Life is a Highway: CARS review, NBA Finals, and MORE

All right ... what do we have on the table for today?

- Well, I feel like I accomplished something this week in that I got applications out in the nick of time for two writing contests that had their deadlines over the last few days. Early this week I submitted a newly-streamlined draft of IBA: The Movie to the Final Draft Big Break screenwriting contest, and just yesterday I sent out my application to ABC / Disney's Writing Fellowship Program. That one was quite a process to apply to. I submitted a spec script of The Simpsons, a resume, one page biography, and an application form that had to be notarized with an official seal. Luckily I found someone to help me out with that at NBC, for a while there I had no idea where to go to find a notary. But yeah, who knows what, if any, chance I have of success with these applications, but I'm just glad I got my materials in on time and am now in the running.

- Otherwise, work is slowing down as the week wraps up. Both of the guys I report to are in NYC until Monday for a conference, so I'm in a weird limbo phase where I am kind of holding down the fort with I-Tunes, but can't really give anyone definitive answers on things since I don't want to make decisions without first getting approval. I have people calling and emailing me from Bravo, SciFi, USA, and NBC, all curious about the status of their shows on I-Tunes. So it's a delicate balancing act.

NBA FINALS:

- So congrats to the Miami Heat on their first NBA championship. I have to say I'm pretty shocked that they won in 6 after being down 2-0 ... Dallas really fell apart in many ways and I think they have to get a lot more tough if they want to win a championship. Dirk Nowitzki is unquestionably a great player, but he just seems to disappear at the most inopportune moments. His fourth quarter in game 6 was just unbelievably nonexistent. The true greats own fourth quarters in big games, and we are starting to see D. Wade get to that level where he is just magic when it counts the most. But man, the Heat sure does have its share of annoying players. What's with Antoine Walker getting a cheap foul called against him, flopping, and then shimmying for the camera like he had just done something spectacular? And how about Gary Payton ... mouthing off to the refs to the point where he lost the ball to a steal at a crucial juncture of the game? Walker played pretty well in Game 6, but I have to think that the Heat, for the most part, got to the Finals in spite of and not because of the constant posturing, ill-advised shot-selection, and other "contributions" of Walker and Payton. One guy I am happy for on the other hand is Alonzo Mourning. While his "I-am-Warrior" attitude can be annoying, he has undeniably suffered through a lot, and he deserves to win a championship with the Heat - a team he carried in the playoffs for many years along with his running buddy Tim Hardaway. Man, I used to love that Zo-Hardaway-led Heat team - a squad that even pushed the Jordan-led Bulls to the brink a few times. I only wish T. Hardaway could have been a part of this championship run rather than coattail-riding Payton. As for Shaq and Wade ... these playoffs showed that Shaq is now firmly in the latter stages of his career, where he isn't always going to dominate like he used to. But he's paired with one of the top 5 guys in the league, Wade, so the combo works.

If nothing else, this Finals was a return to the fun, personality-driven matchups of years past. Unlike the endlessly bland series of Detroit vs. San Antonio, this Finals had all the bigtime matchups and built-in drama you could want. While only the last two games were classics, as a whole it was a lot of fun to watch, even if (aside from their odd yet cool use of Tom Petty music), I still find ABC's coverage kind of lacking. The commentary is passable, but the halftime shows are near unwatchable and the presentation leaves a lot to be desired.

Still, it's been a good NBA season, despite the league now being totally different from the on I grew up watching. It's funny though how there's like a whole lost generation of superstars - the guys who should have been leading the league into its next great era over the last few years, who for various reasons just fell by the wayside. Penny Hardaway was totally hobbled by injury, even though he was at one time one of the best in the league. Grant Hill's various ailments have all but ended his career as well. Alonzo Mourning was forced into a reduced role because of illness, Kevin Garnett is wallowing away on the Timberwolves, out of the spotlight, and other players like Jermaine O'Neal, Baron Davis, and others never really stepped up and took their games to the next level. So now it's as if we've skipped a generation, and it's the under-25 crowd that is dominating the league - exhibit A: Dwayne Wade - unofficial leader of the New NBA Generation.

CARS review:

I freaking love Pixar. I know, so does everyone else, but what can I say -- these guys are the Walt Disney Animation Studios of the 21st century, both figuratively and literally. They are churning out movies that are of such high quality that they are almost instant classics. I think the only thing that really limits the perception of their movies is that they come so frequently, unlike the old Disney movies that were years apart in release. But give Pixar credit - while Disney's animated classics mostly had the advantage of being adapted from already-classic stories, Pixar is going out there and coming up with NEW MATERIAL. Amazing, isn't it? In this day and age, where seemingly every high-concept movie is an adaptation of some kind, here is Pixar, creating all-new stories that nonetheless have nearly the power and timelessness of the old Disney classics.

Do I wish that the Disney animation studios were still going strong, producing a steady stream of hand-drawn, traditionally-animated movies? Hells yes - the fall of traditional 2-D animation, especially at Disney where the artform had truly been mastered, is one of the biggest tragedies of modern cinema. And there's no doubt about it - there is an absolute glut right now of computer-animated movies, most of which are crap. During the previews for Cars alone, I saw at least three or four previews for upcoming CGI releases (nearly all featuring talking animals), that had generic art styles, lame pop-culture refernces, and a grating need to be cool and hip, something that the classics were never concerned with.

But amidst that glut of CGI garbage, there is Pixar. Their quality of animation, of voice-acting, and above all story-telling is just amazingly and consistently good. While it can be argued which of their movies are better than others (Monsters, Inc. = underrated, The Incredibles = overrated), all of their movies have that special quality that elevates them above most.

And Cars is no exception.

To be honest, I was never all that excited about Cars. I'm not really a car afficionado, and I have zero interest in NASCAR or any kind of racing. And I'm generally resentful of American car culture and how we insist on these big, polluting vehicles that damage the environment and turn our country into a giant series of highways. But Cars instantly accomplished something that changed my tune. Like walking through the gates of Disneyland, Cars took everything that was fun, cool, nostalgic, and by-God American about cars and presented a whole world that was like some crazy 1950's-tinged themepark ride that could have come right out of the mind of Walt Disney himself. The retro-futuristic neon signs, the utopian visions of the ultra-sleek racetrack - this wasn't a reflection of the world we live in at all. No, Cars is a nostalgic look at a time when cars represented the Great American Ideals of progress, futurism, and good old-fashioned innovation. And suddenly, as I watched the movie, nearly every once of cynicism I had about the movie's premise, the automotive industry, or anything else vanished, and I felt like a little kid visiting Tommorowland. Damn, Pixar is good.

The voice cast of Cars is awesome. Owen Wilson is great as the fittingly named Lightning McQueen - he does his usual Owen Wilson cocky drawl but it fits the character to a T, and Lightning's gradual progression from self-centered racing star to compassionate hero is pretty seamless. Paul Newman - what can I say, he's a legend playing a legend, and he's basically perfect for the part of the old speedster who chose to finally slow down. All the other voices are excellent, even Larry the Cable Guy who provides both the comic relief and the heart and soul of the movie.

My one character complaint: It was a little bit wrong, in my mind, to have so many of the supporting characters be simple caricatures of cultural stereotypes. You had the hippie car, the Hispanic lowrider car, the sassy black woman car, and the over the top Italian car. I wish these supporting characters were a little bit more well-rounded, so to speak. But hey, if you're going to have Mexican and Hippie stock characters, you may as well go all out and get Cheech Marin and George Carlin to voice them. See, even when Pixar does somewhat lame, stock cultural stereotype characters, they do them better than the competition.

Otherwise, Cars was just magic, baby. The racing scenes were some of the most dynamically-directed action I've seen this summer. The visuals were brimming with detail and character. I mean, think about it - they got us as emotionally invested in TALKING CARS as if they were real people. That's no easy feat.

Thematically, I loved this movie's message. I've always been interested in the notion of small-town America, and some of my favorite stories (many by the great Ray Bradbury) deal with this same theme - the nostalgia for the idyllic, small-town America of yesteryear. Being here in the fast-moving world of Hollywood, I definitely felt some parellels with the plight of Lighting McQueen - the conflict between big city livin' and the simple life that lies in some quiet 'burg just off the beaten track. Cars just had this great sense of retro-nostalgia-futurism that brought out the little kid in me. I was legitimately sad when Lightning sees the town of Radiator Springs as it was in its 1950's heydey, and wishes he could have seen it in its prime. I think we, as a country, all feel that nostalgia for the golden age of post-war America, where the future seemed bright as sterling silver and idealism reigned supreme, before the realities and harsh toll of progress and modernity set in. And that's why the Car is so appropriate a metaphor for these characters -- the great symbol of innovation and invention, now a symbol of traffic jams and commutes to work and smog and greenhouse gasses and greedy oil companies. Cars is all about these contradictions, and amazingly is more thematically rich than most live action, "adult" movies I've seen.

Again, few complaints from me. The running time was a little long, and there were some sections that dragged a bit towards the middle of the movie. As I mentioned, some of the characters seemed a little two-dimensional (no pun intended).

But in the end, I came out of Cars thoroughly wowed and impressed -- Pixar had done it again. Cars made me think, it captivated me with its visual spectacle, and invested me in its characters. It had me dreaming of neon signs and small towns and big races - and that's what movies like this are all about, right?

My grade: A -

OTHER STUFF:

- The weekend approaches once again. The last few days have been quiet, but I stil lfell like I'm recovering from last weekend combined with the crazy Monday and Tuesday of this week, and the mild trauma of moving into new surroundings at work ... so I am more than ready to relax and recharge this weekend.

- I've had some requests to do an advice column on the blog. I think I probably need my own personal advice columnist and don't know if I'm qualified to be the one dispensing advice. So I don't forsee that happening any time soon.

- Superman's Return is imminent! I'm going to try to do at least one or two more Superman-related columns in the next week. Someone asked me today if Superman comics are even still being published. A fact for those not in the know - Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are the only three charactars that have been continually published in monthly comic format for more that 50 years!

- As for the movie itself though, I am getting a pretty good idea of what to expect, and I just feel kind of letdown at this point. I'm excited sure, but I just feel like they are going in the wrong direction with the franchise on so many levels. Pixar should be commissioned to do an animated Supes movie -- get Brad Bird and co. on that ASAP.

- Alright, it's time to call it a day, blog-writing-wise. As always leave your comments, share your opinions, and DON'T HATE THE PLAYA, HATE THE GAME. Indeed.