Promotion to Sith Lord!

While a fan of Star Wars, I am by no means an expert, and so, whether Darth Vader was a sith lord (should it be Sith Lord? is it a title like the President?) or not, I do not know. I am sure someone will correct me if he was not. I could probably look it up online, since I am currently staring at the screen, but I needed something for a catchy title and so accuracy sometimes needs to be left by the wayside for artistic interpretation. Consider this interpreted!

First, let me get to what inspired today’s ramblings – the movie “The Promotion”. A while back I had seen a trailer for the movie and was left unimpressed and with no desire to see it. Then I discovered an article on firstshowing.net titled “The 19 Best Movies That You Didn’t See in 2008″. Going over the list, I had seen and enjoyed six of them already – Charlie Bartlett, Choke, Hamlet 2, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Son of Rambow and The Wackness – and so it was evident that the author and I have similar taste in movies. To my surprise, The Promotion was on the list, having written it off already myself. I was intrigued and had to see why it made the list… and, oh boy, I was glad I did!

The Promotion isn’t the greatest film or comedy ever made, but it is thoroughly enjoyable. I usually do not like movies starring Seann William Scott due to the fact that he is usually obnoxious and over-the-top. Not the case here though. He is very likable and understated, just like the movie. There is no setup and punchline jokes, just great dry humor that makes you smile the entire time – especially the subtle accent of the Quebecker. I have been trying to figure out a couple of movies that I could relate the style to, and so far the only thing I can come up with is Office Space. Yup, I think it is good enough to be on the same level as Office Space – high praise indeed.

Having truly enjoyed this find, I decided I needed to revisit the list and check out some of the other movies. I have now added The Escapist and Let the Right One In to my future viewing list. Let the Right One In appears to be a hidden gem and is getting rave reviews all over the place – some saying it should be up for best picture and not just in the foreign category (it is a subtitled Swedish film). I am eager to check it out, but will need to be in a “reading subtitles” mood. I think I am going to add Man on Wire to the list as well, as a good documentary is needed once in a while. I also stumbled across the movie “Brick” in my research for great films and it is on the future viewing list. I will let you know how that turns out.

And now to the lighter side of the dark side. I have heard a few mentions of the movie Fanboys but never saw a trailer for it, until today! The trailer made me laugh, and I get the feeling that it isn’t one of those trailers that shows only the funniest parts and leaves nothing for the movie. I don’t think you are going to need to be a “fanboy” to enjoy this movie, but I do think you will need a little Star Wars knowledge to truly enjoy it. Anyways, my rambling should cease now as it is lunchtime, and so just enjoy the trailer…

Tags: fanboys, Movies, star wars, The Promotion