Friday, April 29, 2011
Watched: All That Jazz
Really interesting musical (sort of) exercise in self-reflexivity. A musical 8 1/2, of sorts (a movie about the director, directing himself), before 9 came along and was a thing that happened. The musical numbers are enjoyable, and woven pretty seamlessly into the storyline. The editing's good too. And of course Roy Scheider is always great, especially here, playing a life-long narcissistic workaholic who has to reconcile himself with not only what an asshole he is but his own death. Some great visual stuff, as well. Not something I would watch again but something I'm glad I watched.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Watched: Hype
Interesting doc, even if it did feel somewhat redundant. It seems to me that people are pretty aware of the phenomenon of "hype" and commercialization of a scene or style now, but maybe there was more naivety about that in 1996.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Watched: Planet of Dinosaurs
Beyond boring. I watched this with the Rifftrax, which was excellent, but I can't imagine how people just watched it straight. It's about 45 minutes of walking/sitting, 15 minutes of dinosaur claymation (which is awesome), and 20 minutes of uninteresting bickering between unlikeable characters. Nelson, Corbett, and Murphy are really doing the Lord's work by continuing to turn shitty, boring, overblown, unbearable movies into some funny shit.
Watched: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Amazing. This movie is so many levels of awesome. Why have I not watched it before now? Why have I not owned it and watched it regularly? Between the seriously high caliber of actors (Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp, Bill Hunter), the humor, the costumes (DEAR LORD THE COSTUMES), the fact that it's a road trip movie and I love road trip movies, Guy Pearce spending 3/4 of the movie without a shirt, the scenery, and the actual story, which is great, I can't believe that I waited so long to watch what is obviously now on my top 10 list of favorite movies.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Watched: Wristcutters: A Love Story
Cute enough. If I'm going to watch a romantic comedy, I prefer that it is at least be: a) ACTUALLY comedic, b) ACTUALLY romantic, and c) somewhat unconventional. This manages to more or less fulfill all three of those requirements, and even though I'm not a huge fan of either of the leads (I know some people probably like Patrick Fugit from Almost Famous but I think his voice sounds like a perpetual whine, and for most of the roles I've seen Shannyn Sossamon in, she just plays Manic Pixie Dream Girls, here being no different, blegh) but it has a great supporting cast including Tom Waits! Jake Busey! Jerry! Sol Star! Ron Swanson! Bobby! GOB!!* And the premise is an interesting enough hook, I think. Basically, those who commit suicide are damned to a shittier, more mundane version of the lives they were already living. But without their loved ones (except, of course, for those whose whole families have committed suicide. Which, as we learn in Wristcutters, is a thing that happens). Anyway, the film does have some visual appeal and the guy who plays Fugit's Russian pal, Shea Wigham, is pretty funny. Much like TiMER, Der Himmel uber Berlin, or Happy Accidents, it's a fairly sweet romance inside of an intriguing scifi/fantasy film. Which is alright by me.
*character names. Most of the time, this is how I remember actors.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Watched: High Noon
Just a classic Western. This one had most of my favorite elements of the genre: the struggle between lawlessness and civilization, an honorable protagonist questioning his moral code, the ever-present, continuously building tension of an inevitable confrontation, and the unspoken, perhaps unrealized sexiness laying right beneath the surface. That being said, I found myself thinking frequently throughout this that it was more of a psychological drama than a rough and ready Western. The movie is mostly dialogue, Will Kane searching the town for someone to help him, and finally resigning himself to face outlaw Frank Miller alone. In fact, in a lot of ways it reminded me more of Twelve Angry Men than any other Western, except for maybe The Ox-Bow Incident. High Noon doesn't have to say that Marshal Will Kane and Helen Ramirez were once involved for us to know it; the body language and facial expressions speak volumes. And Amy's dawning realization of who her husband is and perhaps who she will have to be if she wants to measure up to Helen is made all the more poignant by her getting there without anything ever being discussed out loud. All in all, a rich story that manages to work on multiple levels and was beautiful filmed. One of my favs.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Watched: Mystery Team
Did you know that one out of every one duncan wheelers is going to die without ever having kissed a girl?
Silly, muddled, adorable.
Silly, muddled, adorable.
Dean Pelton Costumes and Jeff Winger Speeches
What can I say? Last night's episode of Community was amazing. They took what could've been a rote television convention, one I particularly dislike (the clip show) and turned it on its head by using it not as a chance to take the week off but as a chance to cram even more wacky hijinks and fun adventures into the lives of our intrepid heroes. I don't even really have much else to say, except that this was perhaps one of my favorite Community episodes of all time. I can't even imagine how much work went into writing and producing it. Worth it. Without further ado...
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