May everyone in America go watch Serenity this weekend. And go home, drink good beer, listen to Tanglewood Numbers, and have great sex. This is my wish unto every one of you. You may replace Serenity with History of Violence and I will not be displeased.
And when you wake up...
9/29/2005
9/26/2005
Thumbsucker: The Review
I figured with the amount of jibber-jabbing I've been giving the book and the impending movie I’d chime in with my two half-pennies on the results. It’s not that I really think that anyone reading this went out and picked up the book and read the thing and is now wondering about the movie – but hey, what’s life without fantasies and bookends.
The movies pretty good actually. It’s a skipping stone to the book though. As I predicted we don’t get the pot baby or the job at the gas station. We also don’t get the Mormons, which is probably the most missed, and we don’t get the majority of the dad’s story arc (his cry for help family hike and the lost weekend on the island with Justin). Now yes, this is all sorely missed – but I know just as well as anyone that making a good book into a good movie is a Sophie’s Choice struggle. And for the most part they’ve succeeded.
The good/bad is that Keanu and Vince (Vaughn) almost steal the movie from the central family – that’s not to say that Tilda or the other Vince (D'Onofrio) do a bad job. Not at all, Tilda especially brings her Mom part to life, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that she looks and Vince gives his main scenes that deep well of substance that he always offers up (this time not as creepy as most) as the Dad. If they’d given 15 minutes of touching on his hunting obsession I’d definitely be more pleased, but it seems they wanted to clock in at the 90 minute area so we’re given a small firecracker version of the book.
What really makes the movie good is that you know that Mike Mills (the writer/director) loves these characters. And that’s not just because I’ve read his interviews. That love is up there on the screen and it’s infectious.
The movies pretty good actually. It’s a skipping stone to the book though. As I predicted we don’t get the pot baby or the job at the gas station. We also don’t get the Mormons, which is probably the most missed, and we don’t get the majority of the dad’s story arc (his cry for help family hike and the lost weekend on the island with Justin). Now yes, this is all sorely missed – but I know just as well as anyone that making a good book into a good movie is a Sophie’s Choice struggle. And for the most part they’ve succeeded.
The good/bad is that Keanu and Vince (Vaughn) almost steal the movie from the central family – that’s not to say that Tilda or the other Vince (D'Onofrio) do a bad job. Not at all, Tilda especially brings her Mom part to life, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that she looks and Vince gives his main scenes that deep well of substance that he always offers up (this time not as creepy as most) as the Dad. If they’d given 15 minutes of touching on his hunting obsession I’d definitely be more pleased, but it seems they wanted to clock in at the 90 minute area so we’re given a small firecracker version of the book.
What really makes the movie good is that you know that Mike Mills (the writer/director) loves these characters. And that’s not just because I’ve read his interviews. That love is up there on the screen and it’s infectious.
9/22/2005
HOT KUNG-FU JOHN WOO JEAN-LUC GODARD ACTION
It's that time again...
Five Deadly Venoms -- My familiarity with The Shaws Bros kung-fu flicks of the 70's is sorely lacking. So this seemed like a good place to start. It starts off OK. Then it slides a bit downhill with a rather unlikable main protagonist. The last student of a dying kung-fu master is sent to track down and keep tabs on his previous five students, the 5 deadly venoms of the title, each one the master of a certain reptilian technique. The plot set-up is rather ridiculous, the dying master seems to have an uncanny ability to know just when the shit's about to hit the fan, thought the only reason he seem to be telling his young annoying apprentice is because he's dying... But hey, we're not renting this movie for its plot structure.
So the 5 Venoms always wore masks so the dude doesn’t know who they are, only that they're probably going to be going after the money that the master has left his friend in this small town with a horrendous judiciary system. Yeah, I told you it’s ridiculous, but just stick with me. Once two of the Venoms are revealed to be the evil ones and the guy with the money is killed the movie starts to pick up – at this point it goes from 2 stars to 3.
The kid from the beginning that we think is the main character thankfully stays in the background and some pretty cool set pieces happen when 4 of the 5 Venoms figure out who each other are and a couple of them get arrested and have to deal with some pretty severe forms of questioning.
The last half of the movie is far superior to the first and there’s some pretty gruesome death scenes and a damn fine finale. Starts off at 2 stars and ends up squeezing out a 4 out of 5.
A Better Tomorrow II – This is a movie I’d seen way back in ’95 or ’96. Alls I remembered is that the last half hour of this movie blew me away. I’m not the biggest John Woo fan. The only classic I think he’s created is Hard Boiled. Which appropriately enough was the last movie he directed for China. I liked The Killer and A Better Tomorrow well enough but can’t quite get into the soap opera melodrama, though I won’t deny that these elements are what him the first guy to turn his gun battles into opera.
But this movie’s definitely one of his poorer efforts. (Though you can read elsewhere that this was a very troubled production, one of the biggest budgeted films of Hong Kong at that point since it did film in New York and the producer Tsui Hark was starting to get his own directing ideas. Tsui’s become a better director if you ask me but sadly hasn’t been given a second chance or even a decent opportunity in the US – which may or may not be a good thing.) The shit subtitles and crappy transfer on this DVD certainly don’t help – I’m not sure what it takes or what it costs to put new subtitles on a movie, but damn, this one’s one of the worst I’ve seen. Practically every other sentence has a misspelled or otherwise fucked up sentence – some of it engrish-ized. “Yes, hats a very good pran.”
We won’t mention that Chow Yun-Fat died in the first one and comes back as Ken’s twin brother Mark is a pretty cheesy thing, because hey, Chow Yun-Fat is always a good thing in a John Woo movie regardless. There’s so much over-acting in this movie it pretty much becomes painful, especially with the whole Uncle Lung business losing his mind and repeatedly getting force-fed over and over again.
But! Besides all this, we’re treated to possibly one of the finest staged and choreographed acts of insane bloodshed ever put on film. You could pretty much put this DVD on at the 1 hour 13 minute point of the film and go crazy. The amount of perfectly exploded blood packs and squibs and the ingenious use of introducing a samurai sword in the middle of an automatic gun fight… And the second or third to last shot on the men resting together in the aftermath. Yes, this is why 10 years ago I thought this movie was the shit. 2.5 out of 5.
Alphaville – French new-wave sci-fi. If that sounds interesting to you, you’ll love this. Jean Luc-Godard’s version of 1985 pretty much. You have a mostly highly enjoyable adventure with Lemmy Caution, a Sam Spade type who arrives in Alphaville with an unknown agenda. You can’t say too much more without giving the whole thing away. The city’s evolved into a fascist state through the calculations of a computer program, and Lemmy’s shaking things up with the help of an always obsession worthy Anna Karina. It’s a fun mix of noir and sci-fi long before Blade Runner, though the subject matter does get a bit repetitive at times.
There’s so much going on and trying to be said in here but there’s a good amount of playfulness that keeps it entertaining. For 1965 it’s pretty cool to see Godard play with these genres and the idea of a fascist future created through computer programming. A lot of elements of Fahrenheit 451 also in here as well. Well worth watching – 4 out of 5.
Five Deadly Venoms -- My familiarity with The Shaws Bros kung-fu flicks of the 70's is sorely lacking. So this seemed like a good place to start. It starts off OK. Then it slides a bit downhill with a rather unlikable main protagonist. The last student of a dying kung-fu master is sent to track down and keep tabs on his previous five students, the 5 deadly venoms of the title, each one the master of a certain reptilian technique. The plot set-up is rather ridiculous, the dying master seems to have an uncanny ability to know just when the shit's about to hit the fan, thought the only reason he seem to be telling his young annoying apprentice is because he's dying... But hey, we're not renting this movie for its plot structure.So the 5 Venoms always wore masks so the dude doesn’t know who they are, only that they're probably going to be going after the money that the master has left his friend in this small town with a horrendous judiciary system. Yeah, I told you it’s ridiculous, but just stick with me. Once two of the Venoms are revealed to be the evil ones and the guy with the money is killed the movie starts to pick up – at this point it goes from 2 stars to 3.
The kid from the beginning that we think is the main character thankfully stays in the background and some pretty cool set pieces happen when 4 of the 5 Venoms figure out who each other are and a couple of them get arrested and have to deal with some pretty severe forms of questioning.
The last half of the movie is far superior to the first and there’s some pretty gruesome death scenes and a damn fine finale. Starts off at 2 stars and ends up squeezing out a 4 out of 5.
A Better Tomorrow II – This is a movie I’d seen way back in ’95 or ’96. Alls I remembered is that the last half hour of this movie blew me away. I’m not the biggest John Woo fan. The only classic I think he’s created is Hard Boiled. Which appropriately enough was the last movie he directed for China. I liked The Killer and A Better Tomorrow well enough but can’t quite get into the soap opera melodrama, though I won’t deny that these elements are what him the first guy to turn his gun battles into opera.But this movie’s definitely one of his poorer efforts. (Though you can read elsewhere that this was a very troubled production, one of the biggest budgeted films of Hong Kong at that point since it did film in New York and the producer Tsui Hark was starting to get his own directing ideas. Tsui’s become a better director if you ask me but sadly hasn’t been given a second chance or even a decent opportunity in the US – which may or may not be a good thing.) The shit subtitles and crappy transfer on this DVD certainly don’t help – I’m not sure what it takes or what it costs to put new subtitles on a movie, but damn, this one’s one of the worst I’ve seen. Practically every other sentence has a misspelled or otherwise fucked up sentence – some of it engrish-ized. “Yes, hats a very good pran.”
We won’t mention that Chow Yun-Fat died in the first one and comes back as Ken’s twin brother Mark is a pretty cheesy thing, because hey, Chow Yun-Fat is always a good thing in a John Woo movie regardless. There’s so much over-acting in this movie it pretty much becomes painful, especially with the whole Uncle Lung business losing his mind and repeatedly getting force-fed over and over again.
But! Besides all this, we’re treated to possibly one of the finest staged and choreographed acts of insane bloodshed ever put on film. You could pretty much put this DVD on at the 1 hour 13 minute point of the film and go crazy. The amount of perfectly exploded blood packs and squibs and the ingenious use of introducing a samurai sword in the middle of an automatic gun fight… And the second or third to last shot on the men resting together in the aftermath. Yes, this is why 10 years ago I thought this movie was the shit. 2.5 out of 5.
Alphaville – French new-wave sci-fi. If that sounds interesting to you, you’ll love this. Jean Luc-Godard’s version of 1985 pretty much. You have a mostly highly enjoyable adventure with Lemmy Caution, a Sam Spade type who arrives in Alphaville with an unknown agenda. You can’t say too much more without giving the whole thing away. The city’s evolved into a fascist state through the calculations of a computer program, and Lemmy’s shaking things up with the help of an always obsession worthy Anna Karina. It’s a fun mix of noir and sci-fi long before Blade Runner, though the subject matter does get a bit repetitive at times.There’s so much going on and trying to be said in here but there’s a good amount of playfulness that keeps it entertaining. For 1965 it’s pretty cool to see Godard play with these genres and the idea of a fascist future created through computer programming. A lot of elements of Fahrenheit 451 also in here as well. Well worth watching – 4 out of 5.
9/13/2005
Old Man Goes To Concerts
September 8th, 2005, 5:30pm -- We meet up at Redbones for some food before the show. The show is Sufjan Stevens. 
The app was Catfish Fingers, the meal chosen is Beef Jerk Sandwich with a side of Mac & Cheese. Now, I hold a small amount of pride for having a pretty damn high tolerance towards hot/spicy foods. That "hot" salsa you hand my way, spicy ketchup. But this shit was insane. Tears were pretty much constantly pouring from my eyes, sweat beeding on the brow. The only reason I was able to eat between 1/4 or 1/3 of this sandwich was the mac & cheese. I know that the worst thing to do in this situation is to drink water. Milk is the best hot sauce antidote, and the beer and macheese got me through a dozen or so small bites and then I had to throw in the towel and order a second helping of our app -- the kickass Catfish Fingers. I felt a beaten man with a possibly troubled digestive system.
The line was wrapped around the venue but we got excellent seats. The old man was able to sit. Laura Veirs opened up, and the entire time I could not get over her bass player and his suspendered linen pants and braided hair. It was an OK set -- I definitely enjoyed the songs more on the ipod though.
The drummer came out first for Sufjan’s set. From where I was sitting this was the only member I didn’t have a good seat for. M’lady reassured me that he was dressed in the cheerleader outfit that I’d been told was the attire of this tour (though later on when he came to sit in on xylophone it was revealed that they ran out of cheerleading outfit material and sadly he, the drummer, was the one to end up with shorts, much to the funny of the audience). He started up a drum-roll and the rest of the band came out in the requisite cheerleading formation. They preformed a cheer for the audience and launched into the 50 states song.
The whole set that proceeded was a joyous occasion. Sufjan is one hell of a confident performer. They did a version of the Star Spangled Banner that had even the most cynical guy in the house cheering afterward. God knows I'm no Christian, but I even dig the songs where he'll slyly bring in his faith, for some reason I find it endearing. To me it’s the same as listening to the American Folk Anthology – your listening to someone who believes it and it’s powerful -- a good song's a good song.
Most of the songs were the sad stories that wrapped you up and tucked you in. And in between were choreographed cheers about midwest cities. They were good songs… I’m still more of a Michigan fan but Illinois is growing on me.
September 11th, 2005 -- The Hold Steady at T.T. The Bear’s. The old man had to stand but it was obvious The Hold Steady kicked the ass of every living being in the place. Was it worth being 90% useless on Monday? Looking back, I say, yes. They throw out a great amount of energy that you can't help but be affected by. I enjoy their 2 albums -- the first one a bit more, but they do pale more than a bit in comparison with the live show.
I apologize if I cut The Hold Steady stuff short – trust me, go see them – but I want to add a bit in here about The Staircase.
Ya like Law & Order, right? Who the hell doesn’t? This is pretty much Law & Order Super Sized. Fuck that convenient wrap-it-up-in-an-hour NYC shit, let’s see what really happens in the average American courtroom. Right? Wowzers. It's been over a couple weeks now since I saw the 8 one-hour episodes that comprise this two-disc set and it's still sticking with me. The mother of an affluent family is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in a pool of her own blood. Despite a frantic call to 911 the husband is charged with 1st degree murder.
I can't give too much more away -- every episode packs what in legaleese is refered to as a whammy, or a, hey-oh! The filmakers get unprecedented access to every part of the defense team as they try to build their case. We find out in the bonus interviews with them that they tried to get similar access with the prosecution team but were denied only a minor amount. But after watching the entire story unfold and seeing the prosecution's case -- you're not complaining. If you've ever had a passing interest in true-crime or the insanity of the legal system then this is for you, and everyone else too. Shit -- 5 out of 5.
The app was Catfish Fingers, the meal chosen is Beef Jerk Sandwich with a side of Mac & Cheese. Now, I hold a small amount of pride for having a pretty damn high tolerance towards hot/spicy foods. That "hot" salsa you hand my way, spicy ketchup. But this shit was insane. Tears were pretty much constantly pouring from my eyes, sweat beeding on the brow. The only reason I was able to eat between 1/4 or 1/3 of this sandwich was the mac & cheese. I know that the worst thing to do in this situation is to drink water. Milk is the best hot sauce antidote, and the beer and macheese got me through a dozen or so small bites and then I had to throw in the towel and order a second helping of our app -- the kickass Catfish Fingers. I felt a beaten man with a possibly troubled digestive system.The line was wrapped around the venue but we got excellent seats. The old man was able to sit. Laura Veirs opened up, and the entire time I could not get over her bass player and his suspendered linen pants and braided hair. It was an OK set -- I definitely enjoyed the songs more on the ipod though.
The drummer came out first for Sufjan’s set. From where I was sitting this was the only member I didn’t have a good seat for. M’lady reassured me that he was dressed in the cheerleader outfit that I’d been told was the attire of this tour (though later on when he came to sit in on xylophone it was revealed that they ran out of cheerleading outfit material and sadly he, the drummer, was the one to end up with shorts, much to the funny of the audience). He started up a drum-roll and the rest of the band came out in the requisite cheerleading formation. They preformed a cheer for the audience and launched into the 50 states song.
The whole set that proceeded was a joyous occasion. Sufjan is one hell of a confident performer. They did a version of the Star Spangled Banner that had even the most cynical guy in the house cheering afterward. God knows I'm no Christian, but I even dig the songs where he'll slyly bring in his faith, for some reason I find it endearing. To me it’s the same as listening to the American Folk Anthology – your listening to someone who believes it and it’s powerful -- a good song's a good song.Most of the songs were the sad stories that wrapped you up and tucked you in. And in between were choreographed cheers about midwest cities. They were good songs… I’m still more of a Michigan fan but Illinois is growing on me.
September 11th, 2005 -- The Hold Steady at T.T. The Bear’s. The old man had to stand but it was obvious The Hold Steady kicked the ass of every living being in the place. Was it worth being 90% useless on Monday? Looking back, I say, yes. They throw out a great amount of energy that you can't help but be affected by. I enjoy their 2 albums -- the first one a bit more, but they do pale more than a bit in comparison with the live show.
I apologize if I cut The Hold Steady stuff short – trust me, go see them – but I want to add a bit in here about The Staircase.
Ya like Law & Order, right? Who the hell doesn’t? This is pretty much Law & Order Super Sized. Fuck that convenient wrap-it-up-in-an-hour NYC shit, let’s see what really happens in the average American courtroom. Right? Wowzers. It's been over a couple weeks now since I saw the 8 one-hour episodes that comprise this two-disc set and it's still sticking with me. The mother of an affluent family is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in a pool of her own blood. Despite a frantic call to 911 the husband is charged with 1st degree murder.I can't give too much more away -- every episode packs what in legaleese is refered to as a whammy, or a, hey-oh! The filmakers get unprecedented access to every part of the defense team as they try to build their case. We find out in the bonus interviews with them that they tried to get similar access with the prosecution team but were denied only a minor amount. But after watching the entire story unfold and seeing the prosecution's case -- you're not complaining. If you've ever had a passing interest in true-crime or the insanity of the legal system then this is for you, and everyone else too. Shit -- 5 out of 5.
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