February 2009
64 posts
3 tags
(Another) Movie of the Day
THE TRIALS OF TED HAGGARD
This is a short doc on HBO, directed by Alexandra Pelosi (the daughter of the Speaker). Pelosi knew Haggard from her earlier film, Friends of God. After Haggard’s fall from grace, she went back and followed him for the next year.
When Haggard fell after revelations (pun!) that he had engaged in gay sex and was using crystal meth, he was banished from the...
January 2009
58 posts
3 tags
Movie of the Day
I’M NOT THERE
Todd Haynes is an interesting cat. He gave us the bizarrely terrifying Safe, and the glam Velvet Goldmine, and the Douglas Sirk homage Far From Heaven. And here he is again, in what can only barely, loosely be considered a biopic of Bob Dylan. It’s a patchwork film, more emotion and feeling than sturdy plot, and after getting into its mood, I found myself equally...
3 tags
Movie of the Day
MILK
Today’s a rewatch, as I’ve seen Milk once before. I’ve never been much of a bio-pic guy. Chances are that if you’ve earned a movie of your life, you’ve overcome impossible odds to succeed in a way that inspires us all to be better. Yep, no matter who the subject, it’s the same formula.
That said, I enjoyed this. Even more the second time. Van Sant...
Watch
3 tags
(Another) Movie of the Day
THE UNFORSEEN
An interesting documentary about the balance required between urban sprall and environmental responsibility. It follows specifically the story of land developers in my dear birth city, Austin, and the fight to prevent them from developing land that could lead to the destruction of Barton Springs, a public freshwater source. For you Ithacan, basically imagine Lower...
“You can choose among several different payment options and whether to begin receiving your benefit immediately or defer receipt until a date no later than your Normal Retirement Date of 11/01/2041….”
That creeps me out a bit. Like Logan’s Run-type freaks me out.
Movie of the Day
I received dozens of emails from readers yesterday (not true), saying that a short film just doesn’t count. So in order to make amends, today we will have two reviews.
FROST/NIXON
I’ve never thought Ron Howard a very adventurous director. He sorta does things by the book, and happens to work with good material and great actors. A Beautiful Mind is a slight exception, as the...
New York, I love you, but you’re bringing me...
3 tags
Movie of the Day
THE RED BALLOON
I’ve got an errand-filled day ahead, so it’s a short film today. This is the classic short that won Best Original Screenplay in 1956 (despite the fact that there are maybe 6 lines of dialogue in the whole 33 minutes). A very popular film around the world, mainly because it’s simply and perfectly told.
A young boy finds a balloon that has a mind of his own:...
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Movie of the Day
HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR
One of the birthings of French New Wave in ‘59, Alain Resnais’ film plays fast and loose with time. Unique (and at that time, quite new) use of flashback, both in the script and visually, keep the past in the present and put the present in the past. Very interesting story of a French actress in Hiroshima shooting a film who falls in love with a Japanese man. ...
I worked in advertising for a while, so I think I have the authority to decree:
If any creative team, or part thereof, writes a commercial that includes either the phrase “now more than ever” or “there’s never been a better time” (or god forbid, includes both) , said creative team, or part thereof, will be sodomized with the product they’re attempting to...
3 tags
Movie of the Day
HORTON HEARS A WHO
This is for our dear friend Gareth, who was the Lead Technical Director (Assembly) on this film (and whose son Winslow was an official production baby). I suppose, if it was really for Gareth, I would’ve seen it in the theater for 12 bucks. Sorry Gareth. I…. had to work.
Anyhow, I sorta knew what to expect thanks to Gar. The Jim Carrey bits were Jim Carrey...
No movie today
It’s Sunday, and I’m takin’ it easy. A little Rock Band, a little Madden, catching up on the week’s DVR.
But if you must have a review, here’s my brief review of National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which I casually had on last night as I was thumbing through the latest issue of Wired:
Really? I’m expected to accept this?
That is all.
3 tags
Movie of the Day
THE WACKNESS
I liked this one, fun to watch. Ben Kingsley is fucking great in it: off-kilter, bizzare, high. The story of a college-bound pot dealer in the summer of 1994, New York. The boy is perfectly awkward (not that I can identify at all), the girl is perfectly unattainable (again, no idea what that’s like), and Kingsley is perfectly insane.
Oh, and I’m wondering how long...
“Sorry! I dropped it when I was pretending it was my penis.”
– Liz Lemon
3 tags
Movie of the Day
MILLIONS
I remember seeing the trailer in the theaters and saying, “Danny Boyle? Really?” And now I watch it, and I reply to past-self: “Yes. Really.” Danny’s crazy fingerprints are all over this. Yet he still retains the emotion and innocence of this young boy’s tale of found money and how do to good.
The editing, the music, the direction……...
It’s like what President Andrew Shepherd says of democracy: “Being a Cowboys fan isn’t easy, you gotta want it bad, cuz it’s going to put up a fight.”
DALLAS (AP)—The first time Michael Irvin watched “American Idol,” he loved the concept of giving undiscovered singers the chance to become stars. Now Irvin is doing the same for NFL wannabes.
The Hall of Fame...
I just saw a promo for The City on MTV, and am now researching gun ownership.
3 tags
Movie of the Day
WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Very unique film, an Israeli animated documentary. Wha, you say? Basically, filmmaker Ari Folman is trying to recall his times in the army during the 1982 Lebanon War, specifically where he was during a brutal massacre in Beirut. He visits friends and old soldiers to try to reconstruct what his memory has blocked.
The resulting interviews and stories he retells in a...
WatchWhat the hell is this? What’s her problem? Why do I care what she thinks?
“What are they doing over there? They’re filming something. They’re...”
– Ray
In Bruges
We now allow comments
This should be a thrill for the 4 people who read this blog…. now you can comment on posts.
Be nice, though. I get insecure easily.
3 tags
Movie of the Day
RIFIFI
Gareth loaned me this Criterion disc about a year ago, and at last I drop it in. The masterpiece film noir by Jules Dassin, who was blacklisted and fled to France. No one would let him make anything, since the US distributors made clear they would never release anything with his name on it. At last he was given this script (which he hated), and he got to make a film.
And it’s...
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Movie of the Day
BURN AFTER READING
I was lazy enough to miss this one in the theaters, much as I love the Coen Brothers. For the first part, I wasn’t sure what I thought of it. A tad slow, quirky for quirky’s sake. But then something happened, so suddenly that I actually went “Oh shit!” out loud, and then it was just silly crazy fun from then on. The Coens are great at taking stupid...
Prez Obama
Was in a bar in Brooklyn with no reception, so unable to post the picture of joyousness. I’ll keep this brief:
Finally.
My fave line: To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
My next fave line: We are a nation of Christians and Muslims,...
Watching CNN… Wolf Blitzer just compared the crowds on the Mall right now to the crowds in Mecca during the Muslim Pilgrimages.
Nice analogy, Wolf.
Movie of the Day
No movie today. Well, no new movie today. MLK Day. Not my observance that keeps me from a new movie, but rather the government’s observance that keeps my next Netflix disc from arriving today.
However, I’ve already watched parts of E.T. and Courage Under Fire. So that’ll count.
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Movie of the Day
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
What? I never said they’d all be award-winners. It’s Sunday. Can’t a guy just cut loose?
Funny. Has its moments. Funny screwball over-the-top stuff throughout. But didn’t thrill me like the trailer made me want it to.
Fave line: James Franco (who is pretty funny in it) being led to an underground hatch: “What’s down there? A...
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Movie of the Day
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
Been wanting to see this one for a while. It surprised and snatched the Foreign Language Film Oscar from “Pan’s Labyrinth”. Starring the German Kevin Spacey (above), it takes place in 1984 East Berlin. A secret police agent is tasked with listening in on the goings-on of a writer, and finds himself incresingly absorbed.
Really great. Shot wonderfully,...
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Movie of the Day
THE WILD BLUE YONDER
Werner Herzog repurposes NASA footage of Shuttle missions and deep sea dive footage from under the Antarctic ice to tell the story of humankind’s search for a new world. It’s narrated by an “alien” from Andromeda.
Doesn’t work at all for me. The alien is just bad. And Herzog’s use of the footage is just boring and lazy. Telling me...
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Movie of the Day
THE READER
A Winslet double-feature! While again Winslet just tears it up, my favorite thing about this film is the story. Just a facinating story. What happens when someone you love does such horrible things? Forgive? Ignore? Shut out? Watching these people rationalize and work out what they’ve done and what they’re do to, I couldn’t turn away.
3 tags
Movie of the Day
One of my deals with myself, upon finding myself recently unemployed, is to watch (at least) a movie a day. So why not share? And don’t worry, all my reviews are SPOILER FREE.
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
This is Kate Winslet’s movie. Her character April is fierce and passionate and furious and hopeful and stubborn and lustful. And so much of this comes from just a look: she...
An Australian state is offering internationally what it calls “the best job in the world” — earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.
The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the winner’s home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland’s state...