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    <title>Bee Movie's Recent Activity - Spout</title>
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      <title>Film:Bee Movie</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/films/Bee_Movie/261820/default.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<table width='100%' style='font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><tr><td><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' /></td>
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<strong>Title:</strong> Bee Movie<br/>
<strong>Year:</strong> 2007<br/>
<strong>Director:</strong> Simon J. Smith, Stephen Hickner<br/>
<strong>Plot:</strong> Barry B. Benson (voice of <a href="/players/P____64376/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jerry Seinfeld</a>) is your average honeybee. Despite having recently received his diploma from bee college and being virtually guaranteed a bright future in honey, Barry feels he has the skills to pursue a number of different career paths and resents the fact that his employment opportunities are strictly limited to producing the sweet nectar. Upon breaking away from the hive and developing a friendship with an insect-loving New York florist (voice of <a href="/players/P___201027/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Renée Zellweger</a>), Barry makes the shocking discovery that human beings eat honey in mass quantities. Having finally found his calling in life, the infuriated Barry decides to sue the human race for stealing all of the honey that his fellow bees work so hard to produce. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide<br/>
<strong>Times Tagged:</strong> 5<br/>
<strong>Number of Lists:</strong> 14<br/>
<strong>Number of blog posts:</strong> 11<br/>
<strong>SpoutRating:</strong> 2<br/>
</td></tr></table>]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 27 Dec 2008 03:59:08 GMT</pubDate><spout:Title>Bee Movie</spout:Title><spout:Year>2007</spout:Year><spout:Director>Simon J. Smith, Stephen Hickner</spout:Director><spout:Plot>Barry B. Benson (voice of &lt;a href="/players/P____64376/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Jerry Seinfeld&lt;/a&gt;) is your average honeybee. Despite having recently received his diploma from bee college and being virtually guaranteed a bright future in honey, Barry feels he has the skills to pursue a number of different career paths and resents the fact that his employment opportunities are strictly limited to producing the sweet nectar. Upon breaking away from the hive and developing a friendship with an insect-loving New York florist (voice of &lt;a href="/players/P___201027/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Renée Zellweger&lt;/a&gt;), Barry makes the shocking discovery that human beings eat honey in mass quantities. Having finally found his calling in life, the infuriated Barry decides to sue the human race for stealing all of the honey that his fellow bees work so hard to produce. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide</spout:Plot><spout:TimesTagged>5</spout:TimesTagged><spout:taglevel>Slightly Tagged (1-5)</spout:taglevel><spout:Numberoflists>14</spout:Numberoflists><spout:NumberOfBlogPosts>11</spout:NumberOfBlogPosts><spout:SpoutRating>2</spout:SpoutRating><spout:FilmCoverURL>http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg</spout:FilmCoverURL><spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL>http://www.spout.com/films/Bee_Movie/261820/default.aspx</spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL><spout:type>Film</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: 10 Suggestions for One-Word Pixar Pitches</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/6/25/31666.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 6/25/2008 1:01:30 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> 
Until last year’s brilliantly directed Ratatouille, all of Pixar’s animated features could be summed up with one word (toys, bugs, monsters, fish, superheroes, cars). Then the more complex plot synopsis of “rat functions as a culinary Cyrano in a French restaurant’s kitchen” came along and ruined the studio’s tradition of simplistic scenarios. Fortunately, this year Pixar is back on track with Wall-E, a movie that can be summed up as being about, in a word, robots.
But in their pipeline they’ve got a couple sequels (Cars 2, Toy Story 3) and a couple multi-word synopses (2009’s Up and 2011’s The Bear and the Bow are, at the least, each described with two words: old man and fairy tale, respectively. Only 2011’s Newt could have been pitched using a single word: newts.
So, while Pixar seems like it currently has enough on their hands, I’d like to suggest a few more single-word pitches for animated films in order to get things back to basics:

Birds - They’ve given us a movie featuring a variety of bugs and a movie featuring a variety of sea creatures, so the obvious next place to go is a movie featuring a variety of birds. And since Pixar has already made a short about birds (For the Birds), they already have a starting point to jump off from.
Animals - I guess it’s a pretty general word, but Pixar really needs to give us their answer to either (or both) Madagascar or (and) Kung Fu Panda. Maybe since DreamWorks has taken care of the African animals and the Asian animals, Pixar can go with the most interesting animal continent: Australia.
Penguins - Yes, they’re birds and they’re animals, but this pitch needs to be separate. Though we’ve already seen Sony’s Surf’s Up and Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet, this still needs to be done, just so Pixar can win an Oscar with it and make up for losing to Happy Feet last year.
Dinosaurs - Another one to make up, this time for Disney’s bomb from 2000, Dinosaur. Also, because every non-Pixar movie needs a Pixar equivalent (Antz vs. A Bugs Life; Shrek vs. Monsters, Inc.; Shark Tale vs. Finding Nemo; Robots vs. Wall-E; etc.) and we haven’t yet seen Pixar do a prehistoric pic in response to Fox’s Ice Age franchise.
Bees - If DreamWorks can do both Antz and Bee Movie, then Pixar needs another kind of bug movie, too, preferably one with flying insects. Preferably to make us forget Jerry Seinfeld’s obnoxious promotions, also.
Band - I think what Brad Bird did for superhero movies (it was both the best of its kind and the best spoof of its kind) should be done for rock bands. Plus, isn’t it about time Pixar made a real musical animated feature?
Fruit - Pixar’s answer to VeggieTales, or simply it’s contribution to the long tradition of animated talking foods, from the vegetable cart on Pinwheel to the singing burger in Better Off Dead.
Supermarket - If fruit is too specific, here’s a more general idea: anthropomorphic grocery items, from the produce aisle to the whatever is on the opposite side of the store aisle (in my local market it’s meats). This would be a great opportunity for more product suggestion (a la Apple Computers in Wall-E and Trix cereal in Presto), or even pure, blatant product placement.
Furniture - A little bit Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, a lot bit Brave Little Toaster. Basically, Pixar needs to give Luxo Jr. a feature already.
Disney - Since Pixar is owned by the Walt Disney Company, and since our old friends Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto haven’t had a good movie in a long, long time, I think it only makes sense that John Lasseter should produce a computer-animated movie featuring the classic Disney gang. Past attempts to make CG versions of the characters have been disappointing, but if anyone can make it work, Lasseter can.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:01:30 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>6/25/2008 1:01:30 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>
Until last year’s brilliantly directed Ratatouille, all of Pixar’s animated features could be summed up with one word (toys, bugs, monsters, fish, superheroes, cars). Then the more complex plot synopsis of “rat functions as a culinary Cyrano in a French restaurant’s kitchen” came along and ruined the studio’s tradition of simplistic scenarios. Fortunately, this year Pixar is back on track with Wall-E, a movie that can be summed up as being about, in a word, robots.
But in their pipeline they’ve got a couple sequels (Cars 2, Toy Story 3) and a couple multi-word synopses (2009’s Up and 2011’s The Bear and the Bow are, at the least, each described with two words: old man and fairy tale, respectively. Only 2011’s Newt could have been pitched using a single word: newts.
So, while Pixar seems like it currently has enough on their hands, I’d like to suggest a few more single-word pitches for animated films in order to get things back to basics:

Birds - They’ve given us a movie featuring a variety of bugs and a movie featuring a variety of sea creatures, so the obvious next place to go is a movie featuring a variety of birds. And since Pixar has already made a short about birds (For the Birds), they already have a starting point to jump off from.
Animals - I guess it’s a pretty general word, but Pixar really needs to give us their answer to either (or both) Madagascar or (and) Kung Fu Panda. Maybe since DreamWorks has taken care of the African animals and the Asian animals, Pixar can go with the most interesting animal continent: Australia.
Penguins - Yes, they’re birds and they’re animals, but this pitch needs to be separate. Though we’ve already seen Sony’s Surf’s Up and Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet, this still needs to be done, just so Pixar can win an Oscar with it and make up for losing to Happy Feet last year.
Dinosaurs - Another one to make up, this time for Disney’s bomb from 2000, Dinosaur. Also, because every non-Pixar movie needs a Pixar equivalent (Antz vs. A Bugs Life; Shrek vs. Monsters, Inc.; Shark Tale vs. Finding Nemo; Robots vs. Wall-E; etc.) and we haven’t yet seen Pixar do a prehistoric pic in response to Fox’s Ice Age franchise.
Bees - If DreamWorks can do both Antz and Bee Movie, then Pixar needs another kind of bug movie, too, preferably one with flying insects. Preferably to make us forget Jerry Seinfeld’s obnoxious promotions, also.
Band - I think what Brad Bird did for superhero movies (it was both the best of its kind and the best spoof of its kind) should be done for rock bands. Plus, isn’t it about time Pixar made a real musical animated feature?
Fruit - Pixar’s answer to VeggieTales, or simply it’s contribution to the long tradition of animated talking foods, from the vegetable cart on Pinwheel to the singing burger in Better Off Dead.
Supermarket - If fruit is too specific, here’s a more general idea: anthropomorphic grocery items, from the produce aisle to the whatever is on the opposite side of the store aisle (in my local market it’s meats). This would be a great opportunity for more product suggestion (a la Apple Computers in Wall-E and Trix cereal in Presto), or even pure, blatant product placement.
Furniture - A little bit Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, a lot bit Brave Little Toaster. Basically, Pixar needs to give Luxo Jr. a feature already.
Disney - Since Pixar is owned by the Walt Disney Company, and since our old friends Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto haven’t had a good movie in a long, long time, I think it only makes sense that John Lasseter should produce a computer-animated movie featuring the classic Disney gang. Past attempts to make CG versions of the characters have been disappointing, but if anyone can make it work, Lasseter can.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: 10 Movies That Overcame Bad Buzz</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/6/12/31175.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 6/12/2008 3:01:33 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> Two big movies arrive in theaters this week, The Incredible Hulk and The Happening, and each has had its share of bad buzz. From what I can tell, though, the former is recuperating quite nicely with mostly favorable early reviews. And it’s sure to gross in the hundreds of millions, just like its big brother, Ang Lee’s Hulk, did a few years back. The latter, however, is still struggling through the muck, with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan doing everything he can to assure us that his film is merely a B-movie and shouldn’t be the victim of high expectations.
If The Happening bombs, though, 20th Century Fox won’t be able to blame its bad buzz. Especially if The Incredible Hulk comes out a big winner this weekend. When a movie is good, or at least has some goods that audiences actually crave, it can overcome bad buzz. The list of films after the jump is evidence of this, although it’s possible that some of the older titles might have been less successful in the globally conscious age of blogs.

Titanic - James Cameron’s romantic disaster film arrived in the early days of mass internet usage, but it didn’t need high-speed gossip to spread word of its troubled production. Any reader of entertainment news learned of the drug-induced food poisoning, the crew illnesses and injuries that came with filming in cold waters and the other problems that put the shoot way over schedule and way over budget. Then there was the matter of its release date being pushed back from July, 1997, to December. Yet Titanic had the goods, and it went on to become the highest-grossing film of all-time and win 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Star Wars - If the first Star Wars film were made today, it would likely receive a lot of bad press on the web. The production was marred by a number of problems that have since been made public over the last 30 years, and apparently some initial screenings were met with disappointing reactions. But just because the bad buzz didn’t make its way to the masses doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Much of the film’s cast and crew talked about how the movie was silly and would be a failure. My father, who was one of many illustrators commissioned to design the poster, also thought it looked stupid. And theater owners and studio execs weren’t that excited about it, either — considering this was already the beginning of the age of wide-releasing blockbusters, Star Wars‘ 32-screen opening was pretty slim. Right from that opening week, though, the movie was a smash hit, and of course its success and popularity only grew and grew.
Batman - Considering how much disdain there is these days from internerds towards Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne/Batman, I can only imagine what kind of bad buzz Tim Burton’s movie would have gotten had the forums and blogs been around in 1989. However, at the time, there was indeed hatred for Keaton’s casting and the film in general. The Los Angeles Times printed a letter from a fan that read: “By casting a clown in the lead role, Warner Bros. and Tim Burton have defecated on the history of Batman.” Also, according to Peter Bart’s book “Boffo”, comic book geeks at Comic-Con booed representatives from the film, and the Wall Street Journal featured a front-page article criticizing the film’s extensive marketing.
Ghost Rider - Like the casting of Keaton as Batman, Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider seemed a ridiculous choice to many fans. And the movie got dragged through the mud seemingly every time it was mentioned on the web over the many years it took for the comic adaptation to be made and then released. The nail on the coffin seemed to be Sony’s decision to bump it from August 2006 to the dead-man’s month of February, in the following year. Yet despite all that, plus negative reviews, it became a surprise hit.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Remember how we all reacted when it was announced Disney would make a movie based on a theme park ride? Remember how we all loved it when it was finally released?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Another old film made before the scourge of the internet; another old film with bad buzz that seems to have remained hidden from the public at its time. Still, in “Boffo”, Bart claims that due to escalating costs and an overlong production (this was the first feature-length animated film from Disney and nobody knew how much or how long it would take) and the fact that studio execs didn’t believe audiences would go for such a long cartoon, “Hollywood tagged the production ‘Disney’s Folly.’”
Waterworld - This one was plagued by so much bad buzz that most people still think it bombed at the box office. And if you only look at the domestic numbers, it did. But this was around the time when Hollywood started realizing how much more money could be made from international b.o. and sell-through home video distribution (VHS was still big and the DVD breakthrough was around the corner), both of which overcompensated for lack of sufficient domestic gross.
Cleopatra - Another film that has a sort of unfair reputation for being a box office failure. Sure, it nearly bankrupted Twentieth Century Fox, which indeed lost millions on the production. And sure, the scandalous affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton brought the film a lot of negative publicity around the world. But it was the top-grossing film of 1963 and was nominated for 9 Oscars, including Best Picture. So, despite the bad buzz, tons of people went to see it, but there was no possible way for the thing to make any money.
Bee Movie - Everyone seemed to want this to fail, mostly because Jerry Seinfeld’s longtime marketing of the film was more obnoxious than anything experienced prior. And perhaps also because it was fun to refer to a bee having bad buzzzzzz. Yet children don’t follow buzz and so the movie did great business in the long term, even despite its inability to top the box office chart its opening weekend.
The Da Vinci Code - It wasn’t the first movie to garner negative publicity from religious groups, but it may have been the biggest production to be threatened by protest and criticism from as high up as the Vatican. Likewise, it probably wasn’t the first movie to be laughed at and booed during its Cannes premiere. But news of that reaction circled the globe/net very quickly. However, despite whatever protests there were and despite the near-universal panning of the film by critics, it was a huge success.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:01:33 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>6/12/2008 3:01:33 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>Two big movies arrive in theaters this week, The Incredible Hulk and The Happening, and each has had its share of bad buzz. From what I can tell, though, the former is recuperating quite nicely with mostly favorable early reviews. And it’s sure to gross in the hundreds of millions, just like its big brother, Ang Lee’s Hulk, did a few years back. The latter, however, is still struggling through the muck, with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan doing everything he can to assure us that his film is merely a B-movie and shouldn’t be the victim of high expectations.
If The Happening bombs, though, 20th Century Fox won’t be able to blame its bad buzz. Especially if The Incredible Hulk comes out a big winner this weekend. When a movie is good, or at least has some goods that audiences actually crave, it can overcome bad buzz. The list of films after the jump is evidence of this, although it’s possible that some of the older titles might have been less successful in the globally conscious age of blogs.

Titanic - James Cameron’s romantic disaster film arrived in the early days of mass internet usage, but it didn’t need high-speed gossip to spread word of its troubled production. Any reader of entertainment news learned of the drug-induced food poisoning, the crew illnesses and injuries that came with filming in cold waters and the other problems that put the shoot way over schedule and way over budget. Then there was the matter of its release date being pushed back from July, 1997, to December. Yet Titanic had the goods, and it went on to become the highest-grossing film of all-time and win 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Star Wars - If the first Star Wars film were made today, it would likely receive a lot of bad press on the web. The production was marred by a number of problems that have since been made public over the last 30 years, and apparently some initial screenings were met with disappointing reactions. But just because the bad buzz didn’t make its way to the masses doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Much of the film’s cast and crew talked about how the movie was silly and would be a failure. My father, who was one of many illustrators commissioned to design the poster, also thought it looked stupid. And theater owners and studio execs weren’t that excited about it, either — considering this was already the beginning of the age of wide-releasing blockbusters, Star Wars‘ 32-screen opening was pretty slim. Right from that opening week, though, the movie was a smash hit, and of course its success and popularity only grew and grew.
Batman - Considering how much disdain there is these days from internerds towards Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne/Batman, I can only imagine what kind of bad buzz Tim Burton’s movie would have gotten had the forums and blogs been around in 1989. However, at the time, there was indeed hatred for Keaton’s casting and the film in general. The Los Angeles Times printed a letter from a fan that read: “By casting a clown in the lead role, Warner Bros. and Tim Burton have defecated on the history of Batman.” Also, according to Peter Bart’s book “Boffo”, comic book geeks at Comic-Con booed representatives from the film, and the Wall Street Journal featured a front-page article criticizing the film’s extensive marketing.
Ghost Rider - Like the casting of Keaton as Batman, Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider seemed a ridiculous choice to many fans. And the movie got dragged through the mud seemingly every time it was mentioned on the web over the many years it took for the comic adaptation to be made and then released. The nail on the coffin seemed to be Sony’s decision to bump it from August 2006 to the dead-man’s month of February, in the following year. Yet despite all that, plus negative reviews, it became a surprise hit.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Remember how we all reacted when it was announced Disney would make a movie based on a theme park ride? Remember how we all loved it when it was finally released?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Another old film made before the scourge of the internet; another old film with bad buzz that seems to have remained hidden from the public at its time. Still, in “Boffo”, Bart claims that due to escalating costs and an overlong production (this was the first feature-length animated film from Disney and nobody knew how much or how long it would take) and the fact that studio execs didn’t believe audiences would go for such a long cartoon, “Hollywood tagged the production ‘Disney’s Folly.’”
Waterworld - This one was plagued by so much bad buzz that most people still think it bombed at the box office. And if you only look at the domestic numbers, it did. But this was around the time when Hollywood started realizing how much more money could be made from international b.o. and sell-through home video distribution (VHS was still big and the DVD breakthrough was around the corner), both of which overcompensated for lack of sufficient domestic gross.
Cleopatra - Another film that has a sort of unfair reputation for being a box office failure. Sure, it nearly bankrupted Twentieth Century Fox, which indeed lost millions on the production. And sure, the scandalous affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton brought the film a lot of negative publicity around the world. But it was the top-grossing film of 1963 and was nominated for 9 Oscars, including Best Picture. So, despite the bad buzz, tons of people went to see it, but there was no possible way for the thing to make any money.
Bee Movie - Everyone seemed to want this to fail, mostly because Jerry Seinfeld’s longtime marketing of the film was more obnoxious than anything experienced prior. And perhaps also because it was fun to refer to a bee having bad buzzzzzz. Yet children don’t follow buzz and so the movie did great business in the long term, even despite its inability to top the box office chart its opening weekend.
The Da Vinci Code - It wasn’t the first movie to garner negative publicity from religious groups, but it may have been the biggest production to be threatened by protest and criticism from as high up as the Vatican. Likewise, it probably wasn’t the first movie to be laughed at and booed during its Cannes premiere. But news of that reaction circled the globe/net very quickly. However, despite whatever protests there were and despite the near-universal panning of the film by critics, it was a huge success.
 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Bee Movie</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/mully/archive/2008/3/3/25825.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/5306/default.aspx'>Mully</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/mully/default.aspx'>Mully Blog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 3/3/2008 4:32:43 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> Cute and well animated, with a very mediocre story but fortunately also a lot of witty dialogue that will have Seinfeld fans wet themselves. And most importantly : not reliant on the pop-culture referencing humor that made me resent Shark Tale and the Shrek movies. Overall a very enjoyable animated flick.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:32:43 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>Mully</spout:postby><spout:postto>Mully Blog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>3/3/2008 4:32:43 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>Cute and well animated, with a very mediocre story but fortunately also a lot of witty dialogue that will have Seinfeld fans wet themselves. And most importantly : not reliant on the pop-culture referencing humor that made me resent Shark Tale and the Shrek movies. Overall a very enjoyable animated flick.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Review: Bee Movie</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/mswallack/archive/2008/1/10/23730.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/114760/default.aspx'>MSWallack</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/mswallack/default.aspx'>MSWallack Blog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 1/10/2008 1:57:47 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> While Bee Movie had some entertaining and funny moments, it was just too uneven to be really enjoyable.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:57:47 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>MSWallack</spout:postby><spout:postto>MSWallack Blog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>1/10/2008 1:57:47 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>While Bee Movie had some entertaining and funny moments, it was just too uneven to be really enjoyable.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: The 10 Best Films of 2007</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/the1theonlyjp/archive/2008/1/1/23392.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/18862/default.aspx'>The1TheOnlyJP</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/the1theonlyjp/default.aspx'>The Paxton Log</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 1/1/2008 5:35:28 AM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> Hello, my name is JP Paxton and I love movies.  What began in mid 2004 has since became my uncontrollable obsession that can now be considered nothing less than an incurable sickness.  Seriously, I probably think of a movie or something movie-related once every ten seconds.  Because of this, I am propelled to constantly see, write &amp; talk about movies.  Those of you who are my friends or at least know of me already know this.  For the ones that don&#39;t, now you know.  Here it is New Year&#39;s Eve which means that yet another year has passed.  Of course though that also means I&#39;m here to let you all know what films I consider the best of 2007.  This year certainly had its share of disappointments including but not limited to &#39;Bee Movie&#39;, &#39;Underdog&#39; &amp; &#39;Mr. Magorium&#39;s Wonder Emporium.&#39;  I still can&#39;t recall what made me even think &#39;Underdog&#39; might have possibly had a shot at being even half-decent.  With the bad though there&#39;s always some good.  For example &#39;Once&#39;; the independent musical starring actual musical artists as the films two leads instead of actors resulting in real on-screen emotion.  Also this year featured the thrilling crime-drama &#39;Zodiac&#39; depicting the merciless murderers that started in the 60&#39;s by the infamous serial killer of the same name.  Then there was the film that would inevitably become my favorite of 2007: &#39;Grindhouse.&#39;  The throwback to the gritty, low-budget exploitation double features of the 70&#39;s caused confusion among audiences nationwide due to marketing that didn&#39;t quite reveal its true nature.  For those of that did understand it though we were able to appreciate it&#39;s kick-ass style and utter awesomeness.  However, not one of the films I just mentioned are included in the list that follows and neither are &#39;Michael Clayton&#39;, &#39;Away From Her&#39;, &#39;Before the Devil Knows You&#39;re Dead&#39; or &#39;Gone Baby Gone.&#39;  They all had some great qualities but just fell short in the end. With that, here they are in all their glory in no particular order, the ten films deemed by yours truly as the best of 2007.&#39;La Vie en Rose&#39;The passionate and troubled life of Paris singer Edith Piaf features one of if not the most captivating performances of the year.  Written with her in mind by director Olivier Dahan, Marion Cotillard is flawless.  I imagine she&#39;ll be a shoe-in for a nomination of best actress at this years Oscars.&#39;Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street&#39;Tim Burton and Johnny Depp&#39;s sixth collaboration together is a &quot;bloody&quot; good Gothic feast for the eyes.  It&#39;s true, it is repetitious of Burton&#39;s previous works in terms of  style but it&#39;s also a smooth and elegant telling of the macabre brought to life by its great music.&#39;Juno&#39;This was actually the final film I saw this year and how glad I am that ended up getting the chance to do so.  It is an immensely funny, clever &amp; sweet comedy starring the fantastic Ellen Page.  Its greatest strength resides in the smart screenplay written by Diablo Codybest known for memoir titled &quot;Candy Girl: A Year in The Life of an Unlikely Stripper.&quot;&#39;The Kite Runner&#39;One of three book adaptations featured in this best of list &#39;The Kite Runner&#39; brings to the big screen Khaled Hossenini&#39;s gripping novel of friendship and betrayal.  While many will argue the exact opposite, I found it to be an amazing story that will touch your heart.&#39;Ratatouille&#39;Take one ambitious rat named Remy, an array of astounding visuals that could only be created by Pixar studios and then mix them with the delightful storytelling and directing skills of Brad Bird.  Let it simmer for a few years and what do you get?  A delicious film that reinforces the fact that even after all these years magic has yet to leave the imaginative Walt Disney Pictures.&#39;Sicko&#39;Oh, how patriotic Michael Moore is.  He returned this year with his documentary voicing the horrors of the healthcare system in America.  The surprisingly interesting and entertaining two hours and three minutes and will make you cringe and leave you in complete awe.&#39;Atonement&#39;The opening film at this year&#39;s Venice Film Festival and adaptation of Ian McEwan&#39;s novel brought to the table a wondrous tale of longing which featured magnificent cinematography and an equally lovely score composed by Dario Marianelli.  It&#39;s such a shame it&#39;s not playing in more theaters here in the U.S.&#39;Superbad&#39;Written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg when they were just thirteen years old &#39;Superbad&#39; turned out to be super good.  The Judd Apatow produced comedy is hands down one the years funniest films that offers a truthful glimpse of teenage anxiety and has a groovy soundtrack to boot including cuts from composer Lyle Workman as well as tracks from The Bar-Kays and Rick James.&#39;I&#39;m Not There&#39;The bio-pic formed and executed in a way that resembled one of its subjects own songs &#39;I&#39;m Not There&#39; gave an interesting look at the life of Bob Dylan.  While it wasn&#39;t quite what I had envisioned beforehand it still is probably the best put together and creative film of 2007.&#39;No Country for Old Men&#39;The most compelling film of the year is brought to us by The Coen brothers.  It gives us a front row seat to the violent game of cat and mouse portrayed by Josh Brolin and a extraordinarily crafty Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh from the bestseller by Cormac McCarthy.  There is no doubt in my mind a best picture nomination in store for this flick.So there you have it.  You may agree or disagree with my choices, it doesn&#39;t really matter to me.  Just be aware that if you don&#39;t agree with me you are wrong.  DEAD WRONG.  Right now I&#39;m typing this as my face sports a disturbingly angry expression...  Seriously though, I wish you all a safe and happy new year.  Thanks for reading.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 01 Jan 2008 10:35:28 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>The1TheOnlyJP</spout:postby><spout:postto>The Paxton Log</spout:postto><spout:postdate>1/1/2008 5:35:28 AM</spout:postdate><spout:body>Hello, my name is JP Paxton and I love movies.  What began in mid 2004 has since became my uncontrollable obsession that can now be considered nothing less than an incurable sickness.  Seriously, I probably think of a movie or something movie-related once every ten seconds.  Because of this, I am propelled to constantly see, write &amp;amp; talk about movies.  Those of you who are my friends or at least know of me already know this.  For the ones that don&amp;#39;t, now you know.  Here it is New Year&amp;#39;s Eve which means that yet another year has passed.  Of course though that also means I&amp;#39;m here to let you all know what films I consider the best of 2007.  This year certainly had its share of disappointments including but not limited to &amp;#39;Bee Movie&amp;#39;, &amp;#39;Underdog&amp;#39; &amp;amp; &amp;#39;Mr. Magorium&amp;#39;s Wonder Emporium.&amp;#39;  I still can&amp;#39;t recall what made me even think &amp;#39;Underdog&amp;#39; might have possibly had a shot at being even half-decent.  With the bad though there&amp;#39;s always some good.  For example &amp;#39;Once&amp;#39;; the independent musical starring actual musical artists as the films two leads instead of actors resulting in real on-screen emotion.  Also this year featured the thrilling crime-drama &amp;#39;Zodiac&amp;#39; depicting the merciless murderers that started in the 60&amp;#39;s by the infamous serial killer of the same name.  Then there was the film that would inevitably become my favorite of 2007: &amp;#39;Grindhouse.&amp;#39;  The throwback to the gritty, low-budget exploitation double features of the 70&amp;#39;s caused confusion among audiences nationwide due to marketing that didn&amp;#39;t quite reveal its true nature.  For those of that did understand it though we were able to appreciate it&amp;#39;s kick-ass style and utter awesomeness.  However, not one of the films I just mentioned are included in the list that follows and neither are &amp;#39;Michael Clayton&amp;#39;, &amp;#39;Away From Her&amp;#39;, &amp;#39;Before the Devil Knows You&amp;#39;re Dead&amp;#39; or &amp;#39;Gone Baby Gone.&amp;#39;  They all had some great qualities but just fell short in the end. With that, here they are in all their glory in no particular order, the ten films deemed by yours truly as the best of 2007.&amp;#39;La Vie en Rose&amp;#39;The passionate and troubled life of Paris singer Edith Piaf features one of if not the most captivating performances of the year.  Written with her in mind by director Olivier Dahan, Marion Cotillard is flawless.  I imagine she&amp;#39;ll be a shoe-in for a nomination of best actress at this years Oscars.&amp;#39;Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street&amp;#39;Tim Burton and Johnny Depp&amp;#39;s sixth collaboration together is a &amp;quot;bloody&amp;quot; good Gothic feast for the eyes.  It&amp;#39;s true, it is repetitious of Burton&amp;#39;s previous works in terms of  style but it&amp;#39;s also a smooth and elegant telling of the macabre brought to life by its great music.&amp;#39;Juno&amp;#39;This was actually the final film I saw this year and how glad I am that ended up getting the chance to do so.  It is an immensely funny, clever &amp;amp; sweet comedy starring the fantastic Ellen Page.  Its greatest strength resides in the smart screenplay written by Diablo Codybest known for memoir titled &amp;quot;Candy Girl: A Year in The Life of an Unlikely Stripper.&amp;quot;&amp;#39;The Kite Runner&amp;#39;One of three book adaptations featured in this best of list &amp;#39;The Kite Runner&amp;#39; brings to the big screen Khaled Hossenini&amp;#39;s gripping novel of friendship and betrayal.  While many will argue the exact opposite, I found it to be an amazing story that will touch your heart.&amp;#39;Ratatouille&amp;#39;Take one ambitious rat named Remy, an array of astounding visuals that could only be created by Pixar studios and then mix them with the delightful storytelling and directing skills of Brad Bird.  Let it simmer for a few years and what do you get?  A delicious film that reinforces the fact that even after all these years magic has yet to leave the imaginative Walt Disney Pictures.&amp;#39;Sicko&amp;#39;Oh, how patriotic Michael Moore is.  He returned this year with his documentary voicing the horrors of the healthcare system in America.  The surprisingly interesting and entertaining two hours and three minutes and will make you cringe and leave you in complete awe.&amp;#39;Atonement&amp;#39;The opening film at this year&amp;#39;s Venice Film Festival and adaptation of Ian McEwan&amp;#39;s novel brought to the table a wondrous tale of longing which featured magnificent cinematography and an equally lovely score composed by Dario Marianelli.  It&amp;#39;s such a shame it&amp;#39;s not playing in more theaters here in the U.S.&amp;#39;Superbad&amp;#39;Written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg when they were just thirteen years old &amp;#39;Superbad&amp;#39; turned out to be super good.  The Judd Apatow produced comedy is hands down one the years funniest films that offers a truthful glimpse of teenage anxiety and has a groovy soundtrack to boot including cuts from composer Lyle Workman as well as tracks from The Bar-Kays and Rick James.&amp;#39;I&amp;#39;m Not There&amp;#39;The bio-pic formed and executed in a way that resembled one of its subjects own songs &amp;#39;I&amp;#39;m Not There&amp;#39; gave an interesting look at the life of Bob Dylan.  While it wasn&amp;#39;t quite what I had envisioned beforehand it still is probably the best put together and creative film of 2007.&amp;#39;No Country for Old Men&amp;#39;The most compelling film of the year is brought to us by The Coen brothers.  It gives us a front row seat to the violent game of cat and mouse portrayed by Josh Brolin and a extraordinarily crafty Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh from the bestseller by Cormac McCarthy.  There is no doubt in my mind a best picture nomination in store for this flick.So there you have it.  You may agree or disagree with my choices, it doesn&amp;#39;t really matter to me.  Just be aware that if you don&amp;#39;t agree with me you are wrong.  DEAD WRONG.  Right now I&amp;#39;m typing this as my face sports a disturbingly angry expression...  Seriously though, I wish you all a safe and happy new year.  Thanks for reading.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Bee for Real...  Well.. Kind of...</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/kickstandsup/archive/2007/12/14/22849.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/109669/default.aspx'>kickstandsup</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/kickstandsup/default.aspx'>kickstandsup Blog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 12/14/2007 11:07:18 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> This was Jerry Seinfeld&#39;s cartoon feature about a little bee and how he discovers himself and where he fits into the hive.First 20 to 30 minutes I was taken with this movie. Very cute, graphics were captivating and story line was good. There were some very good bee references, some very subtle, which were great. The flying scenes were actually very good, especially over the city. Great detail.I don&#39;t know why, but about half way through this movie I started getting ancy and ready for it to wrap up. Did not like the human characters husband/boyfriend and the comments he made at the end were really strange.There were some very good scenes... The court ones were great! The airplane flight and the sitting on the top of the building - all good. Decent movie. I know this will sound cheesy, but I give it a B.  Ok... Maybe even a C....  Excellent casting, except for the boyfriend character...<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:07:18 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>kickstandsup</spout:postby><spout:postto>kickstandsup Blog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>12/14/2007 11:07:18 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>This was Jerry Seinfeld&amp;#39;s cartoon feature about a little bee and how he discovers himself and where he fits into the hive.First 20 to 30 minutes I was taken with this movie. Very cute, graphics were captivating and story line was good. There were some very good bee references, some very subtle, which were great. The flying scenes were actually very good, especially over the city. Great detail.I don&amp;#39;t know why, but about half way through this movie I started getting ancy and ready for it to wrap up. Did not like the human characters husband/boyfriend and the comments he made at the end were really strange.There were some very good scenes... The court ones were great! The airplane flight and the sitting on the top of the building - all good. Decent movie. I know this will sound cheesy, but I give it a B.  Ok... Maybe even a C....  Excellent casting, except for the boyfriend character...</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Insect Film</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/immabohemian/archive/2007/12/9/22661.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/101508/default.aspx'>immaBOHEMIAN</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/immabohemian/default.aspx'>immaBOHEMIAN Blog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 12/9/2007 5:44:22 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> Ugh. Can I please state the the obvious thought that pops into my head before I go into a cordial review. I really didn&#39;t like this movie, at all. The animation was impressive, but what in the world. The story was so bizarre and made literally no sense and the end felt like some public service announcement and about how important bees are to our ecosystem. Which is fine and everything, but blah. I think it may also have to do with the fact that I&#39;ve never been a huge fan of Seinfeld. I know everyone loves the show but I&#39;ve just never found Jerry funny. I don&#39;t know, maybe if you like Seinfeld you&#39;ll have better luck when you view this movie. I went in honor of my nephew and nieces so I took one for the team. Hopefully you&#39;ll enjoy it a little more than I have.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 09 Dec 2007 22:44:22 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>immaBOHEMIAN</spout:postby><spout:postto>immaBOHEMIAN Blog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>12/9/2007 5:44:22 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>Ugh. Can I please state the the obvious thought that pops into my head before I go into a cordial review. I really didn&amp;#39;t like this movie, at all. The animation was impressive, but what in the world. The story was so bizarre and made literally no sense and the end felt like some public service announcement and about how important bees are to our ecosystem. Which is fine and everything, but blah. I think it may also have to do with the fact that I&amp;#39;ve never been a huge fan of Seinfeld. I know everyone loves the show but I&amp;#39;ve just never found Jerry funny. I don&amp;#39;t know, maybe if you like Seinfeld you&amp;#39;ll have better luck when you view this movie. I went in honor of my nephew and nieces so I took one for the team. Hopefully you&amp;#39;ll enjoy it a little more than I have.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Bee Movie Nearly Put Me To Zzzz</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/erico_77375/archive/2007/11/30/22390.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/58384/default.aspx'>erico_77375</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/erico_77375/default.aspx'>erico_77375 Blog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 11/30/2007 1:16:07 AM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> I don&rsquo;t know exactly what to think of Bee Movie, but then again, I don&rsquo;t think the movie knows either. Written by Jerry Seinfeld, animated by Dreamworks, the movie seems to have serious potential, but only minutes into the film, the flaws become clear.This is the story of Barry B. Benson, who is a bee if you can&rsquo;t tell by now and is voiced by Mr. Seinfeld. He&rsquo;s just graduated Bee College and is about to be placed in his permanent job in the hive where he will stay forever. But Barry, like Benjamin Braddock before him, isn&rsquo;t so sure that plastics&hellip;sorry, honey is in his future. But one day he takes up a dare laid down by a &ldquo;pollen jock&rdquo; and decides to leave the hive. His little day trip takes a detour when a tennis ball, a rainstorm and a leather boot puts him in the house of a young florist (Rene Zellweger). By the way, bees can really talk, but they don&rsquo;t around humans. They spark a friendship that sometimes feels eerily like a relationship. But then Barry finds out that humans are selling honey. Outraged, he decides to sue to put a kibosh on this operation and decides to sue on behalf of all bees. Throughout the entire feature, I found myself asking whom is this movie really trying to entertain? I knew it couldn&rsquo;t be the kids when one little girl around five said what everyone else felt during the movie: &ldquo;No Fun!!!&rdquo; The problem with the story is that most of the jokes are in witticisms targeted more towards adults that there&rsquo;s very little that kids will like. Yes, it&rsquo;s pretty though a distant cousin to Ratatouille. I do appreciate some of the movie, such as a mosquito voiced by Chris Rock. I enjoyed how they made the link between bees and the environment that is told with urgency but without making any political statements. But that doesn&rsquo;t excuse the meandering, the lack of true sophistication and well-conceived characters. Dreamworks Animation has been on a rapid decline since the second Shrek film and this year has already given us the lackluster Shrek the Third. Why do they think they need to have so much pop-culture in their films? Why won&rsquo;t they give up the ghost and try something different? I remember their first animated film with admiration, Antz. That was really the much-better retelling of what Bee Movie is going for. Not only does Bee Movie sport a dull story, but the animation is so incredibly lame that it makes me wonder how on earth did it cost $150 to make? All in all, this movie is going to have families flocking to it no matter how much I tell them not to. Some kids will like it because it&rsquo;s animated and won&rsquo;t realize until too late that there&rsquo;s better stuff out there. Although a little girl did encourage me to hope, and I wonder if I just heard the next great critic.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:16:07 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>erico_77375</spout:postby><spout:postto>erico_77375 Blog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>11/30/2007 1:16:07 AM</spout:postdate><spout:body>I don&amp;rsquo;t know exactly what to think of Bee Movie, but then again, I don&amp;rsquo;t think the movie knows either. Written by Jerry Seinfeld, animated by Dreamworks, the movie seems to have serious potential, but only minutes into the film, the flaws become clear.This is the story of Barry B. Benson, who is a bee if you can&amp;rsquo;t tell by now and is voiced by Mr. Seinfeld. He&amp;rsquo;s just graduated Bee College and is about to be placed in his permanent job in the hive where he will stay forever. But Barry, like Benjamin Braddock before him, isn&amp;rsquo;t so sure that plastics&amp;hellip;sorry, honey is in his future. But one day he takes up a dare laid down by a &amp;ldquo;pollen jock&amp;rdquo; and decides to leave the hive. His little day trip takes a detour when a tennis ball, a rainstorm and a leather boot puts him in the house of a young florist (Rene Zellweger). By the way, bees can really talk, but they don&amp;rsquo;t around humans. They spark a friendship that sometimes feels eerily like a relationship. But then Barry finds out that humans are selling honey. Outraged, he decides to sue to put a kibosh on this operation and decides to sue on behalf of all bees. Throughout the entire feature, I found myself asking whom is this movie really trying to entertain? I knew it couldn&amp;rsquo;t be the kids when one little girl around five said what everyone else felt during the movie: &amp;ldquo;No Fun!!!&amp;rdquo; The problem with the story is that most of the jokes are in witticisms targeted more towards adults that there&amp;rsquo;s very little that kids will like. Yes, it&amp;rsquo;s pretty though a distant cousin to Ratatouille. I do appreciate some of the movie, such as a mosquito voiced by Chris Rock. I enjoyed how they made the link between bees and the environment that is told with urgency but without making any political statements. But that doesn&amp;rsquo;t excuse the meandering, the lack of true sophistication and well-conceived characters. Dreamworks Animation has been on a rapid decline since the second Shrek film and this year has already given us the lackluster Shrek the Third. Why do they think they need to have so much pop-culture in their films? Why won&amp;rsquo;t they give up the ghost and try something different? I remember their first animated film with admiration, Antz. That was really the much-better retelling of what Bee Movie is going for. Not only does Bee Movie sport a dull story, but the animation is so incredibly lame that it makes me wonder how on earth did it cost $150 to make? All in all, this movie is going to have families flocking to it no matter how much I tell them not to. Some kids will like it because it&amp;rsquo;s animated and won&amp;rsquo;t realize until too late that there&amp;rsquo;s better stuff out there. Although a little girl did encourage me to hope, and I wonder if I just heard the next great critic.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Bee the Holdout</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/slipofthetongue/archive/2007/11/3/21388.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/4317/default.aspx'>slipofthetongue</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/slipofthetongue/default.aspx'>SlipOfTheTongue Blog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 11/3/2007 1:19:45 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> I haven&#39;t seen THE BEE MOVIE but I have felt the not so subtle pressure from the media to be excited about it.  Where and when did this start?  Who at E.T. or The Today Show decided that we should be amped up about this movie and not others?  When did it become a foregone conclusion that we will rush to see a movie even before we know if it&#39;s any good?  Just think about it?  Why are you excited (if you are)?  How many other great movies have you let slip away because the concepts seemed strange or different?  What great movie going experiences have you left on the table because you instead longed for a Bee fix?  It begs the question, are you capable of thinking for yourself? Part of this I think is an offshoot of the breezy arrogance that Jerry Seinfeld has always been so good at.  I would argue though that what made him so funny in his series was all the little reactions he had to people around him who were far more interesting.  He needed the nut jobs around him in order to be the bemused &quot;normal&quot; guy in response, in order to cite his observational bon mots.  Without an interesting cast of characters he really is just an average to good comedian.  Nothing special.  Somehow Seinfeld is good at conning the world into thinking that he is better looking than he actually is, smarter and funnier than he actually is.  I think this makes him a great businessman but does it make him a genius that we all have to bow to?  I say let the movie speak for itsself.  If it ain&#39;t great then let&#39;s just all take a step back and ask ourselves what else is playing at the movies this month.  Don&#39;t be a robot.  Do a little homework and look for something better.Food for thought. <br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:19:45 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>slipofthetongue</spout:postby><spout:postto>SlipOfTheTongue Blog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>11/3/2007 1:19:45 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>I haven&amp;#39;t seen THE BEE MOVIE but I have felt the not so subtle pressure from the media to be excited about it.  Where and when did this start?  Who at E.T. or The Today Show decided that we should be amped up about this movie and not others?  When did it become a foregone conclusion that we will rush to see a movie even before we know if it&amp;#39;s any good?  Just think about it?  Why are you excited (if you are)?  How many other great movies have you let slip away because the concepts seemed strange or different?  What great movie going experiences have you left on the table because you instead longed for a Bee fix?  It begs the question, are you capable of thinking for yourself? Part of this I think is an offshoot of the breezy arrogance that Jerry Seinfeld has always been so good at.  I would argue though that what made him so funny in his series was all the little reactions he had to people around him who were far more interesting.  He needed the nut jobs around him in order to be the bemused &amp;quot;normal&amp;quot; guy in response, in order to cite his observational bon mots.  Without an interesting cast of characters he really is just an average to good comedian.  Nothing special.  Somehow Seinfeld is good at conning the world into thinking that he is better looking than he actually is, smarter and funnier than he actually is.  I think this makes him a great businessman but does it make him a genius that we all have to bow to?  I say let the movie speak for itsself.  If it ain&amp;#39;t great then let&amp;#39;s just all take a step back and ask ourselves what else is playing at the movies this month.  Don&amp;#39;t be a robot.  Do a little homework and look for something better.Food for thought. </spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Bee Movie - That's right</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/laraemeadows/archive/2007/11/2/21374.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s261820.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/13831/default.aspx'>laraemeadows</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/laraemeadows/default.aspx'>laraemeadows Blog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 11/2/2007 1:14:34 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> Bee Movie is about a rambling bee that tries to make a difference and bucks convention.  While this movie is full of adorable bees, cute jokes and fun one-liners; the moral of the story is perplexing and depressing.  Barry B. Benson Bee (Jerry Seinfeld) faces the prospect of having to choose the life he will have for his entire life and decides to go out and see the world before deciding what his lifelong job will be.  His friend, Adam Flyman (Matthew Broderick) does his best to convince Barry not to leave the safety of the hive, but Barry won&rsquo;t be swayed.  He joins the pollen collectors and heads out into the clear blue sky.  He meets Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger), a human woman who saves him from death by boot.  It is with her on a trip to grocery store that he realizes the enslavement and theft of honey by humans.  Disturbed by his findings Barry decides to launch a lawsuit to protect all bee interests.  His lawsuit has unexpected consequences and he is forced to revisit his stance.  The performances in Bee Movie are nothing to write home about, with two exceptions:  Matthew Broderick and John Goodman.  Broderick is twitchy brilliance as Flyman.  His scenes are fun and charming with a side of giggles.  Goodman takes the cake though.  He plays the lawyer for big honey.  He makes the lawyer so dirty, so strange, so fantastic.  It&rsquo;s hard to throw an animated character into insane silliness but he could entertain an 80 year old with this performance.  Seinfeld and Zellweger were humdrum and uninspired.  Jerry Seinfeld plays Jerry Seinfeld but with an underlying buzz in Bee Movie.  If you are like TV guide and think he is the best thing since bread was leavened, you&rsquo;ll love him in Bee Movie.  If you&rsquo;re like me, a person of taste and sophistication and one of the sane people of the world, you&rsquo;ll find his performance a little shallow and a little uneven.  Renee Zellweger isn&rsquo;t any better.  In Bee Movie, Bloome never really blossoms into a full character with a personality of her own.  Zellweger&rsquo;s voice isn&rsquo;t even particularly recognizable.  If you were to describe Vanessa Bloome you would find it difficult because she has no real definable traits.  This is half Zellweger and half eyebrow furling writing.    Children&rsquo;s movies insightful to society because they act as a magnifying glass into the values deemed important by a group of people.  They are supposed to convey the most important ideas in the simplest way possible.  So when I saw Bee Movie, I was stunned by the unbelievable moral of Bee Movie.  Barry makes a mistake which nearly causes the end of the world.   His mistake is what we might praise Abraham Lincoln for when we revisit the moral triumph of the world.  (Excuse the vague references but I don&rsquo;t want to spoil the movie.)  I left wondering if the moral of the story is to be what your parents want you to be or don&rsquo;t try to change anything because you might end the world.    The world in Bee Movie isn&rsquo;t anything phenomenal either.  There are no scenes where I thought the animation was great, nor are there any that made me want to burn the film.  The animation can best be described as fine.  Bee Movie does have a lot of chuckles and even a few hearty laughs.  The children in the theater didn&rsquo;t act up at all and were completely mesmerized by the story at all times.   I was disappointed that the moral of the story was odd enough that I left the movie uncomfortable with the subtext, because otherwise the movie is fun.<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 02 Nov 2007 17:14:34 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>laraemeadows</spout:postby><spout:postto>laraemeadows Blog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>11/2/2007 1:14:34 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>Bee Movie is about a rambling bee that tries to make a difference and bucks convention.  While this movie is full of adorable bees, cute jokes and fun one-liners; the moral of the story is perplexing and depressing.  Barry B. Benson Bee (Jerry Seinfeld) faces the prospect of having to choose the life he will have for his entire life and decides to go out and see the world before deciding what his lifelong job will be.  His friend, Adam Flyman (Matthew Broderick) does his best to convince Barry not to leave the safety of the hive, but Barry won&amp;rsquo;t be swayed.  He joins the pollen collectors and heads out into the clear blue sky.  He meets Vanessa Bloome (Renee Zellweger), a human woman who saves him from death by boot.  It is with her on a trip to grocery store that he realizes the enslavement and theft of honey by humans.  Disturbed by his findings Barry decides to launch a lawsuit to protect all bee interests.  His lawsuit has unexpected consequences and he is forced to revisit his stance.  The performances in Bee Movie are nothing to write home about, with two exceptions:  Matthew Broderick and John Goodman.  Broderick is twitchy brilliance as Flyman.  His scenes are fun and charming with a side of giggles.  Goodman takes the cake though.  He plays the lawyer for big honey.  He makes the lawyer so dirty, so strange, so fantastic.  It&amp;rsquo;s hard to throw an animated character into insane silliness but he could entertain an 80 year old with this performance.  Seinfeld and Zellweger were humdrum and uninspired.  Jerry Seinfeld plays Jerry Seinfeld but with an underlying buzz in Bee Movie.  If you are like TV guide and think he is the best thing since bread was leavened, you&amp;rsquo;ll love him in Bee Movie.  If you&amp;rsquo;re like me, a person of taste and sophistication and one of the sane people of the world, you&amp;rsquo;ll find his performance a little shallow and a little uneven.  Renee Zellweger isn&amp;rsquo;t any better.  In Bee Movie, Bloome never really blossoms into a full character with a personality of her own.  Zellweger&amp;rsquo;s voice isn&amp;rsquo;t even particularly recognizable.  If you were to describe Vanessa Bloome you would find it difficult because she has no real definable traits.  This is half Zellweger and half eyebrow furling writing.    Children&amp;rsquo;s movies insightful to society because they act as a magnifying glass into the values deemed important by a group of people.  They are supposed to convey the most important ideas in the simplest way possible.  So when I saw Bee Movie, I was stunned by the unbelievable moral of Bee Movie.  Barry makes a mistake which nearly causes the end of the world.   His mistake is what we might praise Abraham Lincoln for when we revisit the moral triumph of the world.  (Excuse the vague references but I don&amp;rsquo;t want to spoil the movie.)  I left wondering if the moral of the story is to be what your parents want you to be or don&amp;rsquo;t try to change anything because you might end the world.    The world in Bee Movie isn&amp;rsquo;t anything phenomenal either.  There are no scenes where I thought the animation was great, nor are there any that made me want to burn the film.  The animation can best be described as fine.  Bee Movie does have a lot of chuckles and even a few hearty laughs.  The children in the theater didn&amp;rsquo;t act up at all and were completely mesmerized by the story at all times.   I was disappointed that the moral of the story was odd enough that I left the movie uncomfortable with the subtext, because otherwise the movie is fun.</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:movie</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/movie/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/movie/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>movie</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 363</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 114</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 187</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:09:46 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>363</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>114</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>187</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:animated</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/animated/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/animated/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>animated</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 83</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 40</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 101</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:30:41 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>83</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>40</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>101</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:lawyer</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/lawyer/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/lawyer/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>lawyer</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 1764</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 35</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 82</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:55:09 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>1764</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>35</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>82</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:city</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/city/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/city/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>city</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 891</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 19</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 38</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:19:09 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>891</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>19</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>38</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:human</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/human/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/human/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>human</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 130</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 12</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 19</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:31:49 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>130</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>12</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>19</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:bees</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/bees/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/bees/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>bees</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 28</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 10</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 10</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:28:29 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>28</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>10</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>10</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:farmer</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/farmer/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/farmer/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>farmer</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 185</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 8</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 11</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:02:37 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>185</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>8</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>11</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:lawsuit</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/lawsuit/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/lawsuit/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>lawsuit</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 124</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 7</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 7</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2009 13:12:46 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>124</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>7</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>7</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:honey</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/honey/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/honey/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>honey</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 3</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 4</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 4</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:09:56 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>3</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>4</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>4</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:bee</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/bee/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/bee/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>bee</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 2</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 2</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 2</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 07:33:25 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>2</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>2</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>2</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:jerry-seinfeld</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/jerry-seinfeld/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/jerry-seinfeld/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>jerry-seinfeld</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:09:56 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>1</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>1</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:beehive</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/beehive/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/beehive/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>beehive</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 5</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 0</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 0</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:01:53 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>5</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>0</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>0</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:beekeeping</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/beekeeping/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/beekeeping/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>beekeeping</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 15</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 0</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 0</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:22 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>15</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>0</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>0</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
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