Based on the novel by Nick Hornby, the film revolves around a record store owner played by John Cusack who tries to reevaluate his life in a quest to get his girlfriend back. Along the way we are treated to a slew of top five lists involving everything from best ways to start a Monday morning to best songs to play at a funeral.
The film features a phenomenal cast including a great performance by Tim Robbins, a lovely Lisa Bonet and of course, Jack Black (who steals the show with an amazing rendition of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On").
So to celebrate this week, I thought Fanboy would invite some of my Accent cronies on board to give you our Top Five Pop Culture Items to Have on a Desert Island:
Dave Wersinger, Accent Editor
1. "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
2. "Monty Python's Flying Circus," complete series
3. "Bride of Frankenstein," starring Boris Karloff
4. "Thunder Road," by Bruce Springsteen
5. "Tim," by the Replacements
Rick De Yampert, Entertainment Writer
1. "Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats"
2. "Revolver," the Beatles
3. "Wings of Desire," film by Wim Wenders
4. "The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays," Albert Camus
5. "Achtung Baby," U2
Fanboy
1. "The Princess Bride," film by Rob Reiner
2. "Lost" complete series
3. "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner," Ben Folds Five
4. "The Sopranos" complete series
5. "Shaun of the Dead," film by Edgar Wright
I'm a huge fan of the new NBC comedy "Community" and now I'm an even bigger fan of its creator, Dan Harmon.
Harmon shares a screenplay credit for the 2006 animated film "Monster House," a film which even I admitted was a bit creepy. Well it seems the film has creeped out more than a few children and one parent wrote to Harmon to let him know. Popular blogger Kelly Oxford sent this note to Harmon: "It's been three nights of her waking up crying and I totally blame you. You should come over and rationalize the entire thing to her."
And here is Harmon's priceless response:
"I will tell you a secret that sounds so silly, you might not believe it, but this is true: I never finished writing 'Monster House' before my bosses turned it into a movie. And then different writers, people I don't even know, changed the story in lots of ways, and the movie that you saw was not the story I wanted to tell you. Why, after they escaped the house, did that old man tell them another scary story about a mean fat lady that didn't make very much sense either? I'll tell you why. Because ('Monster House' director) Gil Kenan is a hack and (executive producer) Steven Spielberg is a moron. But hey, I shouldn't be dumping this stuff on you. I hope one day I can finish writing a movie that they don't change so much, and if you see it, I hope it makes you happy. Until then, I heard that 'WALL-E' is very good, you should go see that."
"Community," folks. Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.
Kudos this week to Ricky Martin who came out as a "fortunate homosexual man."
The 38-year-old musician said in a press release that "these years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn't even know existed."
Oh by the way, if you're a woman around 5 feet 8 inches tall and weigh 138 pounds with a slender to medium build, the Coen brothers need you as a photo double in their new film, "True Grit." If this is you, call Texas Casting at 512-637-6775.
One catch: you need to be missing your left arm.
