12/12-12/18

The top 5 films of the week will return periodically when there are a couple of different films to mention, instead of repeating the same 4 or 5 every week.

1. Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson) "What's the stick for?" "To hit you, in case you try something."
2. Role Models (David Wain)
3. Milk (Gus Van Sant)
4. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Peter Sollet) 2nd run
5. Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich) Artcraft 12/12-12-13.

Random notes on the new Kanye

Chuck Klosterman recently said about Chinese Democracy will be the last album conceived as an album opposed to just being a collection of songs. Now I respect Mr. Klosterman a lot, but he couldn't be more incorrect. Not only does Chinese Democracy sound like a bunch of songs hobbled together (and not an album), but the songs themselves sound like a bunch of ideas that have no flow or consistency within the same song. Which leads to what I'm really thinking about (it sure the hell isn't Guns N'Roses); 808's & Heartbreak. It was pointed out today that this record took about 14 weeks from conception to completion instead of the 14 years Axl wasted. This is an album that does flow from beginning to end and sounds like it was conceived as an album, meaning most of these songs would sound out of place on other Kanye West albums.

Public opinion seems to be mostly unfavorable, however critics seem to be a little kinder. Many have called it self-indulgent. That's redundant, what about Kanye West isn't self indulgent. There is way too much auto-tuner on the vocals. Now that all of the obvious comments have been stated, I can say that this is definitely the most ambitious album of his career. Yes, the auto tuner is in vogue in the hip hop world. My guess is that he wanted to sing more instead of rap and is self conscious about his vocals. It is however hard to believe that Kanye would be self conscious about anything. The lyrics seem to be less about bravado and more introspective, almost like his version of Here My Dear (the break-up part, not the contractual obligation part). Musically, he's taking his Daft Punk and Coldplay influences further and borrowing German prog rock, african tribal beats, and a Tears For Fears song along the way. Supposedly the idea for the album was conceived out of the Phil Collins albun, Face Value. This initially sounded ridiculous (who the hell tries to emulate Phil Collins), but after the idea was planted in my head, I hear In The Air Tonight's influence all over this record.

808's & Heartbreak is a brave move for one of the biggest artists in the world to make an album which does not fit the mold. Not that it is avant-garde or anything like that, it's still melodic and catchy, it just might not be as instantaniously evident. It will be interesting to see how the album fares commercially and if it really will end up being one of those failures picked up later down the road.

for the kids i work with

top 5 for 11/7-11/13

1. Role Models (David Wain)
2. Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme)
3. Appaloosa (Ed Harris)
4. Zach and Miri (Kevin Smith)
5. Wall E (Andrew Stanton)

Canada vs. U.S.

Heather always says that she would like to see Alejandro Gonzalez-Innaratu or Fernando Meirelles do a rom-com or just something different. I'm starting to feel that way about Guy Maddin. For awhile, I was just happy someone was out there making the type of films he makes. Yeah, I'm over it. I haven't disliked any of his movies, but I pretty much know what it's going to be: in black and white, dreamlike, very Canadian and either silent or have narcissistic narration. It's getting predictable. On the other hand, there's Kevin Smith. Who also pretty much makes the same film over and over and has shown zero growth. But I have no beef with Kevin Smith. I know his movies are going to lewd and entertaining and I have no problem with that. Since Chasing Amy, I have even liked all of his films about the same and for the last few I have even known that going in they will end up being 3 and a half stars out of five. Yes, haters- even Jersey Girl. Hell, everyone even knows his movies are going to make around $30 million, that's how predictable his game is. Why am I fine with Kevin Smith doing what I am complaining about with Guy Maddin? Partially, it's because I know Guy Maddin is talented enough to make whatever the hell he wants, so I would like to see him challenge himself. Kevin Smith can probably only make Kevin Smith films. It's challenging enough for him to move his camera. Here's an idea they should work together and make a hockey film. Wait, they both already do that on their own.

Go see I Served The King of England.

top 5 10/24-10/30

1. Dancer In The Dark (Lars Von Trier) JCC. Tues.
2. I Served The King of England (Jiri Menzel)
3,4,5 Alphabetical Order:
Appaloosa (Ed Harris)
City of Ember (Gil Keenan)
Nick & Norah (Peter Sollet)

top 5 10/17-10/23

1. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick) Circle Center. Wed.
2. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarentino) Galaxy. Wed.
3. Appaloosa (Ed Harris)
4. Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist (Peter Sollet)
5. City of Ember (Gil Keenan) Live action kids movies that do not include bodily function humor or talking animals(apologies to the Babe movies)can't get a break.

top 5 10/10-10/16

1. The Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green) 2nd Run.
2. Nick and Nora and the Infinite Sadness (Peter Sollet)
3. Appaloosa (Ed Harris)
4. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
5. Wall E (Andrew Stanton)- Finally saw it. Little disappointing, but still worth seeing.

Top 5 films for 10/3-10/9

1. The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich) Sun. Key.
2. Talk To Her (Pedro Almodovar) Tues. JCC.
3. Sunset Boulevard (Billy WIlder) Sun. Key.
4. Appaloosa (Ed Harris)- I'm a little surprised by this one. Not a huge Ed Harris fan. He even gives a somewhat restrained performance.
5. Ed Wood (Tim Burton) Sun. Key.

Bamboozled

The only time there should be bookends is if they are being used on a book shelf or if it is a Simon and Garfunkel record. They are rarely useful in films. They are usually just there to manipulate the audience into some over-sentimental connection to the main story. Which is true with Miracle At Saint Anna's. Not even close to all of the film's problems, but the bookends pounds all of the film's problems into the ground. Basically playing like Tom Hanks' greatest hits. Hokey tacked on ending to sob about your fellow soldiers dying (Saving Private Ryan), a miracle that can bring people back to life (The Green Mile), and bad aging makeup (Forrest Gump). If Spike Lee wants to make an all-black World War II movie, fine. If he wants to "correct John Wayne movies", fine. If he wants to publicly start feuds with Clint Eastwood, fine. If he wants to do magical realism poorly, fine. What we don't need is the final scene, we already get that the kid walked away from death. At least the very first scene works as a good set piece. But after that we get Joseph Gordon Levitt doing a "golly, gee" performance and more nonsense that is just there to setup the ending. Why is acting in bookends always so poor? Why do all epics feel the need to use this lazy plot device? Do producers/directors/whoever feel that we need them to emotionally connect to the material? I can just see the pitch meeting now. "We can't have an event that happened 50 to 100 years ago without bookends because the audience wasn't alive then and won't care about what's happening." Guess what, I wasn't alive in the 18th Century either and can enjoy period pieces just fine.

squeezing several posts into one

Let me get this straight, The Muppets are doing op-ed pieces for the New York Times, Lil' Wayne is blogging for ESPN, and Rolling Stone still cares about whether Chinese Democracy is going to be released. Even I have had a version of that album for a couple of years. Note to Axl and the FBI: It was given to me. I didn't ask for it nor do I think the rest of the world needs to hear it.

The most enjoyable article I have come across lately is Tom Perrotta's love-hate relationship with The Breakfast Club. I agree that The Breakfast Club and Dazed and Confused should not be mentioned in the same sentence. Oops. I also agree that Freaks and Geeks took the ball and went way further than John Hughes would be capable of doing.

That said, John Hughes leads me into my top 5 films around the city this week:
1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (John Hughes) Galaxy. Wed.
2. Night of the Living Dead (George Romero) B Movie Celebration. This weekend.
3. The Last Mistress (Catherine Breillat)
4. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock) B Movie Celebration. This Weekend.
5. Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse). Circle Center. Wed.



Troy: Here is some of that shitty (your word, not mine) Human League you were railing against over at Beer Cannes.



It seems like the only Human League anyone ever cares about is the Don't You Want Me single and the corresponding album Dare, which I do love. I wanted to give props to the underrated Louise. The label didn't want to release another single (from The Lebanon) or spend money on a video. The video only happened because Phil Oakley's song with Giorgio Moroder from Electric Dreams was a hit in the UK.

top 5 9/19-9/25

This is a little late. We can go with a) i'm lazy or b) i was out of town on friday or a little bit of both.

1. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarentino) Wed. Circle Center
2. Once (John Carney) Thurs. Mass Ave's 2nd attempt to show Once.
3. The Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)
4. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
5. Frozen River (Courtney Hunt)

Sex and Politics

An adult themed video production company based out of Atlanta is looking for a Sarah Palin lookalike to make a porno. Videogum (and the comments section) have supplied some suggestions on the title, here are my favorites:

Don't Tell Mom The Republican Nominee For Vice President Gives Head.
Impalin' Palin
Impalin Palin 2: Not Without My Daughter
Sarah Bare A Cooter
White Cocks Palin Comparison to Moose Cocks
All That Jizz...Is Palin My Skin
Change You Can Bust A Nut In
If You Think I'm A Whore, Wait Til You Meet My Daughter
Nail My Daughter Bareback, I'll Keep The Baby
A Handjob Away From The Presidency
Downs-Palin-Drome: How Special Needs Babies Are Made
Fun With #2
Cunt For Red November
Pretend I'm Tina Fey

Mister Lonely and other dvd releases this week

In his recent review of Frozen River, John Peddie wrote "the trick is not to condescend to the material." Aptly said. My problem with many films about the lower class is "the spectacle of white trash". Frozen River does avoid this and shows its subjects as characters. Harmony Korine's movie, Gummo would be an example of one that does not avoid the white trash spectacle. Korine slightly improved with Julien-Donkey Boy in that he showed a sense of lyricism in the ice skating scenes, but suffered from the freak show that surrounded it and the overwhelming feeling Korine was too busy being weird for the sake of being weird.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with film as spectacle. I love the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. With Mister Lonely, Korine seems to have learned how to somewhat manage this. There's a touching scene borrowing from the PTA handbook involving the title track to Iris DeMent's "My Life". On paper, a Michael Jackson impersonator who befriends a Marilyn Monroe impersonator and they go live on an impersonator commune could turn into a freak show. But this time around, Korine has shown warmth, or any human emotion which between his own films and the ones he's written for Larry Clark, I didn't know this was even a possibility. There is a lot of visual beauty and there are visual gags that work well. One example would be Buckwheat giving the pope a bath and another scene involving Werner Herzog and flying nuns. The film gets bogged down in a woe is me attitude from time to time, but a flawed Harmony Korine movie is a vast improvement over past Harmony Korine movies.

Besides for Mister Lonely my other video pick for the week is Snow Angels (David Gordon Green). The teen story is vastly superior to the increasingly annoying one involving Sam Rockwell's turmoiled breakup with Kate Beckinsale. Although that part of the film has a great performance by an under-used Nicky Katt.

Other releases I'm looking forward to this week would be Ladies and Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains and box sets of Max Ophuls and Busby Berkeley.

Shoddy journalism and the top 5

The Indianapolis Star today reported that the Heartland Film Festival was opening with a major film, The Boy With the Striped Pajamas. From the tone, it sounded like this was a new thing.

1.) The Boy With The Striped Pajamas is not a major film. It looks like it should go straight to video. The director's last movie Hope Springs did go straight to video and Purely Belter (his film prior to Hope Springs) has never been released in this country. You have to go back to 1998's Little Voice since a Mark Herman movie played theatrically.

2.) The Queen and Finding Neverland which either opened or closed past Heartland festivals were both nominated for Best Picture. I will be shocked if The Boy With... follows suit.

This article was embarrassing. However, not we're going to write 3 separate articles on the new Benji movie embarrassing.


Top 5 for 9/12-9/18

1. The Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)
2. My Favorite Wife (Garson Kanin) Friday at Indiana Historical Society.
3. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
4. Frozen River (Courtney Hunt)
5. Iron Man (John Favreau)- Made it for the first time probably close to its last week in release. If it weren't for different summer festivals I'm sure it would have made it already (or if I were doing this closer to its release).
3,4,5, and Burn After Reading are pretty interchangeable. But that's the order I'll stick with.

top 5 films 9/5-9/11

1. Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)
2. Dead Alive (Peter Jackson) Key. Fri and Sun.
3. Baghead (Duplass Brothers)- This was kind of a surprise. I didn't really care for The Puffy Chair and the trailer was only so-so.
4. American Teen (Nanette Burstein)
5. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)

dvd's 9/02/08

dvd pick- Reprise (Joachim Trier). Itsy Bitty Titty Committee (Jamie Babbit) is also of interest.

I'm really looking forward to Water Lilies (Celene Sciamma).

I will probably at some point get around to:
Before I Forgot (Jacques Nolot)
Ballet Shoes (Sandra Goldbacher)- I wouldn't want to disappoint anybody regarding my reputation of having the taste of a 15 year old girl.
Moontide (Archie Mayo) I have no idea who Archie Mayo is, but starring everyone's favorite hero, Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino makes me interested.
Derek (Isaac Julien) I liked Julien's documentary on blaxploitation. I would probably like to see some of Jarman's films before seeing a documentary on him.

I just finished listening to a podcast over at the AV Club stating that summer movies kicked ass and 2008 summer movies did not (quality, not box office). When it started I didn't agree with that statement, they compared the 2 years throughout the podcast and I still didn't agree. Then I went back and looked at it statistically and still mostly disagree. I took every wide release movie (500 or more screens on week 1 of release) from May to August of the last 2 years.

2007-
liked: 15
disliked: 6
didn't see: 34

2008-
liked: 9
disliked: 4
haven't seen: 29 (Wall E being the only thing I really want to see, I may catch up with some others like House Bunny or Space Chimps)

I think part of the problem this year was every release was ginormous so nobody wanted to go head to head (the writer's strike may also had a slight impact). It was only blockbuster a and blockbuster b or blockbuster and counter programming to blockbuster. The weekend of July 11th was the first weekend to have more than 2 releases. Less choices usually means less movies I will like or see. Of course, neither arguement holds water. The Dark Knight came out in a 3 movie weekend and the last 2 Augusts have had a couple of 4 and 5 release weeks where I have seen none of the crap being released. But back to my main point against the podcast; the quality of the films. The 5 best wide release films of the summers of 2007 and 2008 are alphabetically:

Hot Rod (2007)
Knocked Up (2007)
Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
Pineapple Express (2008)
Ratatoullie (2007)

runners up (also alphabetically):
Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Dark Knight (2008)
Iron Man (2008)
Simpsons Movie (2007)
Superbad (2007)
Transformers (2007)

8 of my top 11 would be from last summer. So far, I think films in general were better in 2007. My #1 for films released in 2008 so far: CJ7, wouldn't have been in my top 15 last year. Hell, I would take 2 guilty pleasures from last summer (the rest of the world hated) Hostel 2 and I Know Who Killed Me over Indiana Jones 4 or Tropic Thunder.

Let's face it blockbusters aren't made for me. I know this. Since the rest of the world liked this summer's movies better, probably means this was the better summer. Also, the summer is usually measured by the first film out of the gate and Iron Man was better than Spiderman 3.

top 5 for 8/29-9/4

1. Once (John Carney) Mass Ave Video Garden. Thurs only.
2. After The Wedding (Susanne Bier) Mass Ave Video Garden. Fri only.
3. The Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)
4. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman) IMA. Fri only.
5. American Teen (Nanette Burstein)

No Hillary Swank around here

I clicked on an article today listing the best female performances of the decade and I figured it would be a bunch of over the top oscar bait. A nice surprise. it's not perfect, but interesting.

same old stuff (aka the top 5 films for 8/22-8/28)

1. The Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)
2. Cemetery Man (Michele Sovai) Fri-Sun. Key.
3. American Teen (Nanette Burstein)
4. The Dark Knight (Chris Nolan)
5. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright)Fri- Sun. Key.

It's funny because I'm probably going to go down to The Artcraft to see Goonies, but I wouldn't necessarily put it in my top 5.

the writing blah's and DVD's

Over at Beer Cannes, Troy writes about being in a funk concerning blog topics. I understand. My problem isn't really a funk as much as I would rather watch Big Love or water polo than write about anything.

DVD releases for this week:
No picks.

Since I liked Don't Touch The White Woman, I would be fine with seeing more of the Marco Ferreri collection that's out this week. Please Vote For Me sounds interesting. Or interesting enough to watch if it were on PBS. An American Crime received terrible reviews at Sundance 2007 (probably why it's going straight to video), but between Catherine Keener and the events taking place in Indiana, I have some interest.

top 5 films for 8/15-8/21

1. The Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)
2. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch) Fri-Sun. Key Cinemas
3. Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick) Fri. IMA
4. American Teen (Nanette Burstein)
5. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)

One performance that has been overlooked in reviews and comments on The Pineapple Express- Ed Begley Jr. The end of the scene where he's shooting at Seth Rogen and yelling "I will take you outside and fuck you in the street." Priceless.

dvd's 8/12/08

My DVD pick this week is CJ7 (Stephen Chow).

I don't have a lot of interest in anything else. I guess I want to see Brand Upon The Brain. Heather wants to see Irina Palm, I'd watch it. I almost have more interest in seeing CJ7 again than anything I haven't seen.

top 5 for 8/8-8/14

1. Devil In A Blue Dress (Carl Franklin) Friday only, IMA.
2. The Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green)
3. Grand Prix (John Frankenheimer) Friday and Saturday. Artcraft
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
5. The Visitor (Tom Mc Carthy) Friday-Sunday. Key

dvd releases 8/5/08

dvd picks- none. Nothing I'm too excited about seeing either. Here are a few titles I may check out:

Joy House (Rene Clement)
Love Story- about the band, not the Ryan O'Neil cancer movie (Chris Hall). This may have came out last week. No two places say the same thing.
Nim's Island (Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett)
Rogue (Greg Maclean)
Pete Seeger: The Power of a Song (Jim Brown- you know it would be a lot cooler if it were the football player who directed a documentary about a folk singer)
Heart: Live (Have no idea who directed it and it probably doesn't matter)

I'm still sucking at this whole linking thing and spelling the word Washington correctly

Let's try this again.

The star of Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 and Bratz: The Movie has something important to say

Has anyone else read this nonsense

Top 5 films 8/1-8/7

I'm going to bench The Dark Knight this week, not because I think any less of it. Everybody who wants to see it has and well I'd rather give time to movies that have made less money than the Gross National Product of some countries.

1. Strangers On A Train (Alfred Hitchcock) IMA. Friday only
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nick Stoller)
3. Still Life (Jia Zhang-Ke) Indianapolis Art Center. Tuesday only
4. The Visitor (Tom Mc Carthy)
5. Enter The Dragon (Robert Clouse) Key Cinemas. Fri & Sat only

A blog called My Year in Lists, should have more lists. So here's my catchy pop songs that have made my summer a little brighter. Most are (semi)current songs, but not all. Enjoy.

Los Campesinos X2







Nick Lowe



Thrash Unreal version #1



Thrash Unreal Version #2




Black Kids




Noah and the Whale




The Teenagers




Throw Me The Statue




2 songs that I can thank the radio for playing about every 5 minutes and wearing me down until I decided that they were awesome...







This isn't exactly a song....



and Troy already posted this, but this puts a smile on my face every time I watch this...



Well that's my summer in songs and one last shout out to anything that comes out of Kanye West's mouth. Pretty much anytime he speaks in a public forum is awesome. He's exactly everything I want out of a rapper or any celebrity for that matter. As Kanye says 'Call him any name you want.... arrogant, conceited, narcissistic, racist, metro, fag whatever you can think of.... BUT NEVER SAY HE DIDN'T GIVE HIS ALL!'

dvd releases 7/29

The major release I'm looking forward to this week would be:
Dark City: The Director's Cut (Alex Proyas)

DVD picks-

Tiny Toons Adventures Season 1 part 1 and The Band's Visit.

There are several items I have slight interest in this week, but nothing I really feel like mentioning. Forget this week's new releases, just watch Dance Party, USA (Aaron Katz) two times in a row.

top 5 films 7/25-7/31

I wasn't going to include 2nd-run, but if I'm going to allow sports venues then I should also allow the cinematic equivalent of a babysitter.

1. Breaking Away (Peter Yates) Saturday only. Major Taylor Veldodrome
2. The Big Lebowski (Coen Brothers) Friday only. IMA
3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nicholas Stoller) Cinemarks
4. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
5. The Visitor (Tom McCarthy) Fri-Sun. Key Cinemas

Who keeps giving James Toback money?

The other night I tried watching The Outsider (a documentary on James Toback) on the Snag films website. There was a scene where Bijou Phillips says that Toback is one of the world's greatest filmmakers, which everybody knows. It was at this point where either the film froze or my theory; the computer made an editorial decision and would not continue. I don't really like Toback's films, especially his recent output. I basically wanted to see if he came off as a creepy, arogent hack or if they were going to try to make a case for his genius. It appered they were going for the latter. Starting with Two Girls and a Guy, he keeps hitting us with low budget mediocrities. You and your buddies could have made a more profound film about race at age 15 than Toback did in Black and White. In When Will I Be Loved, he had the gaul to cast himself as a professor of cultural relations or some bullshit like that. It was a bad idea when Woody Allen cast him as a professor. He didn't need to repeat the mistake. I think the only reason When Will I Be Loved was made was to show Neve Campbell nude. I did kind of like Harvard Man. The casting was its saving grace and there was a great cameo by Al Franken and his daughter. A couple of years ago I went to see Ben Kweller in Cincinnati and I was killing time at a coffee shop and I read an article about a female journalist that met Toback. He basically kept trying to sleep with her. She went back to his room. He passed out watching SNL and she snuck out unscathed. His new film is a documentary about Mike Tyson. Their friendship has always made sense to me. No, that is not a compliment.

dvd releases 7/22

DVD picks for 7/22:

Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant) Blockbuster Excluive.

Re-release picks:
Bird (Clint Eastwood)
High and Low (Akira Kurosawa)
Un Flic (Jean-Pierre Melville)
Wild Reeds (Andre Techine)

New releases I want to see:
Help Me Eros (Lee Kang-Sheng) The 2nd directorial effort and first available on DVD from the star of the Tsai Ming-Liang filmography.
Love Songs (Christophe Honore) It appears to actually coming out on the 22nd instead of the previously reported date of 7/8.
Spaced: The Complete Series (Edgar Wright) TV series starring and directed by the Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz team.
My Favorite Season/I Don't Kiss/Hotel America (Andre Techine) The 3 of the 4 I haven't seen in the box set.
Big Dreams, Little Tokyo (David Boyle) I know nothing about this, except the plot description.
CSNY Deja Vu (Neil Young) This comes out in theatres in limited cities on Friday. According to Netflix, they will have it day and date. So if this is actually being released, then I am sort of interested.

Speaking of the sort of interested:
Duck (Nicole Bettaur) Again, know nothing besides description and that it stars Phillip Baker Hall, which is also a plus.
Satantango (Bela Tarr) 7 and a half hours is a huge commitment for something I am expecting to be very slow.
21 (Robert Luketic) Everybody has said this is crap and I do believe them. Still mildly interested.

Trying to help the key fit into the lock

Key Cinemas is doing another complete overhaul of its operations. He has decided to open movies on Wednesday. He'll be open from Wednesday to Sunday and closed on Monday and Tuesday. I have nothing but respect for what Ron Keedy does and this is in no way an attack against what he's doing.

Here's my advice for him, decide what you want to do and DON'T CHANGE IT. I never know if he's open for a full day or only in the evening, which days of the week he's open or the admission price. If I can't keep track of these things, I know the general public can't either. I understand the reason for all of the changes is trying to find what will work the best. I understand the notion of opening movies on Wednesday to not get lost on Friday. I understand trying to create publicity. Unfortunately, the general public needs to be trained. I'm afraid most people will realize movies are opening on Wednesday about the same time he goes back to opening on Friday. Support from The Indianapolis Star is tenuous at the very best. If the review is printed on Wednesday, nobody will read it. Limited release or "art" films live and die by their reviews in the Star.

top 5 films for 7/18 to 7/24

1. Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller) Thurs, July 24th only, Mass Ave Video Garden
2. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan)
3. The Visitor (Tom McCarthy)
4. The Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
5. War Games (John Badham) Thurs, July 24th only. I'm not saying to pay the 10 or 15 dollars or whatever. I'm just saying it's the 5th best movie I've seen with a public performance this week.

dvd releases 7/15

DVD pick for 7/15- The Bank List (Roger Donaldson)

DVD I want to see for 7/15- The Duchess of Langeais (Jacques Rivette) part of the IFC/Weinstein exclusive for Blockbuster.

I also have some interest in:
Times and Winds(Reha Edrim)
Trapped Ashes (Joe Dante, Monte Hellman, Ken Russell, etc.): I'm sure it will suck, but how often can you say "the new Monte Hellman"

Raining frogs and marching bands

The other day on Shane White's blog, in the comments section my friend Troy made a comment calling Schroeder the PT Anderson of the Peanuts. This leads me to my theory that Lindsey Buckingham is rock and roll's PT Anderson. Both found themselves in situations where they could pretty much do whatever they want because of Rumours and Boogie Nights respectively. They both realized they could do anything they want and instead of taking one idea, they took every idea they ever had for a film/album and put it all into their next work. The work that directly followed; Magnolia and Tusk were both self-indulgent, misunderstood coke-fueled masterpieces. I also believe that they were both caught up in their own genius enough to believe that their grander (i.e.; longer)efforts were going to be that more successful. When i listen to The Ledge, I visualize a music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson starring Thomas Jane and Melora Walters doing coke and running around frantically. I'm sure part of the reasons for this are 1) the two of them are in a Michael Penn video that PTA directed and 2) they both play cokeheads in Boogie Nights and Magnolia. I'm surprised how unscathed Buckingham came out of Tusk, especially considering he was becoming his idol, Brian Wilson.

7/11/08-7/17/08

My top 5 films in release (in Indianapolis) for this week:

1) Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Nicholas Stoller)
2) The Visitor (Tom Mc Carthy)
3) Roman De Gare (Claude Lelouch)
4) Stuck (Stuart Gordon) fri, sat, and sun only, Key Cinemas
5) Return To Oz (Walter Murch) fri only, Mass Ave Video Garden

There's no smoking aloud in the Four Seasons

There was a news item today about the public smoking ban in Chicago that has led to the Jersey Boys stage show not being able to show people smoking on stage. I don't smoke. I don't particularly care for cigarette smoke. But this is ridiculous. It's one thing to not let people smoke in tight enclosed areas. It's another thing entirely to not let people smoke in public. In the article I read, they also said the new Michael Mann film is running into the same problems in Chicago. Because no smoking in a film about the era of Dillinger is realistic in any way. I think it was Rob Reiner who was one of the first people that said the state of California should be 100% smoke-free. Hasn't the statue of limitations run out on anyone giving a crap about what Rob Reiner thinks? The man hasn't made a movie I would be willing to watch since The Ghosts of Mississippi. That movie came out in 1996! The whole smoking ban is just another way that the country cannot or will not find a happy medium. The art of compromise has seemed to be thrown out the window long ago. Were a country of I'm right, you're wrong and your opinion doesn't matter.

dvd releases 7/8 and more naked people

DVD picks for tuesday 7/8/08: none.

DVD releases of movies that are decent:
Mon Oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra)
The Tracey Fragments (Bruce Mc Donald)
and for non-canadian cinema: Joe Strummer: I used to be in the Clash, but now I'm dead (Julien Temple)

DVD releases I have not seen yet and am looking forward to:
Chop Shop (Ramin Bahrani)
Love Songs (Christophe Honore)


I heard an old story today about some guy who found out his wife/girlfriend was cheating on him and after they broke up, he started putting footage of him and now ex-wife/girlfriend having sex at the end of porno VHS tapes with "for a good time call" and her new phone #.

People who record themselves or let themselves be recorded having sex get what they deserve. When will Jerry Springer culture end? The real problem is people like me that are disgusted by celebrity gossip and news of the uncouth but have that car crash fascination and won't stop reading about them.

One last random non-sequitur: Jesse Helms died at the end of last week. I've barely heard anything about this. I figured there would be people rejoicing.

Over at the Beer Cannes blog, they have compiled a list of the greatest recording artists of all time. Here are my thoughts on their selections.

Hall and Oates- They have an early album "Abandoned Luncheonette" that is underrated and not what you expect from Daryl Hall and John Oates. "She's Gone" was the hit. The album is kind of a cross between AM pop and coffehouse acoustic guitar music.

The Guess Who- It's better to have the courage to be drunken buffoons, than be a drunken buffoon posing as a poet.

The Jesus and Mary Chain- I remember the JAMC. They hit it out of the park early with the 1-2 punch of Psychocandy and Darklands. Two albums couldn't be different but at the same time totally representative of all that is the Jesus and Mary Chain.

The Boss- Where to start? For those of you don't know I had always favored the sensitive singer-songwriter side with the occasional anthem thrown in. Basically the one part of Springsteen I wasn't into was the soul tinged rock side. Troy told me I was wrong and after giving me a copy of Wild, Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, I also agree that I was wrong. The other part of Bruce that I had to warm up to was Clarance Clemons. Yeah, a lot of time Clarance is just standing around, maybe he has a tambourine. But could you imagine Thunder Road without the piano-saxophone coda. Of course, if I would have listened to Bill and Ted, I would know that the Big Man is one of the three most important people in the world. I saw Springsteen and the E Street Band in March. The show was a comeback of sorts for organist Danny Federici. It was his first (and unfortunately last) show back after an illness related hiatus. Danny only played a couple songs. But probably one of the single best moments of the year was seeing him strap on the accordion and the band played 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).

America- A band that I always described as Crosby, Stills and Nash lite. Horse With No Name is exactly that, but the tag is so unfair. Ventura Highway has an emotional resonance that CSN have never been able to achieve. The opening guitar riff to Sister Golden Hair is thought as cheesy to some. I dare anyone to listen to that opening riff and not have it in their head for hours. That's not cheesy, I call that catchy.

Jim Croce- Anybody that has known me for sometime knows that I have a champion of Jim's for years. It seems that since every radio station in town now plays pop/rock from the 70's, he is everywhere again. Back in the early 90's when I would get irritated with people in my car and I would play Jim to piss people off thinking that they would just complain. A couple years later, I went over to a friend's house who originally hated Jim Croce and while snooping through their records, there was Jim's warm smile on the cover of Photographs and Memories to greet me.

M.I.A.- Yes, while watching the Pineapple Express trailer, Paper Planes is the best song in the world. Plus it samples Straight To Hell, which is one of only a handful of Clash songs I like.

ODB- Troy gets all of the credit for introducing the insane genius that was Ol' Dirty Bastard. Wu- Tang is for the children.

Led Zeppelin- The only thing that would make Houses of the Holy a better album would be if it contained Houses of the Holy.

New Order- If you ever want to piss off a room full of Joy Division fans, tell them New Order is a better band. I once did that on accident. I was right.

Stone Roses- I like the Beer Cannes claim that they only made one album.

The Eagles- I hate the fucking Eagles, man. Kind of like preferring Wings to the Beatles. I prefer the solo work to the Eagles. But if you want to hear a Don Henley song done right...


Neil Diamond- Prince before Prince and Neil still writes good songs.

Oasis- The Davies brothers twenty-some years later. Or is that Blur.

and of course, the suspiciously added Manimal.

revised movie picks

After skimming In Take or whatever their called now, I have a new #1.

1. Raise the Red Lantern (Indianapolis Arts Center, Tuesday, free)
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (College Park)
3. The Visitor (Landmark)
4. Reprise (Landmark)
5. Stuck (Key Cinemas)

movie picks for the week of July 4

Every Friday I will announce my top 5 picks for films playing in the Indianapols area. I won't include movies you will have to drive out of town to see. But if something awesome comes up I might mention it in passing.

For the week of July 4th:
1. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
2. The Visitor
3. Reprise
4. Stuck
5. Standard Operating Procedure

No, I haven't seen everything that's playing. You couldn't (literally) pay me to see Sex and the City.

This really isn't the time for your closeup

You know the scene in Animal House where John Belushi smashes Stephen Bishop's guitar. Well, there are way too many stupid people in the world who need this to happen to their cameras.

1. I watched Standard Operating Procedure tonight. The film is about the torture that happened at Abu Gharib. Basically, the whole thing went down because the people involved could not stop taking pictures of themselves while humiliating prisoners.

2. As you probably have heard, there is a Verne Troyer sex tape....... I will give those of you finding this out for the first time a second to regain composure from the ick factor......... So, yeah, TMZ got hold of a Verne Troyer sex tape and a distributor (the same one who released One Night In Paris) is wanting to release it to the public. Verne Troyer filed a temporary restraining order causing a judge to make TMZ take down excerpts from the "film". Here's the best part of the story, the girl in the tape is the one who leaked the footage causing the judge to overturn the restraining order.

3. I also read today that Vanessa Hudgens is going to do her best to be a good role model for young girls. Miss Hudgens has appeared in the High School the Musical movies and has a couple of albums out. But none of us know who the hell she is from any of her work. We all know her as the girl from Disney who had nude photos leaked to the internet not once, but twice last year.

The chief investigator in Standard Operating Procedure has a great comment that sums all of this up best: If you are doing something you know is wrong; DON'T TAKE PICTURES!

Getting started and list #1.

I figured I would try this blog thing. I need another responsibility in my life to ignore.

However, the title says it all. This will probably be a bunch of random lists not interesting to many, maybe anyone but me. I might have some random thoughts. Maybe I'll talk about why the world needs Kanye West. Maybe not. It will mostly revolve around music and film.

To start the festivities....

DVD picks for July 1st.

Baby It's You
My Blueberry Nights
Girl on the Bridge

DVD releases for July 1st I'm looking forward to see:

Pied Piper- Jacques Demy. Donovan. I'm sold.
Mad Men season 1- I'm curious.
Sunflower- Liked Zhang's previous films Shower and Quitting. Plus I like Joan Chen.

I'm also curious about the 3 hour Neil Diamond concert from the 70's that seems both unnecessary and excessive. But long before crap like America and Headed For the Future.