anyone hasn’t seen this movie), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a funnier escape from a locked latrine (who would think being covered with *** could be funny?). And the little kids in Slumdog Millionaire are cute!

Well, enough gushing. Slumdog Millionaire is a great movie.

High School Musical – am I a sell-out?

The Trade Show Guru — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:34:23 +0000

I’m generally against commercialism, which may seem strange since I’m work in the trade show marketing business, but life is full of contradictions (and hypocrisy). Anyway, my 6 year old daughter is hooked on High School Musical (bye bye Disney Princesses!). It started with her seeing the movie on DVD at a friend’s house, twice. Then Grandma got her the music CD from the movie, and I’ve heard the High School Musical soundtrack at least 100 times now (no exaggeration). For Christmas my daughter got (from Grandma) a High School Musical clock, a High School Musical calender, High School Musical shoes, a High School Musical watch, and other High School Musical branded items I probably missed. All this and I’d never even seen the movie. I just knew that High School Musical branded product sales might single-handedly pull this country out of our current economic mess. Either that or they’d push many otherwise financially solvent families over the brink and out onto the streets (but at least these families would have their High School Musical sweat suits and High School Musical sneakers).

Well, we finally broke down and rented the movie from Netflix and watched it as a family the other night. I was planning to work on the blog during it, but my daughter insisted I watch the movie (I took the opportunity to ride the stationary bicycle while watching it). I was expecting the worst. I thought the movie would basically be a 90 minute commercial for the products that are everywhere in the stores (and now in her room).

But instead I was surprised. I was stunned. I was shocked. I was dumbfounded. I actually liked, heck, even enjoyed, High School Musical! I’m not entirely sure why… Maybe it was because I’d been subliminally programmed and the music was so familar (did I mention I’ve heard the soundtrack 100 times?). As I watched it, my feet started tapping to the beat and I started rooting for Troy and Gabriella. Now I’m not saying it’s an amazing grown-up movie (like Top Gun), but I liked it. It’s got good, wholesome kids, a reasonable plot, great songs, and the only kiss in it is a kiss on the cheek. I’ve got to hand it to Disney, they made a good family movie. Either that or I’m just a softy at heart. Two thumbs up for High School Musical.

King Corn

The Trade Show Guru — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:33:28 +0000

I wrote a while ago that I was going to review King Corn as my second movie review (my first review was Run Fatboy Run), so I’d better get it done before I completely forget what it was about. Actually, I saw King Corn several months ago (you can rent it from Netflix), but it made such an impression on my that I still remember most of it, and recommend it to friends regularly. I suppose one reason that I liked it so much is that I had low expectations (it’s a documentary after all), and it far exceeded those expectations. I would have to say King Corn is in my top 10 movies for 2008.

King Corn is the story of two recent college graduates, friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who become concerned that Americans are eating too much, including too much corn and corn-based food products. They decide to temporarily move to Iowa and lease an acre of land to grow corn. Their goal is to grow an acre of corn to learn how the system works – how one grows corn today and then what happens to the corn.

What I liked about King Corn
It’s a good documentary. I usually find documentary films boring, but not this one. I’m a fan of the TV series Modern Marvels that explains how things work, and that’s a big part of what this film does. By growing an acre of corn, Ian and Curt show how we are able to grow so much corn. For instance, one key is ammonia fertilizer, which increase yields fourfold. Another key is a high-tech rented tractor that allows Ian and Curt to plant 31,000 corn seeds in the ground in 18 minutes. In addition, the film explains how today’s corn has been bred to tolerate growing closer together so one can grow more plants per square foot of ground. The result is that modern technology and science has increased the average harvest of corn in Iowa from 86 bushels per acre in 1970 to 180 bushels per acre in 2007 (for perspective, according to my link at the bottom on the history of corn, the highest average United States corn yield prior to the 1940s happened in 1906 when the national average yield was 31.7 bushels per acre). To me the education in how we grow corn (and so much corn!) was fascinating. I also learned that very little corn is actually eaten as corn. Most of the corn is fed to cows (interesting health fact according to the movie, confined-corn-fed cows have 7 times as much saturated fat in their meat as free-range-grass-fed cows), and a lot of corn is turned into high fructose corn syrup (the movie decided not to go into the corn-ethanol boondoggle, so I won’t either).

The second thing I found remarkable about King Corn is that Ian and Curt made a great movie on a very small budget (it helps that they are both very personable, very funny, and very entertaining - and I doubt either one ever went to any acting school). I’m always impressed when a low budget film seems more professional and compelling than an over-budget Hollywood mega-budget boondoggle.

The third thing that I liked about King Corn is that it’s balanced. It’s obvious that Ian and Curt have their opinions and motives (I won’t spoil the end of the movie but it sums up their position). King Corn, in this Guru’s humble opinion, presents a fair assessment. I think it’s a tribute to Ian and Curt’s fairness that they premiered their movie at a local Iowa movie theatre and then asked farmers what they though of it, and by and large, the farmers thought it was a fair assessment.

Other interesting things about King Corn:
Cool coincidence: Ian and Curt met at college in New York and became friends. They decide to rent an acre of farmland in Iowa for their documentary. The cool coincidence is that the rural town they select to live in and farm at is Greene, Iowa (pop. 1015), and it turns out that eighty years ago, Ian and Curt’s great-grandfathers lived in that same town, Greene, Iowa, just a few miles apart. Small world.
Craziest scene: At one point in the movie, Ian and Curt look into how cows are fed corn, lots of corn. They go to a university research lab to talk with one of the researchers. This researcher happens to have a real, live cow with a plexiglass porthole window in it’s side. One can look into the cow to see what’s in it’s stomach. One can actually OPEN THE PORTHOLE, reach in, and pull out the contents of the cow’s stomach. This allows the researcher to determine it the corn concoction that the animal is being fed is being digested, and how much. Wild.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend that you see King Corn.

Where I first heard about King Corn: I read a review of King Corn, Are We Really Made of Corn?, on Will Taft’s most excellent blog Healthy Living. Be sure to read Will’s post for additional perspectives on the movie King Corn.

For more information about corn: Check out this article I found, Origin, History and Uses of Corn by Lance Gibson and Garren Benson, Iowa State University, Department of Agronomy (2002).

Run, Fatboy, Run

The Trade Show Guru — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:47:54 +0000

Ok, I figure since I said I’d review Run Fatboy Run (2007) a few weeks ago as my first movie review, I’d better get it done before I write another post about trade show marketing or see any more movies. I saw Iron Man a few days ago, and during the first half of the movie I though I might write about it first. It had a great beginning, unlike most of the comic-book-to-movie releases that have disappointed me, but then it became “just ok” in the second half and thus won’t get my “Two Thumbs Up” rating. But anyway, back to Run Fatboy Run.

From the Netflix movie description summary:
“Five years ago, Dennis (Simon Pegg) left his pregnant fiancée, Libby (Thandie Newton), at the altar. Now, he realizes it was the worst mistake of his life. Run down and out of shape, Dennis begins training for a marathon, hoping to win Libby away from her sleazy new boyfriend (Hank Azaria). Will losing the pounds and catching his breath be enough to get her back? Dylan Moran co-stars in David Schwimmer’s feature directorial debut.”

Why I liked it:
1. I’d never heard of it (my wife put it in our Netflix queue), and had low expectations. I usually like movies better when I have a low expectation and they end up being good or even great, than when I have a high expectation and they end up being good or even great. They may still great in the later case, but I like to be surprised.
2. It’s a classic “feel good” movie, and I like to feel good.
3. It’s a British movie, and I like British accents.
4. They didn’t spend a fortunate making it, and I appreciate when movie makers are successful with good acting and a quality script instead of relying on a multi-million-dollar, blockbuster budget and lots of special effect (don’t get me wrong, I like special effects, but there needs to be more to the movie than just that).
5. Simon Pegg does an awesome job of playing the lovable loser, Dennis, who you end up rooting for. As an aside, he does a great job of playing a wheezing, out-of-shape character, which is important since he’ll have to run a marathon. He even has a pudgy beer belly. As an aside, perhaps he should have read RT Cunningham’s (the Master of the Philippines) post about his fat belly. Apparently Tim (the King Of The Rednecks at the Redneck Bar and Grill) did, and lost 40 pounds. True story! Anyway, back to the review…
6. The scene where he, his brother, and his landlord are petitioning a charity to sponsor him (the only way to get into the marathon) is simply HILLARIOUS. I laughed so hard I nearly started to cry. That scene alone is worth watching the movie.
7. Run Fatboy Run has a happy ending. I don’t watch movies to see depressing reality (did anyone ever see Silkwood?). I like a traditional Hollywood ending.

So there you go. If you want to see a feel good movie where you root for the lovable loser, who wins in the end, then see Run Fatboy Run.

So what’s my next movie review? Well, at some point I need to write about King Corn, unless I see another Two Thumbs Up movie in the meantime.

Netfix Rocks

The Trade Show Guru — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:10:53 +0000

While I’m no movie guru, or Siskel and Ebert, I decided I’d start a “movie” category to let you know when I see a movie that I think is worth seeing (which is probably 1 out of 3 or 4 movies that I see). When I see a movie that I think is worthy of “two thumbs up“, I’ll write a post about it here.
We don’t go to the theatres, so I won’t be writing about “new releases”. We only watch movies on DVD at home. I like watching DVDs at home – I never have anyone’s head in my way (though I’ve heard the relatively new stadium seating at our local theatres does a good job of solving that headache). All the movies I watch come via Netflix. I’ve gotta say that I’m a huge fan of Netflix. We’re on the “3 movies out a time” plan. I remember the old days of driving over to Blockbuster to get a movie. I’d spend 5-10 minutes looking for a parking place, then go inside a find that all of the “good” new releases were checked out. I’d select a movie from the limited selection left based on the “which of these will suck the least” principal. Once I paid for the movie, I knew the 48 hour clock started ticking to get it back without getting charged a late fee. My wife still gives me grief because I stopped at Blockbuster to return a movie while we were on the way to the hospital for her to delivery our first child. Hey, she made it in time, and I think it’s a great story. I used the outside drop box so it didn’t really take that long.
Anyway, we dumped our local Blockbuster as soon as we heard about Netflix, and haven’t looked back. Their website is awesome. You can get almost any movie. If you like an actor, you just type in their name and bam! you get a list of every movie they ever made. Gotta love technology. As I said above, we can have three movies out a time. They mail each DVD with a prepaid return envelope. It takes a day to get to us, and once we watch the movie and drop it back in the mail, it takes a day to get back to them, and then they send us another one. Because we have three out at a time, we are never without a movie. We could watch one every night, but there just aren’t that many good movies and we have other things to do - like hangout with friends, watch Lost, or do sudokus. We probably watch two movies or so a week.
I’ve got to tell you, ordering ANY movie I want online and then walking out to the mailbox to pick it up sure beats driving three miles to Blockbuster, fighting for parking, wondering what will be available, and then driving back to return it. In all fairness to Blockbuster, I know they now offer “movies by mail” too, but I sticking with the original – Netflix.
You know, I think Netflix is a good example of a company that knows about Marketing Basics and has their own Secret Sauce. Stay tuned for the first movie I’ll be reviewing, Run Fatboy Run.