This weekend I had a mini marathon of new-ish movies:
Fantastic Mr. Fox I think Wes Anderson needs to just be made the Roald Dahl movie-maker. He just gets it - the sense of humor and the detail. The voice actors were really good too, especially Eric Anderson as Kristofferson and Wallace Wolladarsky as Kylie. And, in this blasted new world of CGI, it's really nice to see directors and moviemakers who are taking the time to still create stop-motion movies.
Sherlock Holmes Total Guy Ritchie eye candy the whole way through. Very entertaining.
Whip it! I went into this with very low expectations but seeing Ellen Page in her first non-annoying role was kind of nice. And have I mentioned how much I love Kristen Wiig? I do. This ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be. Alex and I have been wanting to go back to Austin (and not during the clusterf--- that is SXSW so that he can actually spend time with his friends) and if we do I definitely want to check out a roller derby. It's got a pretty good message re: girl power etc etc but not irritatingly so. Plus the soundtrack is awesome and Drew Barrymore gets jacked a lot. Oh and Juliette Lewis is still awesome.
Bruno Sascha Baron Cohen is certified bananas. That's all.
Inglourious Basterds I've had this movie for a while but kept putting off watching it for whatever reason. I don't know why - it ended up being a great watch. Tarantino's got a formula but it's one that works. The costumes were amazing and so was the acting. Definitely a re-watcher.
On Saturday we stayed in and watched Stepbrothers, with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. Needless to say, it was super ridiculous and over the top. A few moments where I laughed out loud but ultimately a big fat waste of time. Which is why we watched it in the first place.
On Sunday we watched District 9, which I liked a lot. A lot of underlying issues with apartheid and segregation. Very funny and thoughtful.
Last night and this morning I watched Charlyne Yi's Paper Heart, which is a documentary about her traveling all over the US interviewing people about what love is. She has a pretty cynical outlook on it. In the midst of all this is a fictional storyline in which she meets boy-meets-dork Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Juno, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist) and a budding relationship develops. The interviews are what make the movie, illustrated by animated sequences created and filmed by Yi.
I also tried to watch Jarmusch's The Limits of Control but will have to re-visit it another time, perhaps when I can view it without distractions. As all of his films should be watched.
Alex and I were walking home one day. I think it was a couple of Sundays ago on our way back from Williamsburg. A drunk couple on the street was stumbling towards us on our street and the guy yells out "HEY!! What is the song that plays during the closing credits of The Breakfast Club??" I stopped to let it play in my head for a bit. "COME ON YOU KNOW IT!!!" I shouted the answer back to them and they took off running and singing it.
The problem with getting movies from Netflix is that you never get to watch exactly what you want, when you want it. I've had Reprise for the past month or so and only got around to watching it today. It's a bit of a downer movie with a hopeful ending. Everyone can relate to competition amongst friends, even your closest. And everyone can relate to growing apart from them, mental case or not. Acting was pretty excellent and I liked the hypothetical situations. A bit confusing at first but that is what writers do, don't they? They imagine.
What I really wanted to write about though was Espen Klouman-Høiner, who played one of the lead roles Erik. Hottie to the max!
Visually stunning but also a bit staged and contrived. Not the way I would've done a tribute to Arbus but it was beautiful to watch nonetheless. I'd suggest watching this once, and then keeping it to watch with the sound off. I think old G n R ballads would work well (Patience, November Rain, Sweet Child O Mine, etc.). I'm not sure why but that's what pops into my head when I see these images.
Shainberg uses classical Hollywood film technique in his shot composition, which is fitting for the 1950s timeframe of the movie. This I liked very much.
The score itself is beautiful as well, as are the costumes.
Robert Downey Jr steals the show - it's a far, remote cry from Weird Science.
Do you know what that means? "Heartwarming" in tagalog.
I just watched CJ7, Stephen Chow's newest (?) film. The auteur behind Shaolin Soccer and God of Cookery, Chow always infuses a zany, comedic vein into his films. So his doing a children's film wasn't a far stretch. The basic storyline is about Dicky and his father, a construction worker. Dicky's father wants him to have the education he never could, so in order to send him to a posh private school, he works double time and starves himself. Most of Dicky's things are salvaged from the dump, including CJ7, a lost alien who helps Dicky achieve his heart's desires. Or does he?
The best part about this film is that a lot of the boy characters are actually played by girls. The part of Dicky is played by Jiao Xu, and it was her film debut. Very solid acting throughout the film - highly recommended!
Blacklisted during the McCarthy era, director Jules Dassin was forced to make this movie in France on a tiny budget of $8000 using little-known/past-prime actors as well as himself to star in it.
A pre-cursor to movies like Ocean's Eleven (the 1960 Rat Pack version, ahem), this is about the perfect heist. Highly recommended especially if you get the Criterion edition which has an interview with Dassin in 2000 where he speaks of the Red Scare in America during the 50s.
Classic film noir plot with a bittersweet ending. The actual heist scene takes up about 1/4 of the movie and is performed without dialog or score. It is hard to watch because you feel as though you are right there with them. (I'd also like to note that Carl Mohner as Jo wears the classic Spring Court plimsolls in this scene, which I love very much)
Rififi is being remade with Al Pacino playing the role of Le Stephanois, due out next year. Please don't mess it up.
Both based on books by authors I read in high school. Blake Nelson wrote Girl, which takes place in Seattle and follows main character Andrea in her adventures as the groupie of an underground band. I must've read it about 20 times in high school, always wondering how he managed to get inside the head of a teenage girl without sounding contrived. In Paranoid Park he continues the theme of high school but with a sadder outlook. In a first time pairing, Gus Van Sant (GVS) and Christopher Doyle (most famous for his work with Wong Kar Wai) provide a minimal glimpse into the mind of high schooler who inadvertently commits a murder. With Elliot Smith providing most of the soundtrack, the entire mood of the movie was somber and alienating.
Coincidentally I happened to have No Country for Old Men at home this weekend as well. Cormac McCarthy's books carry a common theme - bleak, dark, post-apocalyptic and Western. However there is usually some dark humor throughout. The Coens did a fantastic job. Acting was excellent (even dumbass Woody Harrelson in a bit part) and the cinematography was - dare I say - breathtaking. DP Roger Deakins managed to make west Texas look beautiful, with its barren deserts and open skies.
I'm a big fan of both movies, though I might not necessarily recommend viewing them back-to-back as I did.
Couple nights ago I watched Eyes Without a Face (1960, dir. Georges Franju). A suspense/thriller about a plastic surgeon so racked with guilt by his part in disfiguring his daughter's face that he goes to drastic measures to save her. Unwatchable at times and very eerie. Edith Scob as the disfigured Christiane is ethereal and horrible at the same time. Very subtle movie - I wouldn't recommend if you want lots of blood, gore or screaming.
I finally sat down and watched Control last night instead of going to a free CMJ party at Gallery Bar featuring Madlib, Peanut Butter Wolf & my crush of crushes, Edan.
Directed by Anton Corbijn, the movie is based on Deborah Curtis' book Touching From a Distance.
"My Impure Hair" by Blonde Redhead, dir. Mike Mills
Finally caught Beautiful Losers tonight at the IFC Center. Chronicling the early art of skate culture, it showcased some of my favorite artists such as Geoff McFetridge and Jo Jackson. Also included were Harmony Korine (Kids, Gummo, Julien Donkey Boy), Barry McGee/Twist, Shepherd Fairey, Chris Johanson, Thomas Campbell, Mike Mills and Margaret Kilgallen.
Inspiring to watch and both funny and sad - please catch it before it ends its short run.
Hayao Miyazaki's latest has just opened in Japan. Entitled Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, it is not only about children, but told from the point of view as a toddler. Seeing his images always brings a smile to my face.
Gumball Rally I Netflixed this movie on a whim and ended up loving it! I love love love old muscle cars and just classic cars in general. This was a great, funny, not-too-slapstick film. Raul Julia and Gary Busey in young roles made this extra funny to watch.
Heat wave! I'm back to two cold showers a day. A movie is a great way to spend a disgustingly hot day. We headed over to the Sunshine to catch The Fall, a fairytale movie set in Los Angeles and filmed in over 18 locations around the world. While I didn't love the movie, I liked it a lot, as a storyteller. I felt pretty messed up after I left the theater, thinking everything around me was a fairytale. And of course the visuals were stunning. This was the main reason I wanted to see it in the theater. The Sunshine is great - for a small theater, it doesn't feel like one. With the cush stadium seating it doesn't matter who sits where because you can still see everything. The opposite of the Sunshine would have to be the Angelika with the F/V running under it and nearly flat seating.
Coming up: Trumbo. A movie about the famed rebel of the McCarthy era and someone I look up to. Starring David Strathairn (who I love), Brian Dennehy, Nathan Lane, Paul Giammati performing his letters, as well as clips from films and interviews of people close to him. A strong advocate of the First Amendment, he was blacklisted in 1947 as a member of the Hollywood Ten, a group of film pros who testified before HUAC during their investigations of Communism in the film industry.
He wrote an The Brave One in 1957 under the pen name Robert Rich, which became the first movie to win an unclaimed Oscar. Suck on that, McCarthy.
40 acres and a mule is a term for compensation that was to be awarded to freed African American slaves after the Civil War— 40 acres of land to farm, and a mule with which to drag a plow so the land could be cultivated.
It started with The 25th Hour. I didn't like it when I saw it in the theater but it stuck with me. And that's what Spike Lee joints do: they stick with you. I've been slowly working my way through his roster, which includes Crooklyn (my personal favorite), Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Clockers and the Summer of Sam.
The movies take place in New York, except it isn't the New York of the movies. It's not glamorous. It's gritty and real and sometimes seems like a fantasy land. Not quite real and yet - there's Central Park. And Bed-Stuy. And Double Happiness (now closed) in Chinatown.
His studio is right here, right in Fort Greene but I have yet to spot the diminutive genius. Don't worry Spike, my eyes are peeled. Prepare to be accosted.
From Goro Miyazaki (son of Hayao - Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away), his first feature film Tales from Earthsea based on the novel by Ursula K. Leguin (part of the Earthsea Cycle). Having only worked on the design of the Studio Ghibli Museum, the younger Miyazaki had never worked in film before and only stepped up when his father (the first choice) was unable to work on this one.
Looks promising - I would like to read it before watching the movie.
The movie is out on DVD but so far I've only seen it encoded for Region 3 players.
The Wackness It’s the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana—but change is in the air. The newly-inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against “crimes” like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness. Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City, trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy, while crushing on his step daughter (Olivia Thirlby). Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen,and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet, and funny coming of age story.
Prediction: The soundtrack will be "edgy." It sounds anti-Giuliani but who knows how it will actually play out. I can wait for it on DVD - this one looks a little iffy.
Brick Lane Nazneen’s life is turned upside down at the tender age of seventeen. Forced into an arranged marriage to an older man, she exchanges her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London’s East End. In this new world, pining for her home and her sister, she struggles to make sense of her existence – and to do her duty to her husband. A man of inflated ideas (and stomach), he sorely tests her compliance. Told from birth that she must not fight her fate, Nazneen submits, devoting her life to raising her family and slapping down her demons of discontent. Until the day that Karim, a hot-headed local man, bursts into her life. Against a background of escalating racial tension, they embark on an affair that finally forces Nazneen to take control of her life. Set in multicultural Britain, Brick Lane is a truly contemporary story of love, cultural difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit.
Prediction: This pretty much follows the dramatic love story formula. It's a multicultural Judith McNaught story set in London. (Ok it's based on another author's book but still) I'll watch it...on DVD!
Zombie Strippers Do you really need a synopsis? ZOMBIE. STRIPPERS. Starring Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Jenna Jameson, the "Michael Jordan of porn."
Prediction: Ok this isn't a summer movie but I had to post it. And I predict this is going to be horribly awesome. You know how some things are so bad they're good? This is it.
Get Smart Bungling secret agent Maxwell Smart, also known as Agent 86 for CONTROL, is on a mission to battle the forces of their evil crime nemesis known as KAOS with his more-competent partner Agent 99, (whose real name is never revealed) at his side. When the headquarters of U.S. spy agency Control is attacked and the identities of its agents compromised, the Chief has no choice but to promote his ever-eager analyst Maxwell Smart, who has always dreams of working in the field alongside stalwart superstar Agent 23. Smart will do whatever it takes to thwart the latest plot for world domination by KAOS.
Prediction: Steve Carrell = Awesome.
Pineapple Express Seth Rogen & James Franco star. A stoner (Rogen) and his dealer (Franco) are forced to go on the run after Rogen witnesses a murder.
Prediction: Unlike the Harold & Kumar movie, I'll probably go see this. Yes Ryan, because I am white.
...you make your friends wear your novelty glasses and start snapping away with your instant camera.
We had a dinner party on Saturday and most everyone came through despite train mishaps. L&D came with some delicious cheese and Amy's bread, Jennifer came with spicy mixed olives, Mike brought smoked Jarlsberg and grapes, Chris & Patty brought pita, hummus and baklava, and Laura came late with a big ass mango cream cake from Fay Da.
I started everyone off with the cheese plate, as well as some baked brie I'd prepared the night before, filled with dried cherries, brown sugar and slivered almonds and baked in puff pastry. Then I made a salad of blanched edamame, petit pois and asparagus tossed in a lemon-dill-parsley-basil pesto, mini ziti tossed with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, and a roast chicken with herb cream sauce. For dessert, I made a small batch of lime bars that went so fast I barely got a taste. The theme was spring, obviously. Too bad the weather didn't come through.
We also watched the Spurs get creamed by the Hornets. Sounds like a great Saturday night to me!
I spent all of Sunday indoors, nursing a nagging headache (okay, HANGOVER). I felt better later in the day and watched Lust, Caution, Ang Lee's latest that was released last year. Set in Shanghai and Hong Kong during World War II, it's a subtle, heartbreaking story about choosing between country and heart. The wardrobe and costumes were so simple and elegant:
And the controversial sex scenes. Were they necessary? I think so, yes. Movies are a visual medium and it's difficult to interpret inner turmoil if not through physical attraction/interaction. They were definitely graphic but I don't think they were tasteless. I've put the book on my wishlist - I'm interested to see how they adapted it into a movie.
Cars from the set of Notorious, the Biggie Smalls movie that they are filming on our neighborhood. Some of the framing is off because I was rushing to work, which I am a little unhappy about. Biggie give me one more chance!
I've been going to this for the past few years and there are always some great little independent films to see. Q&A with the filmmakers is always good too - the theater is small enough to see and hear them and not have to pretend they are little ants.
Some highlights for 2008: Friday, May 30 Man on Wire - I've seen something on this man before - he really loves being up there. It's crazy.
Monday, June 2 The Linguists - this is so fascinating to me. I've always loved languages and as the world becomes smaller, it's sad to think that we are losing a big part of what makes it so great.
American Son - I mean, Nick Cannon is in it. Also on Wednesday, June 4. Both days with Q&A.
Two Gregg Araki flicks: The Living End, Friday June 6 w/ Q&A Smiley Face, Friday June 6 w/ intro by Araki Another one of my heroes. The Living End was his first movie and Smiley Face is his latest. They are two totally different films. I might be down for a double feature.
Watched this yesterday on DVD. Ryan Gosling was amazing as usual but I thought the real star was Patricia Clarkson as his doctor. Very subtle, calm and steady. A good foil to his quiet neuroses. The movie was funny, in a heartbreaking kind of way. I don't want to call it quirky because I absolutely hate that word. Definitely try to watch it - watch yourself fall in love with a non-character.
