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Advice & Analysis: Reviews

November 14, 2006

The Movie House: The Battle Has Begun...

by Ronald Banks

There's a war going on right under your noses, and you don't even realize it. No, this is not a conspiracy theory about the Iraq war. And no, the East Coast-West Coast rap thing hasn't started back up again. I'm not talking about the cola wars either. On this very site, there's a skirmish of unparalleled proportions taking shape.

I'm referring to the Fantasy Moguls "Celebrity League," a collection of some of the biggest names online. Here's the roster:

1) Team Sterger -- Captained by Jenn Sterger from www.jennsterger.com. If you don't know who she is, Google "FSU" and "Cowgirl." You do the math.

2) Team Fantasy -- Captained by Will Carroll from ESPN's own "The Fantasy Show." Okay, so he's not technically just an online personality. But I could make a very weak case for the majority of fantasy sports being done online, and that’s all that counts.

3) Team Deadspin -- Captained by Will Leitch of www.deadspin.com, a sports news site.

4) Team Ain't It Cool -- Need I say more? This is the team sponsored by Ain't It Cool News, the biggest entertainment/fanboy gossip site on the web.

5) Team Onion -- Captained by Nathan Rabin from The Onion. You can find them online at -- what else? -- www.theonion.com. I have a feeling you know what The Onion is.

6) Team Yahoo -- Captained by Brandon Funston of Yahoo! News. Try reading that sentence in your head without yodeling the word "yahoo".

7) Team Fug -- Captained by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of www.gofugyourself.com fame. I'm sure Heather has some input on their strategy, but I have it on good authority that Jessica made their picks herself.

8) Team Moguls -- Captained by Fantasy Moguls's own Howard Roark. If this team doesn’t win, consider Howard Roark unemployed.

Look at that all-star talent. This thing is massive, nay, epic. So I'm going to try to put it in perspective for you guys in terms of the biggest epic there is. Yes, I'm going to use "Lord of the Rings" references to talk about the Celebrity League.

Let's first focus our attention on Team Sterger's lineup. When I look it over, I see movies like Saw III, Hostel 2 and The Fountain. Yet the other half of her line-up are Happily N’Ever After, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj and Deck the Halls, indicating a slight hint of whimsy. I'm gonna say that Team Sterger is most like Orlando Bloom's character, Legolas, the elf warrior. If you think about it, the elves are A) beautiful, B) dangerous, and C) imbued with a sense of whimsy. I think Jen's picks are suited to all three, and if you've seen her pictures, you know that she herself has got the looks thing down. (And yes, I'm calling Orlando Bloom “beautiful." I'm a sucker for blonde, flowing locks.)

So what do I see in Jenn's future? Well, just like we were all surprised at how Legolas could bring down one of those elephant things in "Return of the King," Jenn has a good chance of pulling off a suprise here as well. Saw III was a bigger hit than the two previous films, and she does have two holiday comedies that could carry her the rest of the way. Of course, Hostel 2 doesn't even have a firm release date yet. That could be her one way ticket back to Rivendell.

Poking his head out of Fangorn Forest is Will Carroll of Team Fantasy. What leaps out at me first and foremost is the fact that he's got Let's Go To Prison, Alpha Dog and Borat -- all guys films. But he’s also got uber-date films The Holiday, Pursuit of Happyness and Catch and Release as well. So both guys and girls would be pleased with his gameplan. Sounds a lot like Aragorn to me. With Borat already raking in the dough, this king could be sitting pretty on the throne if Pursuit of Happyness performs up to the Will Smith standard.

Third on our list is Will Leitch's Team Deadspin. This one's tough. A Night at the Museum is certainly going to be a crowd pleaser, but the rest of the list is a bit scattershot. I mean, I'm sure Team Deadspin had the best of intentions when they drafted For Your Consideration, but in terms of box office numbers, I don't know how big that film is going to be. Maybe it'll be good for some Review or PTA points, since our celebrities are, of course, playing Ultimate Moguls. I guess that's the thinking behind Fast Food Nation and The Good German, though Blood Diamond does have the newly sizzlin' (thanks to The Departed) Leonardo DiCaprio on board to goose its grosses. As for Leitch's last pick Mr. Woodcock, well, maybe this will be Seann William Scott's finest hour. Frankly, this team's starting to look a lot like that crazy monarch guy from Return of the King –- you know, the one who couldn't get over Borimir's death? The one who wanted to burn his other son Farimir alive? That's right, I see this team leaping off a cliff in flames. Let's move on.

Team Ain't It Cool. This one's tough because I already used my "Aragorn" reference and, to be honest, I don't remember a lot of the other characters' names. But looking at this lineup –- Casino Royale, Rocky Balboa, Apocalypto and The Children of Men, I gotta wonder just who the heck was picking against them. Out of all the movies eligible for the holiday season, Casino Royale looks to post the biggest grosses, making almost any other combination of movies on your list moot. But I know MGM has high hopes for Rocky Balboa, and the curiosity factor alone is enough to get people in theaters for Apocalypto and Children of Men. When you add in Tenacious D and Black Christmas -- a film so simple and oddly compelling I may just see it 52 million times -- I'd have to say this is the team to beat. This team's standing guard at the foot of Mount Doom, looking out over everyone else and scoffing. I can't think of a better analogy than to say this team is that big flaming eye thing. Look out for this one.

This brings us to the Team Onion line-up. Much like with Team Sterger, this lineup has a mixture of the funny (Santa Clause 3, Happy Feet) and the brawny (Russell Crowe's A Good Year and Zodiac). Think of this team as Gimli, the tough but loveable dwarf. (Of course, now that Zodiac is out of the game, Gimli's got a hole in his armor.) None of these movies on this list -- the remaining two are The Nativity Story and Home of the Brave -- have blockbuster written all over them. But who knows, it could be a bunch of little movies that overtake the big ones.

The Team Yahoo line-up has the films Arthur and the Invisibles, Charlotte’s Web, Eragon and Unaccompanied Minors -- all films that appeal mostly to kids. Too bad there weren't any Ewoks in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy; my life would be that much easier right now. But they do also have Bobby and We Are Marshall -- a pair of movies that are much more serious. Okay, so think of these guys as Treebeard, the walking, talking tree that kids loved but who had a very serious side to him. And like Treebeard, I see this team taking its sweet time before they get around to becoming a major factor in this league.

As for the lovely ladies of Team Fug, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan have quite the schizophrenic collection of movies. The serious Babel, the whimsical Dreamgirls, the dreamlike Volver, the horror films The Return and Night of the Living Dead 3-D, and pretentious weep-a-thon The Good Shepherd. Combine this with the fact that Go Fug Yourself.com is obsessed with pretty, shiny baubles, and I have to compare these girls to none other than Gollum. (I'll just have to hope that nobody bites my finger off, Frodo-style after reading this.)

Finally, Team Moguls. Howard Roark has selected Flushed Away, Déjà Vu and Stranger than Fiction -- three high-profile movies that might get the job done if complemented by a good supporting group of films. But then I look at the other three and see ... Perfume, Ms. Potter and Freedom Writers? Looks like someone's counting pretty heavily on piling up those PTA and review points. Much like when Frodo Baggins agreed to take the ring on the trek across Middle Earth, Howard's looking at pretty impossible mission. Of course, in the end (spoiler alert!), Frodo did get the job done. The question is, will Howard’s team become the next Frodo, or simply tag along for the ride like a lazy hobbit?

Only time will tell the outcome of this epic clash of the titans. Oddly enough, I didn't even think of using references from that movie. Maybe I should start over.

Ronald Banks has, over the course of 2 weekends, has watched all the Lord of the Rings films as well as the Star Wars films. And he’s still married. Feel free to discuss this with him by writing to Ronald@fantasymoguls.com.

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Posted at 08:12 PM in Advice and Analysis, Ronald Banks, The Movie House | Permalink

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