Cinerant

Movie Round-up

I've seen several movies over the last couple of weeks and haven't had the chance really to blog about that many of them. So I thought I'd try to do it all in one swoop. Sit back and here we go. (In alphabetical order):

2046---Great, but difficult. For more , see my review.

The Beat that My Heart Skipped--French film that is a remake of James Toback's 1978 film Fingers with Harvey Keitel. Smart, clever, and absolutely French. I see an opportunity to take this and make a completely mainstream family movie from it about family and what we inhereit from our parents. The film asks interesting questions about inheritence and duty. The lead character is a beautiful paradox--a gangster who yearns to be a classical pianist. Gotta love that.

The Beautiful Country--Great performance from Nick Nolte. Could possibly get an Oscar nomination for it. Check out my review.

Ears Open. Eyeballs, Click.--Atrocious. This documentary goes on and on and shows you nothing new beyond the fact that boot camp for Marines is hard. Duh! After sitting through this, I felt like I was becoming incredibly anti-military and I'm sure that wasn't the intention of the first-time filmmaker. I'd be surprised if this ever got distributed theatrically, but if somehow it does, it'll be on my worst of the year list.

Heights--Out of this batch, this is by far my favorite. Doesn't necessarily mean that this is the best film, but it's just the kind of pseudo-intellectual ensemble actory piece that I eat up. The film is based on a one act play. It's about five stories intermixing over the course of one day. It stars Glenn Close (why doesn't this woman have an Oscar yet?), Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Rufus Wainwright (?!), and Jesse Bradford. The stories weave in and out in expected and unexpected ways. Though Close steals the show, all the stories feel equal. Maybe that's because of the way they all come together. They touch but don't Crash into one another like some other over-rated ensemble movie I saw eariler this summer. It's also a love song to New York, which, despite what one of my friends was saying this weekend, I think films get right in romanticizing. At least, I agree with them on romanticizing it. There's a scene where a couple stands on top of a skyscraper looking out at the Empire State Building and it was the first time since I've been here that I've wondered if maybe I should've moved somewhere else. The film also has some interesting ideas about relationships and what makes connections work. Nothing groundbreaking here, but didn't stop me from loving it. Definitely suggest this one if you get the chance.

Junebug--Could be known as "Crazies in Winston-Salem." Actually, the sign of craziness would be going to see this really bad movie. Read my review.

Rize--Interesting subject matter. Poorly directed film. Obviously done by a first time director who comes from the world of music videos. The friend that I saw it with thought it was about fifteen minutes too long. Personally, I think the 90 minute film should have been about 25 minutes. Just not enough story to last through the entire thing. But it did make me at least understand and appreciate krumpin'. I just wish it hadn't made me tire of it too.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants--I was the only male in the theater. I thought I was going to get arrested on suspicions of being a dirty old man or something, but this is a really well put together movie. Granted, I'm not the target audience, but it didn't stop me from appreciating it, or from wanting to suggest it to young girls. I expected the film to be a light hearted kind of comedy, but this movie was drama--and pretty heavy for pre-teen girls. Cancer, divorce, abandonment, using sex to fill a void--I mean when family rivalry is the lightest story line, you know it's wild. The thing that I liked the most about this film is that the girls were smart and very human. Every single one of them made mistakes and there were consequences to all of their mistakes. Sure, it was very moral-lesson, but it never felt too preachy. Part of that was the performances. All four of the leads worked, particularly America Ferrera (Real Women Have Curves). Just two nit-picky things. First, the movie is supposed to be shot in Bethesda, MD. This looked like no part of Bethesda I'd ever seen. (But I guess that happens when you shoot in Vancouver.) Second, two of the four stories revolved around girls dating boys--both of whom were in college. I would've been okay with that hapenning in one of the stories, but in both of them--that was a little much for me, especially since the girls were only 16. I worry about what kind of example this sets, encouraging the audience to be too sexualized too early. But then, I don't have young girls, so I can't say for sure how the audience would take this. It just made me a little uncomfortable.

posted by cinegod @ 9:27 PM 0 comments

Check out my writing

So I did some movie reviews for an online magazine called LA Splash. I can't say that what I wrote was anything particularly profound, but if you want to check it out, I've got reviews here for The Beautiful Country, Junebug, and 2046.

posted by cinegod @ 9:25 PM 1 comments

Three Times in One Doc

If you get HBO, do yourself a favor and watch the documentary Twist of Faith tonight. I promise you, there's nothing better going to be on television for the next month than this film.

I had the chance to see this at the LA Film Festival two weeks ago and was blown away by it. The film, which was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year, is about a man, Tony, from Toledo. When Tony was a teenager, he was sexually abused by his priest. He grew up, married, had two kids and bought a new house. Within the first week of living in his new neighborhood, he discovered that the man who sexually abused him as a child lived five houses down the street. When other victims of abuse come forward in Toledo, after the Boston papal indictments start, Tony comes forward too and his life is of course irrevocably changed.

The thing that pushes this documentary to the pinnacle of film-making is that director Kirby Dick manages to show how the abuse encroached into every aspect of Tony's life. He interviews Tony's wife who talks about her reaction to finding out before they were married about what befell Tony. We are also able to see how they deal with it in marriage counseling, how it affects their parenting, as well as how it affects their families, and their life at church.

It's the later component that I found to be the most fascinating. Much weight is given to looking at how Tony tries to reconcile his feelings for what was done to him by a Catholic priest and his respect for the institution itself. Later, when Tony and his family discover that the bishop of the Toledo diocese knew of accusations against the priest and lied about it, he then has to try and reconcile his faith with the hypocrisy of the Catholic leadership.

The film is the most moving documentary I've seen this year. I cried three times during the screening. It's not easy to sit through, but ultimately, it is one of the most rewarding and life-affirming testimonies you'll see this year. If this gets a theatrical run, I can almost guarantee you'll see it on my Top 10 of the year list.

posted by cinegod @ 12:04 AM 0 comments

My Not-So Brilliant Career

So last night, I volunteered again for the last night of the Film Festival. I was back in the filmmaker's lounge, but this time, I was working the door as a bouncer.

Stop. Take a moment to laugh.

And laugh again.

Now we can move on. Can you imagine a job I am less qualified for than bouncer? Seriously, what am I gonna do to somebody who wants to get in but isn't supposed to be able to? Sing to them about why they can't get in? Cause I'm definitely not physically intimidating.

So I bounce at the door and apparently I let a notorious party-crasher in. Woops!

We can mark that skill off my resume.

posted by cinegod @ 12:01 PM 0 comments

As if this is a surprise

You scored as Peter Pan. Your alter ego is Peter Pan. You are a child at heart. Anything you believe is possible, and you never want to grow up. Peter Pan 88% Goofy 88% Sleeping Beauty 69% Cinderella 69% Donald Duck 50% Ariel 44% Cruella De Ville 38% Pinocchio 31% The Beast 31% Snow White 19% Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego? created with QuizFarm.com

posted by cinegod @ 12:00 PM 1 comments

Redundant and Repetitive

I am no coniseur of diet drinks, but I've recently seen "Coca-Cola Zero" available all over the place (but still no Diet Cherry Coke.) It advertises itself as being coke with zero calories. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that Diet Coke? I mean, isn't that the point of diet drinks--no calories?

If somebody can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it.

posted by cinegod @ 1:25 PM 2 comments

How You've Been Missed

I didn't realize how much I'd missed a new Cameron Crowe movie until I watched the Internet trailer for his latest, Elizabethtown. The movie's coming out in the fall and it just looks great. Will presumably a class act. Just watching the trailer, it appears to have everything that makes Cameron Crowe one of the greatest writer/directors working today--truth, humor, beauty, and a great ear for music. The presence of Jessica Biel does make me wonder a bit, but the larger presence of Judy Greer puts me at ease. Hopefully, Orlando Bloom is up for this movie. Can't wait!

posted by cinegod @ 9:54 AM 0 comments

Counting Blessings

So I just found out that the company I worked for in DC just laid off 10 people--approximately 1/3 of its staff. Apparently the Department of Labor de-funded LRG's largest contract by 73% and decisions had to be made.

While I have absolutely no idea what this means for me being able to continue working part-time with them, I really haven't stopped thinking about the people that are being laid off. Most of them are younger, junior staff--even a couple of interns. Somebody had just signed a lease and moved into a new house last weekend, while another had recently bought house. A third had just been laid off a job less than two years ago before coming to LRG.

And I really can't imagine what it's like to be on the opposite end, telling someone they're being let go. I am sure that no matter how much the situation wasn't your fault, there is something in the back of your mind wondering if you could've taken other steps to avoid someone losing their job. And then how do you deal with the staff morale problem? Because when you have people bursting into tears during the meeting informing them of this, you know it's going to be tough. How do you solve that? How do you get around it? How do you recover?

If it were an individual trying to regroup, then I think there would be things that could be said that would help, but I don't know how a corporate entity recovers.

I'm really glad this isn't something I'm in the middle of. Even watching from the sidelines is difficult and uncomfortable.

posted by cinegod @ 9:22 AM 3 comments

Adventures of a Volunteer

So I've been volunteering this week and last with the Los Angeles Film Festival. Tonight, I was in the "Target Red Room" i.e. filmmaker's lounge. For the first three hours, all I did was stand outside on the patio and make sure that the six or seven people out there didn't exit the wrong way. Incredibly boring, but whatever.

Actually the whatever is that the Red Room is in West Hollywood, directly underneath a gym. (For those of you who don't know, West Hollywood is the LA equivalent of Dupont Circle.) And I'll be the first to say that sometimes I do get a little wrapped up in body image and whatnot. Well, tonight was one of those nights. Almost every single guy that walked past me on the sidewalk had on a sleeveless shirt and arms that were the size of my head. It's really sad that it was only after an actor, who was just recently on the cover of TV Guide as one of prime-time's sexiest men, passed me, that I started to feel normal again.

So then, I finally get to leave the smoking patio and go into the lounge and do odds and ends work. I didn't think I was doing anything crazy, but apparently, according to someone, I am the hardest working volunteer at the festival. Now, I got this guy's name, but I have no clue what he really does, but I know he has to be important because he was dressed nicely in a blazer. So I've got to figure out who he is. Then, the person who I was reporting to asked if there was anyway I could come back and work Thursday or Friday. I told her I'd try.

SCORE! Finally, my great work attitude might get me somewhere out here. (Of course, I've already retreated into my Ally McBeal world where the festival/FIND staff is so impressed with me that they insist on me joining the staff of Film Independent. Begrudgingly, out of my commitment to indie film--and not the fact that I'm unemployed--I accept. I like that fantasy. I think I'll go to bed and dwell on that a while.)

posted by cinegod @ 1:35 AM 0 comments

Thinking wistfully

So I just realized that it was just a little over ten years ago that I finished my Freshman year of college.

I frequently joke that I get along with kids and teenagers because I'm on their level, but recently, I've realized that I'm much more responsible than I give myself credit for. And more mature.

Maybe that was because of graduate school, maybe that was JMU, maybe it was living in three major cities, or maybe it was something else. I'm sure that my friends had a lot to do with it.

Nevertheless, I'd like to think that the next ten years hold more firsts for me than the last ten (house, marriage, career)...

So I guess I need to quit stalling and get to work on them.

posted by cinegod @ 3:27 PM 0 comments

Bale, Bale, Everywhere

Cause he's just so cool!

I saw three films this weekend that are probably the three best films I've seen so far this year: Twist of Faith, Howl's Moving Castle, and Batman Begins. Twist of Faith is an amazing documentary that's coming on HBO next week, so I'll save my comments on that till then. Don't let me forget.

Howl's Moving Castle comes from the brilliance of Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away). The story is about a young girl, who considers herself plain and is turned into a 90 year old woman by a witch. She stumbles into a a castle that is motorized, moving across the land, makes friends with a fire demon, and falls in love with a dashing young wizard named Howl, voiced by Christian Bale.

If you've ever seen any of Miyazaki's films, you know it's impossible to really describe what his movies are about. You just have to see them, experience them, and have a blast doing so. This one isn't any different. While it might not be as incredibly audacious as Spirited Away, there is more imagination in a single frame of this film than in every combined frame of Madagascar.

The animation is lovely and carefully drawn. The voice work from Bale, Lauren Bacall, Jean Simmons, Blythe Danner, and particularly Emily Mortimer is impressive. Like any good film, Castle grapples with some big questions--like say maybe the futility of war. I left the theater Friday night thinking it would be a long time before I saw a movie better than this.

A whole 24 hours long.

Batman Begins is not only the best comic book hero movie yet (sorry Ang Lee), it's easily the best thing I've seen all year. Christopher Nolan put together a taut film that thrills, excites, and tells a more complex and interesting story than any other superhero film has. Nolan and co-screenwriter David Goyer recognize that their movie doesn't need to have glib characters, witty repartee, or clever gags to be fun or memorable. What it needs is a solid story with compelling characters, and strong actors.

The film delivers on all three parts.

Additionally, the film resonates on a deep level, pondering the depths and meaning of goodness and the value of a society. I couldn't help but think of Abraham bartering for Sodom and Gomorrah throughout the entire film. That's exactly what this film is. A modern day telling of the destruction of those two cities with another force standing in the place of God. Themes don't get more resonate than that.

The film's not perfect. Katie Holmes is wasted in her role and doesn't really seem to fit the part. She looks a little too young. Rutger Hauer is involved in a subplot that, while amusing, doesn't really go anywhere and should've been given a few more beats. Michael Caine is superb once again, as he is always. But the star of this film is Christian Bale. (Who knew a Batman movie could be about Batman and not the villains?) He is by far the best actor of all the Batman's who have gone before and he flies bat circles around his predecessors. He brings real depth and angst to Bruce Wayne, while using his physicality to really evoke fear. There are few actors willing to sacrifice as much for a part as Bale is, and it all works here beautifully.

Holy smokes! I can't wait to see it again.

posted by cinegod @ 9:45 PM 2 comments

Feeling Somebody Out

Why do I always get behind/beside the person that's high whenever I go to a concert?

Friendships, like all relationships, are sometimes really hard work and can be weird at first. As I was telling someone not too long ago, I'm pretty far on the "I" scale, so I tend to really make something out of the friendships I have instead of trying to have a lot of them. I prefer quality over quantity.

However, I know a lot of people approach friendships differently and either you click with the person and want to hang out with them a lot or you don't. Simple and done. I don't subscribe to that theory. I don't meet lots of new people and frankly, I feel like it's so much work in trying to be social that if I think the other person's interesting, I want to "make it work."

So I met this guy at church Sunday who just moved to L.A. from somewhere in the South. After talking to him a little bit, I immediately liked the guy. He's cool and we seem to have a lot in common. He gave me his number and said give him a call and we'd hang out. When I called, he was watching Freaks & Geeks on DVD. Right then and there I knew we'd totally hit it off. (I completely think he's my new stand-in for the D.A. The fact that he's a graphic designer and married, only reinforces this more, though he also totally reminds me of someone from our Act One DC class too--the style, music, look, etc.)

So Thursday night we went to this club to see this band that I'd never heard of. (And it was not my kind of thing. The opening band was a bunch of impudent high school students from Nashville that made me really appreciate the high school guys I worked with more. The next band was pretty S&M, so by the time the headliners came on, I was trying to avoid getting smashed by the girls in front of me that were high and jumping around.) From the time I picked him up till the time I dropped him off afterwards, it was like we were a half-second behind one another. It didn't perfectly click. It wasn't bad; we just weren't perfectly in sync.

Then it dawned on me that it's been a while since I've had to really work at a friendship. All the other people I've met out here, I've shared some kind of big bond with (Job Corps, Act One, etc.) and we sort of circulate from that out. Friendships haven't there first and outward second.

I feel like the stand-in for the D.A. and I have already solidified that first ring of friendship with church. (Maybe that's stupid to say since it's only been a week.) The next couple of rings are going to be more interesting. I think we're both up for it, it's just gonna take a bit of feeling one another out to figure out how to make the next layer of the cake work.

I can't wait. As long as I don't have to go to see that band again.

posted by cinegod @ 3:55 PM 0 comments

My Emmy Ballot

So this is what my Emmy ballot would look like if I were nominating this year. (And I'll just deal with major categories.)

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Marcia Cross--Desperate Housewives
Lauren Graham--Gilmore Girls
Terri Hatcher--Desperate Housewives
Patricia Heaton--Everybody Loves Raymond
Felicity Huffman--Desperate Housewives

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Glenn Close--The Shield
Jennifer Garner--Alias
Christine Lahti--Jack & Bobby
Evangeline Lilly--Lost
Amber Tamblyn--Joan of Arcadia

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Jason Bateman--Arrested Development
Zach Braff--Scrubs
Topher Grace--That 70s Show
Bernie Mac--The Bernie Mac Show
Ray Romano--Everybody Loves Raymond

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA (hardest category)
Matthew Fox--Lost
Denis Leary--Rescue Me
Keifer Sutherland--24
Dylan Walsh--Nip/Tuck
Treat Williams--Everwood

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Kelly Bishop--Gilmore Girls
Sarah Chalke--Scrubs
Portia DeRossi--Arrested Development
Judy Reyes--Scrubs
Jessica Walter--Arrested Development

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Shoreh Agdashloo--24
Yunjin Kim--Lost
Mary Lynn Rajskub--24
Kelly Rowan--The O.C.
Emily VanCamp--Everwood

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Will Arnett--Arrested Development
David Cross--Arrested Development
Brad Garrett--Everybody Loves Raymond
John C. McGinley--Scrubs
Jeremy Piven--Entourage

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Dominic Monaghan--Lost
Terry O'Quinn--Lost
Ron Rifkin--Alias
Gregory Smith--Everwood
Daniel Sunjata--Rescue Me

BEST COMEDY SERIES
Arrested Development
Desperate Housewives
Everybody Loves Raymond
Gilmore Girls
Scrubs

BEST DRAMA SERIES
24
Everwood
Lost
Veronica Mars
Without a Trace

posted by cinegod @ 3:01 AM 3 comments

Best 10 (11) Moments of Last Season

Here are the 10 (actually 11) highlights of last year's television season for me.

10). (tie)--"Luke, will you marry me?" (Gilmore Girls) and finding out Ava's whole history (Nip/Tuck)--the two moments couldn't be more unalike, but for some reason, they just sort of grabbed me in the same way
9). Jack meeting his dad (Jack and Bobby)--An emotionally withdrawn character who does something unexpected and faces up to his emotional needs. The stuff of great drama. Brought me to tears.
8). Ephram finding out about his son (Everwood)--Andy keeping his actions from his son, only to have Ephram find out, which in turns sends him down a path that will destroy everything he's worked for--big, moving stuff. Powerful indeed.
7). The plane crash (Lost)--I've seen many action movies that weren't this exciting. JJ Abrams strikes again.
6). Bobby coming back to visit Andy (NYPD Blue)--This was a beautiful moment in a show that will be missed. Bobby "came back" to Andy to give him advice from the great beyond. This one brought me to tears too.
5). Emily breaking down in tears after her date (Gilmore Girls)--Excitement, joy, pain, regret--all in one shot. No character had a better moment all year than this Kelly Bishop did here (though Bree polishing the silver and finding out about her husband's death in the DH season finale was close). This is the stuff that transcends a page and works because of the acting, directing, and writing.
4). Boone's death (Lost)--Sure, we knew it was coming the week before, but it didn't make the loss any less profound or difficult to reconcile. And of course, this one brought me to tears.
3). "I'm not Michael Vaughan." (Alias)-- NO WAY! My jaw still has scars from hitting the floor.
2). "It's a cross. Across from where?" (Arrested Development)--This line brought me to tears too, but because I was laughing so hard. I don't know why this stuck with me more than anything the show did this year, but I just can't get over it. I've laughed so hard at this over and over and over. It's great stuff.
1). Mowing the yard in a cocktail dress (Desperate Housewives)--Nothing else was as audacious as this moment all year, though Lynette wandering into the pool after her kids was close. It also announced the arrival of Eva Longoria who is definitely one of the breakout stars of the season. This moment set the tone for the show beautifully and made it pretty clear this wasn't going to be your typical soap opera.

I feel wrong not getting something from 24 in here, as well as leaving out Harold's talk with God in the season finale of Everwood, or Judith's death on Joan, but there's only ten slots.

posted by cinegod @ 12:31 AM 3 comments

Season Finale Wrap-Up

Here's my list of the ten best season/series finales of the season.
10. House--Starring Sela Ward. That'd be enough to get it on the list, but it brought real humanity to a leading character that frequently doesn't get to show enough.
9. Arrested Development--It was a long time ago, but this show went out in typically hilarious style.
8. Lost--Two hours that weren't quite as good as the pilot, but still were exciting, revealing things about the characters we didn't know. And we got to see Boone!
7. CSI--Sure Tarantino just stole the idea from Kill Bill, but it was effective nevertheless. A freaky dream sequence that didn't work kept this from being higher.
6. Alias--Best last five minutes of any show. Amazing! Can't wait to see where it all leads next year.
5. 24--A very fitting end. Sure, it could've been a little more climactice, but still a nice grace note to the season.
4. Veronica Mars--tied up all sorts of loose ends and was emotionally resonant, powered by a great performance by Kristen Bell. Rob Thomas did a stand out job.
3. Everwood--Anything that causes me to cry multiple times while I'm watching it on a laptop in an airport deserves major kudos. This finale was moving, poignant, and sincere. From the use of "Beloved Wife" to Harold's prayer to Amy's decision, I was entranced the entire time. So much so, I barely noticed Ephram's absence.
2. Gilmore Girls--The only drama finale more emotionally satisfying than Everwood. This episode took characters in unexpected directions that were surprising, yet logical. This show is at its best when it pits mother against mother and this ep did mother against mother against mother. The ending might have been what fans buzzed about, but the whole episode was buzz-worthy in my book.
1. Everybody Loves Raymond--Perfect end for this show. Ciao!

posted by cinegod @ 1:41 PM 0 comments

Job Hunting

Here's the thing about hunting for a job that makes it so incredibly demoralizing: you get no feedback. No idea of what you're doing wrong, what you're doing right. Very rarely do you ever find out why something went the other way.

And when it comes, it comes at you in spades, like bats pouring out of a cave ready to devour up their nightly prey. All you can do is not reach for the walking papers.

posted by cinegod @ 9:14 AM 0 comments

And Now For Something Political...

I just read an AP report and apparently President Bush is praising the Patriot Act and calling for portions of it to be made into permanent law. HUH? Excuse me? I didn't realize we really did like the idea of violating people's civil liberties on a hunch.

President Bush goes on to justify the Patriot Act, claiming that it did a lot of good by allowing the FBI and CIA to gather information. Marshall Law and a dictatorship would do that too, but I don't see anybody advocating for those...

Granted, I'm not an expert on intelligence or terrorism. (Though I did help put together a nifty presentation in college on imaginary scenarios for how to get Secretary Madeline Albright out of an IRA hot zone.) I think the general consensus regarding the Patriot Act is now--over-reaction much? I've seen too many policymakers hint that they didn't really know the extent of the laws they were voting for in the Patriot Act. There have been numerous documentations of abuses of power justified through the Patriot Act. Not to say that there aren't some positive things about the law. Sure, there are, but overall it's too many steps over the line.

I like Senator Durbin's comments ,"We do not want to end the Patriot Act. We want to mend the Patriot Act." Take out the violation of civil liberties and human rights, keep in the stuff that gathers intelligence legally, sounds like a good idea. The White House will never go for that though, because mending something means there was something wrong with it to begin with. And this is not an Administration that does anything wrong.

I'm not trying to Bush-bash here. His refusal to think that anything he does might be wrong seems to be a very consistent characteristic of individuals with an exorbant amount of power. I just finished reading James Stewart's book, DisneyWar about the tenure of Michael Eisner. According to the book's portrait (and I understand it's extremely accurate), Eisner saw himself as so powerful that he was incapable of doing anything wrong and even when something went wrong on his watch, it wasn't a problem, nor would he ever acknowledge that he had anything to do with it going bad--despite the fact that he was the guy in charge.

The main problem I have with this Administration is its consistent refusal to ever apologize for anything. (To hear them talk, you'd think they were wrong even less than my brother, who is never wrong--particularly when talking to me about things like how there is no real difference between widescreen and pan & scan, but I digress.) I understand the idea that if you apologize it makes you look weak, but that's bollocks. I find this particularly distressing because for a president who is so vocal about his faith, you'd think he would be aware of the fact that there has only been one perfect person in the world. Romans 3:23? And to be sure, that perfect man's name was not George.

posted by cinegod @ 11:23 AM 1 comments

Two Good Ones in a Row

I've repeatedly lamented over the dearth of decent movies this year. When Hitch still holds up as one of the best things I've seen this year, you know we're in trouble.
Thankfully, I've seen two films in the last couple of days that start to reverse this trend: Mysterious Skin and Layer Cake. Both of these are really small indies, so they probably won't even receive an enormous amount of attention, but for their own reasons, they're both worth watching.

Mysterious Skin starts in Kansas in the early 80s. Two boys are on a little league team together. One of them, Brian, winds up in his cellar with a bloody nose and five hours of missing time. Nobody knows what happens to him. The other, Neil, is raised by a single mother (Elisabeth Shue) and develops a really close connection to his coach. Flash forward to the end of the decade. Brian is still trying to figure out what happened to those five hours and why they've affected his life. He's convinced he was abducted by aliens. As he starts to dig deeper, his search leads him to Neil, who has moved to New York and is turning tricks for any guy who will pay him. Neil knows exactly what happened, including his part in the horrific events.

The film is very dark and incredibly squirm inducing. In some ways, it's the perfect companion piece to last year's The Woodsman. That film was about someone trying to find redemption for a crime he'd committed. Neil and Brian try to find a way out of the confines they're trapped in after being the victims of the same crime Kevin Bacon's character in The Woodsman committed. The impact in Skin comes from the fact that as an audience, we know the two boys are linked, yet they don't meet until the last fifteen minutes of the film. When they do however, their connection and joint search for hope is incredibly touching and moving, buoyed by a very grown up performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Neil.

Layer Cake, starring Daniel Craig, starts like it's going to be another Guy Ritchie-esque British mobster movie. And in some ways, it definitely is, but this is more clever, more intricately plotted, and ultimately smarter than Lock, Stock... or Snatch. Though a bit over-directed, Matthew Vaughn does a nice job of keeping the story straight and keeping the pace brisk and involved. The strength to the film is that it always feels a little off-center. Though you always know what's going on, you never get to feel "at home" in the film. So by the time things start going badly for the hero, it doesn't feel unexpected.

Drug-running is a fleeting business full of mistrust and uncertainty-at least according to the film. (And according to the drug dealer we ran into in Milwaukee last weekend, it's also one of small profits.) Layer Cake takes great pains not to mythologize the evils that go hand in hand with this lifestyle. There are consequences to every action, angst over violence, even commentary as to the prison terms given to drug dealers versus other violent criminals. And just when you think you know how the film will end, it undercuts you one more time--just as reality--but not Hollywood--would certainly do.

Neither of the films are going to end up being the best of the year (hopefully), but both are worth checking out.

posted by cinegod @ 10:07 AM 0 comments

New TV Faces

The TV season s over. It's time to wrap up.
Today, it's time to give a shout out to all the new faces on TV that we hope to see a lot more of.

Kristen Bell--Veronica Mars
She makes this show work. As Joan of Arcadia leaves the screen, Veronica comes in. Like Amber Tamblyn, Bell beautifully captures the wily determination of being a teenage girl. However, she also gets to show more pluck, spunk, and cool. Hopefully we'll get to see much more of her.

Michael Cassidy--The O.C.
As Zach, Cassidy has made a splash on the show and will hopefully be added to the cast full-time next year. He's got charm, great comic timing, and a droll sense of delivery that shouldn't go unnoticed.

Kristin Chenoweth--The West Wing
She's just awesome. And cute as a button!

Taye Diggs--Kevin Hill
Who cares if his show was cancelled? Diggs needs to be on TV. I'd argue the reason his head is shaved is because he has so much charisma it's coming out of every pore--including the ones atop his head. I can't remember the last time I saw someone with as much charisma as he has. Now if only he could get a show that does him justice. (Maybe something with his wife? Just an idea.)

Logan Lerman--Jack & Bobby
Incredibly talented young man with a face that screams innocence. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of him as he grows up.

the cast of Lost
I was going to single out a couple of cast members, but then I couldn't figure out which ones to highlight. Ian Somerhalder since he's gone?--(take a moment to mourn Boone.) Evangeline Lilly cause she's hot and talented? Dominic Monaghan? Daniel Dae Kim? You see my dilemma. This is an incredibly talented cast and I wouldn't trade any of them. I'm not even sure how I feel about Michelle Rodriguez joining the cast next season for fear that it might screw up the dynamics, but I've put my faith in the creators thus far. I trust they know what they're doing.

WELCOME BACK
Party of Five guys--It's great to have Bailey and Charlie--I mean Scott Wolf and Matthew Fox back on television in Everwood and Lost respectively. The fact that their shows are now as good as Po5 in its hey-day is only icing on the cake.

The Desperate Housewives--I'll admit Eva Longoria was a new face to me, but Cross, Hatcher, Huffman, and Sheridan were familiar faces that deserve to be back in America's living rooms every week. All of these women have talent, and even when the show fails them, they know how to make it work.

Alan Alda & Jimmy Smits--Even if their roles on The West Wing aren't the best roles of their lives, isn't it good to have them around?

posted by cinegod @ 10:43 AM 0 comments

NEVER LET ME GO

Just when I think that I'm actually starting to feel comfortable calling myself a writer without sounding too much like a cliche, I end up being reminded how much more I have to learn in this craft. The reminder this weekend is a brilliant book by Kenneth Ishiguro called Never Let Me Go. (I know I want to write screenplays and this is a novel, so it's different media, but still...)
The book is one of the best-written books I've read in a long time. Probably since The Amazing Adventures of Kavailer and Clay.

The novel is written from the perspective of a young woman, Kathy, who is probably in her early 30s. The whole book is a memory piece of her early days at a elite prep school in England called Halisham, the friends she had there, and their lives after they leave Halisham. It sounds very idealic, simple, and non-assuming.

Oh wait! I left out the stuff about donations, the gallery, and carers didn't I? And I won't even start to get into the HUGE moral, theological, and cultural ramifcations of this story. Like Lost, there's a whole lot more going on in this story than meets the eye. However, unlike Lost, the hidden stuff almost seems beside the point. So much so that when you find out pieces of the puzzle, it's almost like you already knew those were the pieces, though there's absolutely no way you could see any of it coming.

What makes this book word is the way that it's written. The story is interesting, but in some ways it's secondary to the tone of the book, the way that it's written. The slow, gentle reveals, the clever timing, the stream of consciousness... It's all beautiful stuff. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book.

Now if only I could figure out how to turn it into a prose...

posted by cinegod @ 1:35 PM 0 comments

Seasons of Hope

Two things I saw yesterday that gave me hope/got me excited.

1. Rent trailer. I've seen Rent twice. Once on Broadway and once in a touring production. Loved it both times-despite all the inherent contradictions between it and me. (That's a blog for another day.) I was incredibly nervous about the concept of Christopher Columbus directing the film adaptation. But yesterday, I saw the online trailer for the film. It's simply images from the film over the entire cast singing "Seasons of Love" and I have hope. It might actually work. If nothing else, everybody sounds good.
2. September 16, 2005--that's the release date for Proof. Mark it down. This film was the number one film on my "to see" list for 2004 . Then it got delayed until this year. It'll be released in September before Miramax stops releasing stuff. Starring Gwenyth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis, and Jake Gyllenhall, this film has one of the best sources of recent years. And Paltrow has an amazing role. If the film works halfway, I'd be shocked if she didn't get an Oscar nomination for it. It's that good. Or it was both times I've seen the play.

I know I said I'd wrap up the TV season this week, but that's been pushed to next week. (Maybe tomorrow if I've got the time.) We'll start with new faces of the year.

posted by cinegod @ 2:25 PM 2 comments