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Category Archives: Recommending
DVD: Street Kings
Solid, enjoyable, super violent (a + to me) good cop/bad cop flick. Great performances from both Keanu and Forest Whittaker, and lots of interesting bit players I wasn’t expecting, such as Adrian Corbett very effectively playing slime (would you have expected that of “Aidan”?) and Chris Evans also very impressive (first time I’ve ever thought he was actually ACTING in a movie and not just sort of playing himself or “any guy”). (And FYI “House” fans, Hugh Laurie is also present.)
I can only guess why this didn’t do well in theaters (was it even in Chicago for a whole week?): it’s one of those “been done” stories. Very reminiscent of Training Day, among (many) other movies.
Connected DadReaction: Similar to what Dad has reported back about the latest Ed Norton/ Colin Farrell flick “Pride and Glory”. Good flick, good performances…but may suffer from the fact that it’s not a “new” story.
DVD: Green Street Hooligans
So.Frakkin.Good.
Admittedly I only watched this so I could determine if the Hottie from Sons of Anarchy is actually a good actor or not. Fortunately the answer is YES.
Also? This movie is AWESOME.
Elijah Wood = also good. Bar conversation/friend scenes = great. Fight scenes = soooo well done. Revelation of “The Major” = super.
Totally compelling. Couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.
My Evening with Kevin Smith / Big Screen: Zach and Miri Make a Porno
7:30pm – Already in line for Zach and Miri an hour from now (ridiculous).
7:31pm – But turns out pomegranate jelly bellies are addictive. So there’s that.
7:43pm – This is worse than the Battlestar lines at Dragon*Con. And no twins here to keep me company.
8:35pm – Oh shit Kevin Smith is actually going to be here!!
[Viewing Zack and Miri Make a Porno]
10:31pm – Kevin Smith Q and A is making me very happy!
10:37pm – Someone just asked “Kevin, did George Lucas step on your balls about Star Whores?”
10:43pm – Kevin Smith used to be a Front Wiper. I do not jest. [Until Harley Quinn’s birth when a nurse told him he should be doing it the other way!]
10:47pm – His next movie* is so bleak “it makes Dark Knight look like Beverly Hills Chihuahua.”
11:12pm – Rosario Dawson was supposed to play Miri. [They moved the timing of filming and that made it conflict with “Eagle Eye” so they had to find someone else relatively last minute. But Elizabeth Banks is actually perfect in it (my opinion AND his) so it worked out great. Per Kevin: “She really grounds the movie.”]
11:24pm – Kevin Smith’s all-time fav porn title: “Jerk my cum crayon and color me white.”
*Next movie = Red State. Described as him finally finding a way to talk politics. A political horror film. Not funny at all. Having trouble finding financing.
Explanatory:
At Chicago Film Festival to see Zach & Miri. Often there are directors and/or actors who take Q&A afterward but it’s generally noted in the program. This one didn’t say so but surprise surprise. So sad my dad couldn’t be here to see this!!! If you don’t know: Kevin Smith LOVES doing Q&As. If you’ve ever listened to a SModcast or watched one of his An Evening with Kevin Smith DVDs, you can pretty much imagine how a) awesome and b) funny this was. And also how insanely comfortable he is talking about any and/or every personal detail of his life.
Other random quotes that I didn’t actually twitter:
Ben Affleck on viewing Jason Mewes’ nude scene: “You realize Mewes is just one pump away from full liftoff, right?”
Personal note to Ben from me: Are you just maybe kinda jealous because Jason Mewes is so smokin hot in this movie? [I’m so not joking. Skinny and his hair all clean cut? And damn those shoulder tattoos are AWESOME.]
After talking about Red State and saying “Sorry for bringing the whole room down”, someone started their question with “Not to bring the whole room down again” and KS yelled “So Don’t!” and tried to move on. Turned out the dude wanted to ask him about the whole “how’re you doing on your diet thing?” [What a dick.] KS wasn’t necessarily “happy to” but he, in his usual brutally honest way, did respond and chat about it. But the best part was when he pointed out “You know, some skinny motherfucker always has to point out how fat I am!!!” And the whole audience looked at the questioner disapprovingly! Ha!
And the movie?
Lots of fun. Totally crude and nasty and gross. And soooooo funny and very sweet and romantic. Honestly, the last five minutes, even with the Dutch Rudder jokes, were so touching. YAY!!! [And I don’t even like Seth Rogen.] Also Darryl from The Office? is HYSTERICAL in this. Brandon Routh was a total Tom Cruise doppelganger. So much so it gave me a little doubletake each time. A great night at the movies. The flick alone made me grin like an idiot. And then Kevin Smith’s appearance just sent the evening over the top.
*Bliss*.
Fiction: Iodine, by Haven Kimmel
If there is one author I would want to be, if I were an author, it would be Haven Kimmel. I’ve read and loved her previous novels (here and posts from June 26, 2004 and April 13, 2004 on this page) AND her nonfiction/memoirs (here and the post from April 24, 2005 on this page). When I saw a new Kimmel in the window of the bookstore on the way home, there was no question I was stopping to buy it, regardless of my many grocery bags.
This one is a bit darker than you may be expecting. While her lead characters are often girls in crisis…generally they are girls finding a way out of it. This book is about a girl who may not even know she’s in it. But we the reader certainly do.
While Trace and her haphazard life sucked me in just as powerfully as Kimmel’s other characters have in the past, this was a more distressing read and a very intense one. Academically somewhat dense, with rampant literary “nods”, and mentally unsettling.
If you liked Sharp Objects or My Sister’s Continent (April 16, 2006 on this page), I think you will find a way in to this book. But it may be a tough read for the faint of heart.
Short Stories: Dead Boys, by Richard Lange
This was our September challenge book and it was so nice to be reading short stories again after slogging through the Musil in August.
These are not happy times stories. Someone in every story is lost (physically, mentally or emotionally), or lonely, or angry, or … or they’ve come to the end of what they can handle or find their way around.
For some characters, their searching leaves them in a better place than where they began, but never the perfect place. But for some, the story’s end is further down a road they never should have been on in the first place.
Really engaging. Unexpected. True and original. Unlike stories you’ve read before. In a very gritty down to earth way.
Twiggy Teens cover Fleet Foxes.
And it’s sooooo goooooood.
Dangerously Sad, Beautiful Song
Head yourself on over to Fuel/Friends and check out the Ryan Auffenberg song she posted yesterday.
Ouch.
If I start crying at work this morning? So.Not.My.Fault!!!
In Concert: Great Lake Swimmers
I’ve been waiting a long long time to see this band. As I may have mentioned.
What can I say, a month later when I realize I never wrote this up? They’re Canadian. They’re in that whole current vein of mountain-y lookin’ men (Sea Wolf, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver); except that unlike those bands most of the singing is done by just the one dude. (And they have more albums out, been around a bit longer.) Their songs are lush and dark and deep and layered. And lovely. Did I mention lovely? 🙂
I thought the crowd was a bit more idiotic than normal; I would make such a great bouncer as I would escort people out for yelling stupid things and being morons and talking too fucking loud during quiet songs. Perhaps that shall be my next career (if you haven’t heard, I may be on the lookout for one).
They sounded gorgeous. I’d go see them again in a heartbeat.
Big Screen: Tropic Thunder
So hilarious. Brilliantly satirical.
Two things alone are worth the price of admission:
1) The fake previews, ESPECIALLY the RDJ/Tobey Maguire one; and
2) Tom Cruise’s performance. He deserves a fucking Oscar for that. I thought I was going to start crying, I was laughing so hard watching him during the closing credits. The boy may be totally and completely insane, but you’ve got to give someone credit who’s willing to put it all out there like that.
If you need to know more, you can re-read the DadReaction to this flick.