Holiday Scoreboard!

We haven't done a Scoreboard posting in a while, so lets do that before we review "The Fighter" and "Locked In" later this week.

We've recently decided to add a "Boston Documentary" category. If they seem to score higher than their fictional counterparts... just remember, we have a lot of PBS fans around here.

Here are the latest rankings. As always, we grade on a curve:

BOSTON MADE MOVIES

A..... The Departed

A..... Jaws

A-.... A Civil Action

A-.... The Friends of Eddie Coyle

A-.... Gone Baby Gone

A-.... Good Will Hunting

A-.... Shutter Island

B+.... Black Irish

B+.... Mystic River

B+.... School Ties

B...... Blown Away

B...... The Boondock Saints

B...... Edge of Darkness

B...... Love Story

B...... Monument Ave

B...... The Thomas Crown Affair

B-..... 21

B-..... The Invention of Lying

B-.... The Proposal

C+.... Surrogates

C...... The Bostonians

C...... The Maiden Heist

C...... Paul Blart: Mall Cop

C-..... Alex & Emma

C-..... The Box

C-..... Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past

C-..... What's The Worst That Could Happen

D+.... Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

D+.... My Best Friend's Girl

D...... What Doesn't Kill You

D-..... Bride Wars

D-..... Furry Vengeance

D-..... The Women

F....... The Pink Panther 2

"DEFINITELY NOT MADE IN BOSTON" BOSTON MOVIES

(you cheap bastards!)

B-.... Daisy Kenyon

B-.... Practical Magic

D-.... Knowing

BOSTON DOCUMENTARIES

A-.... Standard Operating Procedure

B...... High On Crack Street

B...... Overnight

(click the links on the sidebar for our reviews of each film)

The Golden Globes and The State of Massachusett

The Golden Globe nominees were announced yesterday, and several Boston movies had a strong showing. They include multiple nominees for "The Fighter", "The Social Network", and "The Town".

If the Golden Globes serve as major clues to whom might receive Oscars, this is a very good sign. In fact, Boston movies might actually win more Academy Awards than Razzie Awards this season.

So things are looking up for film in New England, right? Wrong. With the threat to the film tax credit back in March, and the recent ousting of Nick Paleologos from the Mass Film Office, we had a terrible year. Other than some small, small budget indie flicks, there was 1 major movie shot here in 2010. That's it. Just 1. It was a rom-com starring Anna Farris... probably not awards material.

The Boston Globe did a nice job recapping the trouble with our state government and the film office in this article. The Boston P.A., and all the other out-of-work crew members are glad that the Globe took this stance. We need to bring the film jobs back to Massachusetts.

Movie Review: High On Crack Street (1995)

In anticipation of tomorrow's release of "The Fighter", it's as good a time as ever to discuss crackheads in Lowell.

In "The Fighter", you'll see Christian Bale playing former boxer Dicky Eklund -- who not-so-coincidentally is the real life star of the HBO documentary, "High On Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell." Dumb movie title, yes. Dumb movie? Absolutely not.

This documentary takes us into the actual crack houses. I watched it with a friend from Lowell, who kept commenting, "I know that street. I know that corner." Oh, nostalgia. The film follows Dicky and two other crack addicts as they try to break the habit. It's compelling, and heartbreaking, and probably way more effective than D.A.R.E.

Filmmakers Maryann DeLeo and Richard Farrall called on the talents of Emerson College professors and interns to film this footage. Image the permission slip on that field trip!

"I, _____, release Emerson College from all liability in the event that I get murdered in a crack den during the filming of this production. In perpetuity, in all medium, worldwide."

"High On Crack Street" is pretty interesting, if you can get your hands on a copy.

Final Score = B

Vegas, Baby, Blah!

Okay, we get it, enough.

"21" tells the story of MIT students counting cards and taking Vegas for millions. It also shows-not-tells that Boston sucks compared to Vegas. Las Vegas is Oz; we're Kansas. There, you get to be anyone, anything. You're throwing money around, wearing designer suits, and banging hot chicks. Here, you're stuck miserably walking alone through "wintery mix".

Or so the juxtaposition of shots in "21" would have you believe.

On behalf of the great city of Boston, I would like to say:

1) Coming home from Vegas sucks, no matter where you live, and,

2) Living in residential Vegas sucks most of all.

Alright, location tirade, over.

Meanwhile, "21" is an okay movie. The underdog hero falls in with a powerful crowd, gets corrupted, redeems himself, etc. It's based on a true story, and the book, "Bringing Down The House." We like Jim Sturgess as the lead, despite his weird accent. There are also some new characters that weren't in the book, namely a blond love interest. Overall, everybody's fine in the acting department. The soundtrack was a little underwhelming. What I really liked, though, were the clothes.

Considering the amount of trouble other Vegas movies delve into, this one stays pretty PG.

Final Score = B-

Creepy PAs

Having just rewatched "Boogie Nights", we would like to award Philip Seymour Hoffman some sort of prize. His portrayal of Scotty J is one of the creepiest PAs we have ever seen.

And we have seen some creepy PAs.

A Civil Action (1998)

"A Civil Action" is Boston's version of "Erin Brokovich". Based-on-a-true-story, a lawyer fights against big company polluters on behalf of working class people, and their leukemia-stricken children. This Boston lawyer has the Brokovich tenacity, but unfortunately is a greedy jerk. Oh well, it's still a good movie.

Every rising middle aged star from the 1990's makes an appearance in this film: post-"Fargo" William H. Macy, pre-"Sopranos" James Gandolfini, post-"Misery" Kathy Bates, pre-"Monk" Tony Shalhoub... the list goes on. John Travolta, post-"Pulp Fiction" miraculous comeback, stars as the arrogant but not quite competent lawyer who bankrupts his firm.

The real star, however, is Woburn. Dirty, dirty Woburn. The drinking water smells like a Disney park ride, and sometimes the river catches on fire, but you can't beat the location! Characters keep describing it as a quaint New England town. They clearly didn't see the strip malls. At least they pronounce the name correctly.

This movie is interesting, well-made, and true to life... which does make it a bit of a downer. Still, it's got a heart and a subtle sense of humor. If only they'd left out the line about Roger Clemens.

Final Score = A-

The Top 5 Things We Learned About College... from Boston Movies

We've been rewatching some movies in our recently abundant spare time (cough-unemployment-cough), and thought it worth mentioning Boston's second most cliche movie setting: College.

Boston has a shitload of institutes of higher learning. If Boston movie characters aren't cruising around Southie in a beat up car, then they're probably attending college classes somewhere. If it's a Matt Damon character, then he's cruising through Southie on the way to class.

THE TOP 5 THINGS WE LEARNED ABOUT COLLEGE... FROM BOSTON MOVIES

5) Nothing says Boston movie like a Harvard sweatshirt.

Boston has 17 colleges, but you'd never know it. All movie students commute across the river to Cambridge, a completely separate city, to attend Harvard. Or maybe MIT. They most certainly do not go to BU, Northeastern, BC, Emerson, or Suffolk.**

**The rare exceptions that we could think of are Matt Damon's character in "The Departed" (Suffolk), and the ex-girlfriend from the Facebook movie (BU). Still, it's sorta implied that they would've gone to Harvard if they could get in.

4) Professors are perverts.

Alec Baldwin's sleazy professor in "My Best Friend's Girl". Stellan Skarsgard's creepy math professor in "Good Will Hunting". Victor Garber's sexually harassing law professor in "Legally Blonde". Who said there was no easy A at Harvard? Just see the professor after class....

3) Janitors and homeless people are smarter than the students.

This might actually be true. While we're specifically referencing "Good Will Hunting" and "With Honors", there's also a real life example of this: BU once invited the late Mr. Butch, the homeless King of Allston, to give a lecture. Now that would have been a great movie scene!

2) We only have tiered lecture halls in Boston.

That way, when the professor makes a joke, smarmy laughter ripples uphill. The class always seats 200+ people. We don't know how to build a classroom any other way.

A little fun fact, by the way: If you're watching a Harvard movie, it probably was not filmed at Harvard. Ever since the crew of "Love Story" damaged property, the University hasn't let a film crew in their buildings.

Instead, we often shoot at BU or Suffolk, regardless of what the script says. No wonder all movie classes look the same.

Degenerates.

Ruined it for everyone.

1) These schools are incredibly easy to get into...

Especially if you're poor. There must be a "Compellingly Lower Class" box on the Harvard applications. Dead parent(s) and a chip on your shoulder? Make sure to include that when you apply!

Because nothing says "underdog" like going to Harvard.