Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you've seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.
My List:
My Fair Lady,
Almost Famous,
Pleasantville,
Election,
Kill Bill,
Ferris Bueller,
North by Northwest,
Before Sunset,
The Witches,
Bowling for Columbine,
Independence Day,
Dr. Strangelove,
Cool Runnings,
Run Lola Run,
High Noon
And runner up: Gattaca
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
500 Days Of Summer and Funny People
After the heat from the summer blockbusters has worn off, we reach the contemplative midseason replacements. Best paired with an afternoon at your hamptons produce stand of choice. Before we get to Julie/Julia and time travelers wife...we have these two interesting flicks which will be lost on their way to years best lists in spite of their many merits:
500 days of summer has a lot of charm in its refreshing downtown yuppie style, discovering parts of LA with the lens not before exposed in such a whimsical light. Loved the concept of the jumbled relationship told in disorganized snapshots, excellent charismatic actors, cool music video camera work. Wished there had been more from summer, more of a two-sided Before Sunset feel than "she's just not that into you.". Hard to watch cluelessness from JGL for two hours without deciding he's kind of a moron for pursuing someone with no interest in him beyond careless amusement. This is not a love-story the film makes very clear from the get-go but it certainly makes one question every failed relationship you've had. Was I living in a music video of one?
Funny People was, well, brilliant. Such honesty and such an excellent ensemble piece filled with humor and autheticity. There is no question in my mind that this is based in reality--Sandlers empire based on personal insecurities and unprovoked meanness, rogen's goofy everymanness, mann's failed melrose babe career. There are so many excellent moments in this film--from the funny--the standup, the rapor between the comedians to the sincere--watching the daughter sing Memory with George Simmons checking his phone...perfect. I one-hundred percent believed this movie and was invested in the characters' lives. People never change and to expect otherwise is a symptom of insanity. Definitely a top ten not to be lost in bathing suit season.
500 days of summer has a lot of charm in its refreshing downtown yuppie style, discovering parts of LA with the lens not before exposed in such a whimsical light. Loved the concept of the jumbled relationship told in disorganized snapshots, excellent charismatic actors, cool music video camera work. Wished there had been more from summer, more of a two-sided Before Sunset feel than "she's just not that into you.". Hard to watch cluelessness from JGL for two hours without deciding he's kind of a moron for pursuing someone with no interest in him beyond careless amusement. This is not a love-story the film makes very clear from the get-go but it certainly makes one question every failed relationship you've had. Was I living in a music video of one?
Funny People was, well, brilliant. Such honesty and such an excellent ensemble piece filled with humor and autheticity. There is no question in my mind that this is based in reality--Sandlers empire based on personal insecurities and unprovoked meanness, rogen's goofy everymanness, mann's failed melrose babe career. There are so many excellent moments in this film--from the funny--the standup, the rapor between the comedians to the sincere--watching the daughter sing Memory with George Simmons checking his phone...perfect. I one-hundred percent believed this movie and was invested in the characters' lives. People never change and to expect otherwise is a symptom of insanity. Definitely a top ten not to be lost in bathing suit season.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
One of my favorite things in the world is the midnight movie. True fact. I am not referring to Rocky Horror, but rather any film that should be seen at midnight, opening night (AM), with a large possibly-costumed-definitely-nerdy crowd who will be very vocal and very clued into whatever insider jokes/moments the filmmaker offers up. To me, the midnight movie blurs the line between film and theatre. My first phrase: Coming to a feater near you. At a young age, I knew what I liked.
Seeing Harry Potter 6, the newest installment of the seven/eight part series, exemplifies the midnight movie. You have a fan base, eclectic in demographics, costumes (I saw people with wands, caps, stuffed owls, and lightning bolt scars--sweet sweet merchandise), a summer blockbuster (grossed 100 mil in one day), and a series...there is a cliffhanger, there is a loyalty to the series and also an anticipation of what's to come. Attendance at a midnight premiere suggests you cannot wait a single second more to see this film. It will be all you speak of at the water cooler or summer day camp for the next three weeks.
By 11 PM at 84th and Broadway, the slumber party was well underway. Every single screen at the cineplex would be showing HP6 at 12:01 or 12:05 (theatres with earlier shows of Transformers 2). Youngsters with jumbo sized popcorns in Griffyndor pajamas. Happiness is crooked glasses on a 14 year old with a lightning bolt scar scrawled in eyeliner.
The film was great. I am not hasty in this review because I agree this was exposition heavy, rather than action which comes as a disappointment to passionate Potter fans. But fundamentally, they achieved something that the other films dreamt of -- cinematic adaptation -- a mood and texture synthesized using filmic techniques which highlighted important moments of the story. This isn't a scene-shot, scene-shot strung together nonsensically. There is build and there is tension. The bargaining scene between Mrs. Malfoy, Strange, and Snape -- brilliant, felt cold and isolating like Kubrick's The Shining labyrinth, and dramatic like a good Arthur Miller act. The quidditch play was exciting and dangerous in a way never before felt. We saw bits of Hogwarts that were grandiose without being solely exterior shots of gothic architecture. And we had comedy and awkwardness.
But to see these films again -- in an emptier theatre, on netflix, worse on an iphone screen, not the same. They live and die in the midnight movie to me. Not to be revisited or recreated like live theatre.
Seeing Harry Potter 6, the newest installment of the seven/eight part series, exemplifies the midnight movie. You have a fan base, eclectic in demographics, costumes (I saw people with wands, caps, stuffed owls, and lightning bolt scars--sweet sweet merchandise), a summer blockbuster (grossed 100 mil in one day), and a series...there is a cliffhanger, there is a loyalty to the series and also an anticipation of what's to come. Attendance at a midnight premiere suggests you cannot wait a single second more to see this film. It will be all you speak of at the water cooler or summer day camp for the next three weeks.
By 11 PM at 84th and Broadway, the slumber party was well underway. Every single screen at the cineplex would be showing HP6 at 12:01 or 12:05 (theatres with earlier shows of Transformers 2). Youngsters with jumbo sized popcorns in Griffyndor pajamas. Happiness is crooked glasses on a 14 year old with a lightning bolt scar scrawled in eyeliner.
The film was great. I am not hasty in this review because I agree this was exposition heavy, rather than action which comes as a disappointment to passionate Potter fans. But fundamentally, they achieved something that the other films dreamt of -- cinematic adaptation -- a mood and texture synthesized using filmic techniques which highlighted important moments of the story. This isn't a scene-shot, scene-shot strung together nonsensically. There is build and there is tension. The bargaining scene between Mrs. Malfoy, Strange, and Snape -- brilliant, felt cold and isolating like Kubrick's The Shining labyrinth, and dramatic like a good Arthur Miller act. The quidditch play was exciting and dangerous in a way never before felt. We saw bits of Hogwarts that were grandiose without being solely exterior shots of gothic architecture. And we had comedy and awkwardness.
But to see these films again -- in an emptier theatre, on netflix, worse on an iphone screen, not the same. They live and die in the midnight movie to me. Not to be revisited or recreated like live theatre.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Transformers 2, Year One, and Bruno
The boys club of summer flicks: scotum slapstick, CGI enhanced robot babes and well Sascha Baron Cohen:
Year One can't ride the "so bad it's good" bandwagon. I don't know why neither Jack Black nor Michael Cera were able to recgonize the devoid of humor Monty python ripoff. It had so much potential yet flatlined from the first scene. I am reminded of movies this could have been: Tropic Thunder, Robin Hood Men in Tight, maybe Spaceballs? The setup is so precarious. Take contemporary comedians and insert them into a revival of a film formula--the silly caveman. Hard though if they don't buy into the world and thus are unable to richly lampoon it. We are left with a lot of awkward actors in stupid laugh setups. They just want to be themselves.
Trannies 2 clocks in at 2:45 which is actually too long for a midnight showing. Or maybe it speaks to the commitment of its fans to persevere through bad pacing and epic explosions. To critique Revenge of the Fallen is like yelling at a donut for not being a raspberry tarts with peach compote. It never claimed to be anything but empty bland calories. If you are on board for that, as most midnight screeners or obese Americans are, own it. We are in a recession--let the people have their bread and circuses.
Bruno--a friend said, with SBC, if you don't get the joke, you are the joke. He is very talented and the situations in his second full-length adventure (wow, even that sounds dirty) are pretty absurd. I laughed a bunch, sometimes out of shock, response to cleverness or prudish discomfort. The latter only being a sort of mediated laugh, like I would laugh here but would the person judge me. Do I care? I mean we are all here to laugh. But also maybe to think. Homophobia (bruno) might present just as serious a threat to our social fabric as xenophobia (Borat). Still think the wit in Borat was stronger but have also seen it several times. Maybe Bruno will dig deeper next time. Wow. Mind in gutter.
Year One can't ride the "so bad it's good" bandwagon. I don't know why neither Jack Black nor Michael Cera were able to recgonize the devoid of humor Monty python ripoff. It had so much potential yet flatlined from the first scene. I am reminded of movies this could have been: Tropic Thunder, Robin Hood Men in Tight, maybe Spaceballs? The setup is so precarious. Take contemporary comedians and insert them into a revival of a film formula--the silly caveman. Hard though if they don't buy into the world and thus are unable to richly lampoon it. We are left with a lot of awkward actors in stupid laugh setups. They just want to be themselves.
Trannies 2 clocks in at 2:45 which is actually too long for a midnight showing. Or maybe it speaks to the commitment of its fans to persevere through bad pacing and epic explosions. To critique Revenge of the Fallen is like yelling at a donut for not being a raspberry tarts with peach compote. It never claimed to be anything but empty bland calories. If you are on board for that, as most midnight screeners or obese Americans are, own it. We are in a recession--let the people have their bread and circuses.
Bruno--a friend said, with SBC, if you don't get the joke, you are the joke. He is very talented and the situations in his second full-length adventure (wow, even that sounds dirty) are pretty absurd. I laughed a bunch, sometimes out of shock, response to cleverness or prudish discomfort. The latter only being a sort of mediated laugh, like I would laugh here but would the person judge me. Do I care? I mean we are all here to laugh. But also maybe to think. Homophobia (bruno) might present just as serious a threat to our social fabric as xenophobia (Borat). Still think the wit in Borat was stronger but have also seen it several times. Maybe Bruno will dig deeper next time. Wow. Mind in gutter.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Up!, Away We Go, The Hangover
Haikus on a few summer flicks.
Up
Must see in three-D
Bawled for first ten minutes straight
Pixar does no wrong
Away We Go
Slackers in a car
Wax poetic about love
Emo tunes abound
The Hangover
Frat pack in Vegas
Drinks flow and chaos ensues
Ouch, insane sunburn
Up
Must see in three-D
Bawled for first ten minutes straight
Pixar does no wrong
Away We Go
Slackers in a car
Wax poetic about love
Emo tunes abound
The Hangover
Frat pack in Vegas
Drinks flow and chaos ensues
Ouch, insane sunburn
Friday, May 15, 2009
17 Again, Wolverine, and Star Trek: the Guilty Pleasure Trifecta
I like to kick off my summer months with some truly silly entertainment. For starters, eye candy: Zac Efron, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Chris Pine. While I am somewhat embarrassed to say I saw these films, I counter with the hours upon hours I spent at Tribeca Film Festival watching downers like Yodok Stories (documentary about Korean concentration camps). Surely my culture quota and personal integrity has been recouped and redeemed.
17 Again: three stars... I love a good dance sequence and Matthew Perry's comedic timing is actually underrated
Wolverine: one star...almost unwatchable
Star Trek: two, for kindness, this should have been a tv movie...a reunion special of some extraordinary Angels In America HBO scale, but instead it was repackaged as a summer blockbuster. I am no Trekkie, but I was not fooled.
17 Again: three stars... I love a good dance sequence and Matthew Perry's comedic timing is actually underrated
Wolverine: one star...almost unwatchable
Star Trek: two, for kindness, this should have been a tv movie...a reunion special of some extraordinary Angels In America HBO scale, but instead it was repackaged as a summer blockbuster. I am no Trekkie, but I was not fooled.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Enlighten Up and Every Little Step
Yoga and Broadway...two of my favorite things featured in two of the hottest docs in town. One I will recommend and one I will recommend if you aren't paying Manhattan prices.
Enlighten Up follows photogenic journalist Nick on his six-month crusade to dabble in the tao of yoga. Along the way, he tries all sorts of yoga across the world, meeting with gurus and yogi flakes, etc. What could have been a very enlightening movie about the contemporary American yoga craze and yoga's actual spiritual pull lacked a clear thesis. Filmmaker Kate is too present, too whiny, too bent on interrupting her own film. The final shot is of her on her mat. That alone is very telling. The film will achieve a limited success among an ever expanding community of contortionists. My 90 minutes would probably have been better spent in suvasana.
Every Little Step covers the casting process of the 2007 Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. Some what American Idol for the jazz hand set, but also fascinating insight into the history of this fantastic show. This doc managed to capture the energy of several exciting moments throughout this epic search for the cast. It was fun to revisit favorite scenes. Every Little Step is a reminder of the power of terrific theatre and the drive that inspires the greater theatre community.
Paired well with Hampton Chutney...uptown or soho. Nourish your inner yogi with a South Indian-inspired rice crepe while keeping your chorus girl figure.
Enlighten Up follows photogenic journalist Nick on his six-month crusade to dabble in the tao of yoga. Along the way, he tries all sorts of yoga across the world, meeting with gurus and yogi flakes, etc. What could have been a very enlightening movie about the contemporary American yoga craze and yoga's actual spiritual pull lacked a clear thesis. Filmmaker Kate is too present, too whiny, too bent on interrupting her own film. The final shot is of her on her mat. That alone is very telling. The film will achieve a limited success among an ever expanding community of contortionists. My 90 minutes would probably have been better spent in suvasana.
Every Little Step covers the casting process of the 2007 Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. Some what American Idol for the jazz hand set, but also fascinating insight into the history of this fantastic show. This doc managed to capture the energy of several exciting moments throughout this epic search for the cast. It was fun to revisit favorite scenes. Every Little Step is a reminder of the power of terrific theatre and the drive that inspires the greater theatre community.
Paired well with Hampton Chutney...uptown or soho. Nourish your inner yogi with a South Indian-inspired rice crepe while keeping your chorus girl figure.
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