Category Archives: Flicks

Best of April.

Posted on by

I’m not sure why I did so little in April as according to my calendar, I should have had three weekends free with only one weekend out of town, and one weekend with a house guest. Hmmmph. Procrastination reaches new heights!

I only saw one movie in April. And it wasn’t very good.

I read a few books in April and I’d have to say that Haven Kimmel’s latest memoir and the conclusion to Justine Larbalestier’s Magic or Madness trilogy were probably the best two, although I enjoyed all my reads that month.

Wow, I went to five concerts in April, I guess that’s what I was doing with my time. The Decemberists and Youth Group were probably the performances I just outright enjoyed the most, but seeing Josh Rouse a second time was definitely worth my while: he’s a lot of fun live.

I really didn’t buy as much music during April as I did in prior months of 2007. I listened a lot to “She’s About to Cross My Mind” from The Red Button which I bought after reading about them here. I bought Vandaveer “Grace & Speed” after reading that he played at Number 4‘s wedding (!!). And after Golden Smog made my top 10 last year, it wasn’t like I could pass up “Blood on the Slacks” with its Dylan teasing title. Singles-wise, I cannot stop listening to “Walk Over Me” Dirtie Blondie and the Like Rebel Diamond remix of The Killer’s “Read My Mind” (both featured on Friday Night Lights, of course). I made a mix last month that’s pretty damn fantastic if I don’t say so myself. I might send you one. Give me a good reason…

Random personal highlights: a) How came to visit!; b) Cezanne/Picasso “Vollard” show at the Art Institute was v. cool; c) FINALLY!! eating at Mas again and having my favorite drink in all the world: Pisco Sour. YUM!; d) trip to NY for Amy’s yarn inventory. Nuts.; e) brunch with the McCains and spending time with Clark’s dad again, planning our some-day hike through Colorado!; f) Lollapalooza tickets go on sale = Done!

Lowlights? I remember being really, really, really tired. Just cannot catch up.

Big Screen: Away from Her

Posted on by

You’ve got to know going in, if the movie is about Alzheimer’s, you might as well bring a box of kleenex with you. Julie Christie was great, and still so beautiful and luminescent at 65. First time writing & directing by Sarah Polley = pretty impressive.

That said, it was one of those movies that while totally going with the story and enjoying it while watching, afterward I just kept thinking about certain of the plot manipulations and how unnecessary they were. i.e., I could see a reason for them being there, but felt my reaction to the chain of events and the situation would have been just as powerful/effective WITHOUT those external plot manipulations. And if they stick out as manipulations, then do they really work? Worth seeing, will definitely look forward to Polley’s next project. But think there were several things that could just be dropped out of the plot without any discernable loss to the viewer’s experience.

DVD: Elizabethtown.

Posted on by

Truly bizarre. Hyperbole in EVERY scene just wears ya out. Disjointed, unconnected, illogical. There were so many things that were bizarrely wrong with this movie. A few random cute moments…that made absolutely no sense within the context of the movie. And a million more nonsensical and noncute ones. Cameron Crowe = unusually off his game.

DVD: The Italian Job

Posted on by

Actually pretty entertaining in a goofy lighthearted way. It’s just a few kisses and gropes away from being a good movie. I mean, come on, people, is that too much to ask in a movie with two hot leads?

p.s. and for my fellow Buffy fans, hello Oz is in this! And he’s got some really funny lines!

DVD: Babel.

Posted on by

Still in disbelief that this was nominated for best picture. Didn’t really think much of it at all. Didn’t think it was about “miscommunication” and whatnot as the title might imply. Thought one storyline was so very very tenuously connected to the others that it belonged in a different movie. Far more questions than answers. And sooooo many things that could have made it better, could have made it worth watching, could have made me care at all about any of these characters. But no.

An Altman-esque “Short Cuts” or Paul Haggis’ “Crash”-type disjointed narrative. My co-viewer thought it better than Crash; although she found it frustrating, it raised interesting issues in her mind. I felt the opposite. It seemed to raise no coherent issues whatsoever. At least in Crash, the issues were recognizable whether you felt they were well done or not.

Anyone want to take this DVD off my hands? I’ll happily send it to you, I’m certainly never going to rewatch it.

Best of March.

Posted on by

Oh dear, halfway through April but so busy watching Buffy that I’m barely blogging. Dearie me.

The best gig I went to in March was on the very first day of the month when I saw Gomez. If they swing through your town on this tour, I highly recommend getting a ticket! They were just brilliant and wonderful and I’ve spent weeks now listening to their back catalog. Really talented musicians. Of course, the night I saw Lupe Fiasco and the Roots was also really fun and I’d have to say they were close runners-up.

The best flick I saw in March was The Lives of Others, the german film that won the foreign language Oscar. But Zodiac was a close second… I meant to see a couple other movies, but wound up cancelling on people due to my extreme slacker tiredness and ridiculous early morning work schedule. So far April is not seeing me in the theater much either so this seems to be a contining problem, doesn’t it.

While I wasn’t at the movie theater much, I did get back on the reading horse in March and the best book I read was “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell. It was short and sharp, biting and intense, and I was blown away. I also read some great short stories by Margo Lanagan, some poetry by Claudia Emerson, and “Black Cat”, by Martyn Bedford (the author of one of my all-time faves “The Houdini Girl”).

And as for tunes I listened to in March? Hmmm, that’s a tough one. I was enjoying the new Arcade Fire, especially “Intervention”, a beautiful new album from Great Lake Swimmers, and lots of singles from folks such as Brett Dennen, Bob Evans, Soltero, and Chris Brokaw … and still listening to stuff I bought earlier in the year: Guggenheim Grotto, the Shins, the Fratellis, Explosions in the Sky, and Youth Group.

Random personal highlights: a) I finally uploaded my London pictures to Flickr, although I have yet to get them printed for my mom, despite her asking me every time I talk to her; b) I got my taxes done a month ahead of time; c) went down south for (another) family wedding and got some quality time with lots of my cousins and one of my aunts; d) met Jen & JR!!; e) went to an awesome Cuban restaurant I hadn’t been to before; f) had a random doctor visit to find out I have officially lost 16 pounds on the infamous diet! Wooooooot!!!!; g) got a letter from Rumi, an old, old friend I haven’t heard from in ages (now if only I can find some time in my slackass life to write back!!!); and h) met KC’s new baby Avery (a.k.a. “Mini Coop”) who I had made a quilt for before her birth.

Lowlights? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but looking over my calendar, I’m not seeing any real lowlights. Must’ve been a damn good month! 🙂 Maybe the lowlight is I was only out of town for one weekend, but I still didn’t really get any quilting done. My powers of procrastination = they are mighty!

Big Screen: The Lookout

Posted on by

This movie is getting much better reviews than I would give it, Rolling Stone seemed to like it A LOT, and I’m wondering if they saw a different cut than I did? Bizarre. The manipulation stuff is, as expected, pretty fucking icky. But there’s other icky stuff as well. There’s about a zillion things you can pick apart in this plot, and nothing that WOWed you enough to make you not notice the gaping holes. Not recommended.

Big Screen: “A Shot in the Dark”

Posted on by

Portuguese title: Um Tiro No Escuro. Half the story of a kidnapping, half a crime caper movie, the two of which get really bizarrely entertwined. Some great acting. Little worried that we were at a porn flick due to a few scenes at the beginning shot so close up that they make the Bada Bing look tame.

While watching: totally entranced, worried, upset, shocked, moved.

But once removed: wow, there are a lot of things you could pick apart about this plot. but oddly enough, still doesn’t make me have enjoyed it any less.

Definitely worth seeing.

DVD: Idiocracy

Posted on by

From the same brilliant minds that made OfficeSpace. But significantly darker, to my mind anyway. Two people of average intelligence are sealed up for an experiment…yet while they’re “asleep” the entire society gets so dumbed down (ouch! too close to home?) to the point that when these two are mistakenly awaked, they are now geniuses. And the contretemps ensue…

Luke Wilson is great in this. And I loved the whole “Who’s on First?” tattoo machine moment. Also: “Gatorade” has taken over the world!
Sadly when this really goes down it’s going to be a company a LOT worse than that…

Funny. But sort of secretly dark. Or super dark behind the scenes once you start thinking about how likely some of it feels… You could watch it without those inner thoughts. But who would?