my year in lists

I heard there was an award show forthcoming.

2011-02-27T02:14:00.003-05:00

If I were given a ballot to vote for the Oscars it would look something like this:

Best Picture:

Ever since the Academy has expanded the nominees to ten, I believe the way people vote for Best Picture is to rank the nominees from #'s 1-10. With that in mind, here are my rankings-

10. King's Speech
9. Inception
8. Kids Are All Right
7. 127 Hours
6. The Fighter
5. True Grit
4. Toy Story 3
3. Black Swan
2. Winter's Bone
1. Social Network

Whenever I am asked what my favorite Woody Allen movie is, I feel kind of guilty that my answer is Annie Hall because it is the consensus choice. But it is by far my favorite. The Social Network feels the same way. The more I see of The Social Network, the more I admire it. The more I see The Social Network, the more I think Andrew Garfield should be accepting a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Best Director-

David Fincher. The only film's direction that is close to The Social Network would be Black Swan, but I couldn't seriously vote Darren Aronofsky for Best Director of anything.

Best Actor-

Jesse Eisenberg. If you would have asked me 2 weeks ago I would have said James Franco. The more I see of the picture, the more I realize the film hinges around Eisenberg to some degree. He's playing a character that at first seems like an unlikeable version of the nerdy, slightly socially inept character he usually plays. But there has to be just a spark of likability to his Zuckerberg to keep the viewer engaged and if not exactly rooting for him at least interested enough in him for the emotional resonance that the film achieves.

Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor-

I will be totally fine with Natalie Portman winning the Best Actress Oscar, but the answer is Jennifer Lawrence. John Hawkes is my pick for Supporting Actor. No film nominated relies as heavily on the performances as Winter's Bone. John Hawkes is particularly impressive finding the right tonal mix for the performance. He is menacing yet shows a subtle compassion with his character. As good as Jennifer Lawrence is in the starring role, Hawkes is what makes the world they live in come alive.

Best Supporting Actress-

Amy Adams. I know everybody thinks Christian Bale deserves his Oscar he will receive for showboating through The Fighter but after losing all of the weight for the role, he became so hungry he decided he needed to chew up all of the scenery around him. I feel similarly about Melissa Leo's performance. She was much stronger in Frozen River (the poor man's Winter's Bone?). Leo's biggest problem in The Fighter she just doesn't have much to work with. Amy Adams, on the other hand portrayed a toughness I have never seen in her work before. Her character played by the wrong actress could have been easily reduced to a caricature. Adams brings heart to the role without being overly cute, strong but not butch.

Adapted Screenplay-
The Social Network

Original Screenplay- TBD

I'm not overly crazy about the four I have seen which leaves Another Year.

Cinematography- True Grit

The category where somebody is going to win by being overdue for their award. That said, I do think it's deserved like much of his past work with The Coen Brothers, Deakins makes beautifully composed shots that make good use of the widescreen format. I would also be fine with a Black Swan win. As usual with Aronofsky films, Libatique is one of the best things the film has going for it. With apologies to Clint Mansel. Side question- How in the hell did King's Speech get nominated in this category? The cinematography is by far the worst thing about this movie.

Animated Film- Toy Story 3

Original Song- who cares.

I can't say I remember the songs from Toy Story 3 or 127 Hours and looking at the credits I'm sure they are the better of the four songs. I guess I will be able to answer this better after getting the privilege of seeing the four nominated songs on the broadcast.

Costume Design- I Am Love

Not just because it is by far the best film in this category. The costumes did a good job of giving off both a contemporary feel and a retro Euro look at the same time. The clothes did a fabulous job of blending in with the art direction as well.

Art Direction-

I guess Alice in Wonderland or Inception. Both films display the same type of over the top art direction. That said they are definitely the most impressive of the nominees.

The Sound categories- Unstoppable and The Social Network.

I am not going to pretend to know the difference between the 2 categories, but since these are the films nominated that I felt had impressive sound (and are not in the same sound category), they would be the two that would receive my vote.

Makeup-

I have only seen The Wolfman. Not a good film by any stretch of the imagination, but the makeup was impressive and from seeing the trailers of the other two nominated films, I am pretty sure I would still vote The Wolfman.

Editing-

The Social Network, but if Danny Boyle could have toned down the flash a little I might have voted 127 Hours.

Score-

I feel like a broken record with The Social Network. I don't think the score is that great but it is definitely the best nominated score. I thought Inception's score was plain bad in true Hans Zimmer fashion. How to Train Your Dragon is just not my type of score. I vaguely remember 127 Hour's score and I couldn't identify the score to The King's Speech if you paid me.

Foreign Film- Probably Dogtooth.

As of now it's the only film I have seen. In fact I have seen it twice. It is even more impressive now that I have seen Castle of Purity (a film which shares a similar plot with Dogtooth) but I am a fan of Susanne Bier. I wouldn't totally rule In A Better World out as potentially being my favorite.

Best Documentary-

I have only seen Exit and Restrepo. Of the two, I would vote Exit. I wouldn't rule out Inside Job as I was a fan of No End In Sight.

Animated Short-

Day and Night.

Live Action Short-

The Crush. It may be a too cute for its own good and the director's son comes off as this weird mixture of awkward and robotic yet endearing. Charming nonetheless.

Documentary Short-
Nope. Haven't seen any of them and most likely never will.

Visual Effects-
Inception. The film was kind of made for this category.

5-10-15-20

2011-01-23T02:43:00.000-05:00

I have decided to ripoff Pitchfork's 5-10-15-20 feature. This is where they ask artists to talk about their favorite music from when they were 5 years old, 10 years old, up to your current age. The one rule I gave myself is I could only use music which was current at the time. For example at age 35, I can not use the Replacements. The one interesting thing that has occurred to me while thinking about this exercise is wanting to write a revisionist history. Of course it would look cooler if my answers for 5-10-15 were Tusk, Let It Be, and On Fire.

Age 5: Kenny Rogers- "The Gambler"

This answer is by default since I had not discovered music yet. At the age of 5, my life's ambition was to be Howard Cosell and interview Rod Carew. But while eating my breakfast before school my parents had on WIBC back when they were mostly news but they still played a couple of songs an hour and one of those was almost always "The Gambler". My parents were also fans of Kenny Rogers which could be a factor in my recollecting its existence from that age.

Age 10: Bryan Adams- Reckless

By age 10 I was completely into music. Early on i didn't necessarily have favorites. I liked everything I heard and what I heard was the radio. This was around the age I was starting to cultivate my taste and buy cassettes. I mostly liked new wave and mainstream rock that you would now hear in a classic hits format. "Summer of '69" was my favorite song on the album but I was also a fan of the "heavier" songs like "Kids Wanna Rock" and "It's Only Love".

Age 15: Queensryche- Operation: Mindcrime

At 15, my rock tastes had expanded into metal and was starting to head into what was considered alternative music. I could have probably answered Disintergration for this answer, it's definitely the more respectable one but probably not 100% true. If you had asked me at fifteen, who my favorite band was the answer would have been Queensryche. The concept angle was definitely part of the appeal. They were the perfect middle for a kid that wanted a band that was heavier and more serious than the hair metal bands that were all the rage, but accessible to someone who still wanted melody that thrash bands did not offer. As someone who has always liked music that could be identified as poppy or melodic, their follow-up Empire appealed to me even more. I was taken aback a little when I realized that they were becoming a big deal. Back in the days before Al Gore invented the internet, I would check the newspaper every week to see what the top 10 singles and albums were and the week in the fall of 1990 when I saw Empire at number 10 I actually thought it was a misprint. Of course, by the next spring "Silent Lucidity" became an actual hit. Like the rest of the world, by the time they released their next album in 1994 (yeah, the title escapes me and I am not looking it up) I had moved on.

Age 20: Ben Lee- Grandpa Would

Between 15 and 20 I had pretty much (again, like everyone else) gone the alternative route but I went right past it pretty quickly to what was considered College Rock (for those under the age of 25, that's what we called Indie Rock back in the mid-90's). I loved Noise Addict and Ben Lee from the very first time I heard "I Wish I Was Him" which was probably around the fall of '94. The song was very simplistic (it was written by a 14 year-old) yet catchy as hell and about the singer of The Lemonheads, another band I loved at the time. I was totally impressed and bought everything available at the time which was basically 2 ep's under the Noise Addict name. Grandpaw Would came out the following spring and I remember the very first time I heard the album I was disappointed. Something had happened that never occurred to me: puberty. His voice was literally changing during the recording of this album. Sometimes in the middle of songs. What started off as off-putting became endearing after a couple of listens. It didn't hurt that his songwriting was progressing and people like Liz Phair and Rebecca Gates sang backup. During this time I was also really into the television program "My So-Called Life." Since they were around the same age, I had this idea one day that it would be adorable if Ben Lee and Claire Danes would somehow meet and fall in love. A couple of years later, it actually happened when Winona Ryder set it up for Ben Lee to show up at Claire's birthday party (as she happened to be a Ben Lee fan as well). They were a couple for several years until Billy Crudup became the actual worst person on the planet. Don't feel too bad for Ben, he's now married to Ione Skye.

Age 25: Ben Folds Five- The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner

During these next five years I would listen to several bands that would get a following and then start to mature and tweak their sound a little that would usually irritate their fan base. This was exciting to me because I felt I was maturing with the band and I was growing up with the music. However, when this would happen record sales would fall off and in many cases it would also be the band's last album. Ben Folds Five pretty much followed this to a tee. Their first two albums contained jokey upbeat pop songs with a few more serious songs thrown in for good measure. When it came time for album #3 they were starting to outgrow lyrics like "give me my money back, you bitch". In fact, there were only 2 songs on the album I would even call upbeat. The album was very melancholy in a way that fit with my general mood in life at the time. Not all of the album works, but I still think "Don't Change Your Plans", "Mess" and "Magic" are 3 of the best songs the band ever recorded. Of course, the band would break up and Ben Folds would realize he didn't really outgrow the goofiness and that this was just a detour.

Age 30: The Trouble With Sweeney- I Know You Destroy!

A band that time has already forgotten. They were a witty indie-rock band from Philadelphia that released a couple of full length and ep's before falling off the face of the earth. They were the perfect mix of pop melodies with just a dash of wistfulness that had a literate quality to them without coming off as pretentious.

Age 35: Los Campesinos!

They are a rambunctious indie-pop outfit from Wales, just barely out of their teens but both recall and frequently name-drop the Indie Pop Underground bands of the early 90's. This brings me to the present and after all this time I guess I'm still just into catchy pop songs about the opposite sex.

I Finally Learned the Name of This Blog.....or More Useless Lists

2009-12-30T00:06:00.004-05:00

My original idea for doing this blog was to make lists, comment on lists and tell other people why they are wrong. I really haven't lived up to that idea at all. This will be my first step to remedy the situation.

I- The Top 10 Films of the Year.

This is always a risky proposition for a non-professional to do at the end of December or early January. I can't think of any year that has not had additions into the next year. I usually like to wait, but this year I don't really want to wait. I can always add on later. Besides, if this ends up being my final answer for the year, every title is at least listworthy.

1. Limits of Control- Jim Jarmusch. Jarmusch says that Point Blank was a huge influence on this film. Not only do I find that accurate, but it's a strong compliment to Jarmusch to say Limits belongs in the same company.

2. Inglourious Basterds- Quentin Tarantino. A film I vastly underrated the first time through which grows in stature with every viewing. Immensely rewatchable.

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox- Wes Anderson. Another year, another solid Wes Anderson film.

4 & 5. An Education- Lone Scherfig and Bright Star- Jane Campion. The two best romance films of the year, both directed by females. The former by the underrated director of the world's only dogma romantic comedy (Italian For Beginners) and the other known for her sensuality, shocked the world by making a movie that was rated PG. What's next a David Mamet film that's rated G?

As beautifully shot as both of these films were, the performances wee what elevated both pictures. In An Education, Alfred Molina gave humanity to a role that could have been easily reduced to a one-dimensional heavy and for the role of David to work, it had to be played by someone who could seduce Jenny, the parents and the audience all at the same time. We all knew we were being duped, but Peter Sarsgaard is so damn convincing.

As much as I love Paul Schneider I thought there was a good chance he could be misscast in Bright Star. I was wrong. Between this and Parks and Recreations, he's had one hell of a year.

6. Summer Hours- Olivier Assayas

After a couple of global corporate mindfuck movies, Assayas returns to things he is very comfortable with: France, family drama and using his secret weapon- Charles Berliner.

7. Adventureland- Greg Mottola

Mottola's first film to live up to its potential. The year's best hangout film. Plus, it reminded me how great of a pop song "Your Love" by the Outfield is and made me fall in love with the Replacements all over again.

8. Up- Pete Docter

Everybody talked about the opening 20 minutes of Wall-E. This is where the opening stretch of a Pixar film totally knocked me out.

9. In the Loop- Armando Iannucci
10. The Hurt Locker- Kathryn Bigelow

Top 10 of the Decade Chronologically by U.S. release date:
Almost Famous- Cameron Crowe
Yi Yi- Edward Yang
In the Mood For Love- Wong Kar-Wai
Together- Lukas Moodyson
The Company- Robert Altman
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou- Wes Anderson
Me, You and Everyone We Know- Miranda July
Marie Antoinette- Sofia Coppola
Dance Party U.S.A.- Aaron Katz
There Will Be Blood- Paul Thomas Anderson

10 Underrated Films of the Decade (also chronologically by U.S. release date):
The Way of the Gun- Christopher McQuarrie
Ali- Michael Mann
Femme Fatale- Brian De Palma
Down With Love- Peyton Reed
Birth- Jonathan Glazer
Spanglish- James L. Brooks
Sky High- Mike Mitchell
Fast Food Nation- Richard Linklater
The Painted Veil- John Curran
Role Models- David Wain

Worst Film of the Decade you have never heard of: Manna From Heaven- Gabrielle and Maria Burton
Worst Film of the Decade you have heard of: The Sweetest Thing- Roger Kumble
Worst Film of the Decade by an otherwise talented director: Redacted- Brian De Palma

I've seen a few new movies in my absence.... Part 1

2009-08-18T03:29:00.003-04:00

Warning: This is a 100% Spoiler Zone

Adam- I feel like I should talk about whether or not to go full retard. But instead as annoying as Hollywood feels this need to have happy endings, Indiewood needs to have either a downbeat or an alternate (i.e, they live better lives only not together) happy ending. I don't care either way along as the ending feels organic. This is a case where the full on happy ending would have worked better or a few different scenes before the big reveal. C+

Adventureland- Any movie that has Jesse Eisenberg looking out a bus window while Unsatisfied by The Replacements is playing is going to receive good marks from me. B (However, I would not be surprised to see this grade rise with a 2nd viewing).

Angel- Loved the first hour. Unfortunately the playful wit Ozon brought to 8 Women, Swimming Pool and the first part of Angel is replaced with a tone shift to the serious that the film never fully recovers. B

Anvil- Enjoyable standard issue rock doc. B

Away We Go- The crass caricatures presented as a cross-section of America does not work, but the human moments between Krasinski and Rudolph work quite well. B

Bandslam- The 15 year old girl in me loved this movie. Todd Graff continues down a similar road as Camp, showing talented teenagers performing all of the onscreen music. Graff seems more at home in the world of pop music than he did in the world of Steven Sondheim. By sticking to a more pop formula, he was able to find a consistent tone that Camp never fully acheived. B (Not a great movie but one I could see myself watching again in the near future).

Brothers Bloom- There are worse things you can do than try to rip off Wes Anderson. This was a vast improvement over Brick. B

Cheri- Engaging enough for awhile until a film stopping monologue by Pfeiffer that seemed to last for 20 minutes. C+

Cherry Blossoms- Starts out as a variation of the Make Way For Tomorrow/Tokyo Story variety that twists elsewhere. The most mature Doris Dorrie work to date. B+

Confessions of A Shopaholic- I'm not sure what planet this movie takes place on, because I'm pretty sure it is not Earth. C

Departures- Sweet story about a man who goes home to find out who he really is. B

Drag Me To Hell- Excluding Evil Dead 2 which is in many ways straight comedy, Sam Raimi needs to stop injecting humor into genre pieces- Darkman, Quick and the Dead, etc. Here he falls flat, although does manage to pull off a couple of visual setpieces. C+

Duplicity- Probably the most smug, self-satisfied movie I will see this year. Are Clive Owen and Julia Roberts playing the con, playing each other, playing the audience? I mostly didn't care, yet at the same time the ending was satisfying enough to give the slightest of recommendations. B-

Easy Virtue- Thoroughly enjoyable romp (minus the slapstick bit involving a dead dog)in the Importance of Being Earnest vein. Stephan Elliott was even able to produce a pretty decent performance out of Jessica Biel. B

Everlasting Moments- A very ordinary story that was full of few surprises, yet visually sumptuous. B

Fast and Furious- Probably my favorite since the first. This time Justin Lin learned his mistakes from Tokyo Drift: he toned down on making every hang out scene look like a skanky rap video, didn't abandon the cars for a huge portion of the first half and as an added bonus he killed Michelle Rodriguez very early into the proceedings. B-

(500) Days of Summer- The most uneven film of the year. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fantastic. Summer's only character traits are 1) she dresses like Zooey Deschanel and 2) her favorite Beatle is Ringo. There are 2 moments where I yelled out the word "really." The first is actually showing The Graduate (wow, we get it) and the other was naming Summer's successor Autumn. Entertaining nonetheless. B-

Flight 666- The story of Iron Maiden refurbishing an airplane flown by lead singer Bruce Dickinson to transport the band, their families, crew and gear across the world so they can play places like Chile and India where they are treated like the biggest band in the world. B

Funny People- After the perfect balance of humor and sentimentality of Knocked Up, Apatow leaned a little too far towards the sentimental side of things. Like Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, this is messy, slightly long and the director was probably too close to the material. Also like Elizabethtown, I liked it better than most people did. B

Girlfriend Experience- The most sexless movie ever about a porn star. B-

Gomorrah- Pointless movie about the Italian Mafia. C+

Goodbye Solo- Once you know the setup of cantankerous old man who is befriended by an immigrant cab driver with a seemingly sunny disposition while scoping out a teenager who works at an art cinema, you can pretty much connect all the dots without seeing the rest of the movie. Completely fine. B-

Harry Potter 6- The first 3/4 were better than the last two. The finale was underwhelming to say the least. B-

Herb and Dorothy- Fascinating doc about an eccentric couple who have figured out how to cram more art into their apartment than is humanly possible. B

Hunger- Downbeat story with minimal dialogue about Bobby Sands's hunger strike during The Troubles. Gruelling film I don't necessarily want to watch again anytime soon. B

Hurt Locker- A star making performance for lead Jeremy Renner. Definitely the best narrative film about the Iraq war. B+

I Love You Man- Anytime Jason Segel is on screen it's awesome anytime Jason Segel is not on screen very less than awesome. B-

In The Loop- Funniest British film in some time. A subplot with Steve Coogan doesn't really work, but there are some killer one liners. B+

Informers- Gregor Jordan understands what a Brett Easton Ellis movie should look like even if he hammers the "gee I wonder if she is going to die from aids" angle in the most obvious way possible. B-

Inkheart- Another mediocre movie by director Iain Softley. C

The International- Dull conspiracy movie with one good setpiece. C

Just Another Love Story- In some ways similar to the superior Open Hearts, in other ways similar to While You Were Sleeping. Yeah, I'm still not really sure how that's possible. B-

To Be Continued...

The Hit of the Summer

2009-06-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

One Blink for Yes, Two Blinks For No or Jullian Schnabel is a Talentless Hack

2009-02-11T01:13:00.003-05:00

I was going to write something about the Grammy's before the big event, but laziness continues to rear its ugly head. Apathy probably describes it better than laziness. The only category I had strong opinions about was Long Form Music Video. Peter Bogdanovich's 4 hour Tom Petty documentary,Runnin' Down A Dream won, so I'm happy. Its both the 2nd Best Rock N Roll Film and the 2nd Best Documentary I have ever seen.

Instead, here are my top 10 albums of the year:

1) Los Campesinos!- Hold On Now, Youngster. They might be too young to have been part of the International Pop Underground, but they didn't get the memo. This album had an immediacy that I loved from the first listen. Usually, when one thinks of Glockenspiels, you expect some navel-gazing instrumental heavy band or twee pop that hipsters can stand around with their folded arms and bob their heads up and down to without breaking a sweat (although you can still do that if you want.) Their songs present a youthful exuberance missing from most indie pop that at times can sound like controlled chaos although with an endless supply of catchy melodies. Their witty lyrics have come in question by some as pretentious. Fuck the haters.

2. Kanye West- 808's & Heartbreaks

Rumours. Foolish. Dear You. Domestica. I have always been drawn to breakup records. When this came out, everybody was scratching their heads, they wanted to know is it a dance record? a hip hop record? a pop record? Of course the answers are who cares what you call it and yes and no to all of the above. Pushing the boundaries of what is expected from a pop or hip hop record. The main complaint back in November was catchiness. The funny thing is, as time passes and the more people listen to this album, the catchiness issue has mostly disappeared. Now if he could just figure our a way to perform these songs live on television and not sound awful and he needs to lose the mullet.

3. Noah and the Whale- Peaceful, The World Weighs Me Down

They were well on their way to being an "it band" until a car commercial came out using the song "Five Years Time" and ruined the whole thing. Then I was able to hear intelligent ramblings like "it sounds like it should be in a car commercial." No it sounds like it should be in a Wes Anderson film. They made the right choice. Always take money over coolness.

4. Cut Copy- In Ghost Colours

Mgmt may have put out the 2 best dance singles of the year, but Cut Copy put out the best dance/electronic/New Order influenced album of the year.

5. Los Campesinos!- We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

Even if some of it plays as leftovers from the first album, it's still more Los Campesinos!

6. Tall Tale- Pirate Ship

Throwback to the indie/emo crossover bands I was a sucker for in the late 90's, but also plays to my having the taste of a fifteen year old girl. I once played this band for someone and they told me they sound like Vanessa Carlton. I tried to argue a more rocking Vanessa Carlton. I don't know if I won the argument. They are what I wanted/expected Eisley to sound like.

7. Kate Nash- Made of Bricks

Takes the Lily Allen mold and fuses in more intelligence, and much more than just another girl and her piano. She would be huge if she were a train-wreck who found herself in the papers every day.

8. +/-- X's on Your Eyes

Started out as a side project of Versus. +/- finally lived up to the potential I always knew was there.

9. Thursday/envy split LP (mostly the Thursday side).

This is what every screamo band should turn into when they decide to branch out.

10. Black Mountain- In the Future

The only band I know of that is probably equally influenced by Black Sabbath and Fairport Convention. I'm sure if I did drugs this would be my #1.

runners up include Counting Crows (a band no one outside the band and WTTS listeners care about anymore), M83 (sounding like a soundtrack to a lost John Hughes film was expected in Anthony Gonzales making an 80's homage. it's the songs that sound like prince and kate bush that i wasn't expecting.), Mgmt, Mates of State (reproducing twice seems to have taken away some of the rough around the edges aesthetic that surrounded their infectious melodies, which has slightly hurt the last couple of albums, but still fairly solid) and The Teenagers (Eurotrash as a compliment).

Of course, this could all change a month from now.

best of 2008 (sort of)

2009-01-01T02:52:00.002-05:00

My best films and albums of 2008 will come later as I don't think I'm done with all of the films I want to see that were released in the US during this calendar year and I'm going back through any albums that have a chance in hell of making it (sorry, Death Cab For Cutie you didn't make the cut seeing that you released a just above mediocre album.....so instead here are my top 10 films I have seen for the first time in 2008.

1. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson) Drainage.
2. Dance Party USA (Aaron Katz) One of the most honest and emotionally rewarding film about teenagers. I'm tired of having to defend this, but yes kids talk like this.
3. In the City of Sylvia (Jose Luis Guerin) The most cinematic film of the year.
4. Quiet City (Aaron Katz) The DIY Before Sunrise.
5. Made in USA (Jean-Luc Godard) Contains the two things Godard did not do enough of in his heyday 1. color 2. 2.35 Plus as a bonus has Jean-Pierre Leaud and Anna Karina in the leads.
6. Taking Off (Milos Forman)

I wish I would have gone seen this and Loves of a Blonde during the Forman retrospectives that played in Chicago and Columbus earlier this year.

7. Movie Movie - The Baxter's Beauties Segment (Stanley Donen)
8. Make Way For Tomorrow (Leo McCarey) Very similar to Tokyo Story- Older couple feel like a burden to their children. Came out 20 years before the Ozu film and the far superior one. I guess it pays to have the "Classic of World Cinema" reputation.
9. Sunflower (Zhang Yang)- The New York Times summed it up perfectly: "Douglas Sirk without the throw pillows"
10. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama) At 4 hours, I felt like I was on the trip with them.

Runners Up: Shadow of A Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock) and A Christmas Tale (Annaud Desplachin)

12/12-12/18

2008-12-15T04:43:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-01T04:15:00.005-05:00

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

2008-11-16T03:49:00.004-05:00

top 5 for 11/7-11/13

2008-11-10T20:29:00.001-05:00

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.

2008-11-03T03:14:00.003-05:00

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

2008-10-24T17:04:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-16T01:39:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-11T04:12:00.001-04:00

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

2008-10-04T03:34:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-02T04:32:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-27T03:23:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-21T03:53:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-17T21:58:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-17T00:13:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-12T04:12:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-04T17:14:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-02T02:56:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-08-30T04:05:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-29T21:38:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-25T17:17:00.002-04:00

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)

2008-08-22T04:47:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-18T22:50:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-16T02:56:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-12T01:25:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-08T03:48:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-05T03:14:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-01T06:36:00.003-04:00

Let's try this again.

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

2008-08-01T06:01:00.003-04:00

Has anyone else read this nonsense

Top 5 films 8/1-8/7

2008-08-01T05:51:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-01T04:46:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-29T03:35:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-25T19:56:00.002-04:00

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?

2008-07-25T05:16:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-21T17:07:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-21T16:20:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-17T16:52:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-15T01:13:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-14T00:51:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-12T01:00:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-09T02:58:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-08T03:50:00.004-04:00

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.

2008-07-06T03:06:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-05T03:06:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-04T03:54:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-03T03:34:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-07-01T05:14:00.003-04:00

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.