Thursday, September 11, 2008

This is all from here...

Not that anyone was checking in...

http://imfromthere76.blogspot.com/

Sunday, August 3, 2008

I'm about to...

pick up a tennis racquet, essentially for the first time in 7 years to play a mixed doubles tournament this week. God help us all, especially me.

Friday, June 20, 2008

If...

I could talk I'd tell you

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The time has arrived to check out...for a few

...It is now...that time...to sort some stuff out...to take an adventure of sorts

On bended knee is no way to be
freelifting up an empty cup I ask silently
that all my destinations will accept the one that's me
so I can breath

Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
half their lives they say goodnight to wive's they'll never know
got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul
so it goes...

Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you...

Everyone I come across in cages they bought
they think of me and my wandering
but I'm never what they thought
got my indignation but I'm pure in all my thoughts
I'm alive...

Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
underneath my being is a road that disappeared
late at night I hear the trees
they're singing with the dead
overhead...

Leave it to me as I find a way to be
consider me a satelite for ever orbiting
I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me
guaranteed...

-- Eddie Vedder, Guaranteed

I mean...damn dude

“I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.

Some shit you just have to think twice about before you say it if you are running for president, lol.

Indeed

S.O.S. texted from a cell phone?
Please tell me I'm not the only one,
that thinks we're taking ourselves too seriously,
Just a little too enamored with inflated self-purpose.

Talk is cheap.
And it doesn't mean much.
Don't lose touch.
Don't lose touch.

-- Against Me!, Don't Lose Touch

Monday, March 31, 2008

Anyone slightly terrified?

Of the idea of this administration...which has shown...er...so much financial savvy, overhauling the FED, among other things? I am.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

So tiring...

It is only March and I am so goddamn sick of hearing about Barack's paster, Hillary's bullshit sniper duck-and-cover and well...John McCain in general. And once again, its only March. These three people do nothing to excite me. At all. Hillary is old and crusty, just like the democrats she represents. Barack and his wife like to say the word "change" a lot and then have their young/hipster audience erupt in cheers. John McCain, well, I'm not sure he would live through his term. Though...if Dick Cheney makes it to January, then McCain would probably survive the four years. Oh God am I bored.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Anthony Minghella (1954-2008)


Last week, on Tuesday, director/producer Anthony Minghella passed away at the age of 54, after complications and hemorrhaging after a growth that had been removed from his neck. There wasn't a whole lot of fanfare that I can recall. Perhaps the news was too busy trying to figure out if Barack did or did not know what the hell his pastor was saying for 20 years. I assure you he did know, so why not just say it? But anyway, Minghella was a class act and all 6 of his movies were quite good. In fact I would say The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Breaking and Entering were exceptional. The other three, Truly Madly Deeply, Mr. Wonderful and Cold Mountain only very good, lol. He was executive producer on Michael Clayton, The Interpreter and The Quiet American, all excellent as well. Anyway, he was great and will be greatly missed.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Ted Leo and the Rx...

open for Pearl Jam. I guess that would be cool if they were coming here, very cool. Though, I still wonder if that would be enough to bring me out of retirement (concert-going wise). And how is it that certain person that well...I'll just say I no longer speak to gets to have them come to their backyard...while of course it comes nowhere close to here. Such is life.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Tracy Austin and Chris Evert...White Trash...Who Knew?

I know a lot about tennis. I played on nationally ranked college teams. Before I had no rotator cuff, knees, or right hip left, lol. But seriously, Richard Williams reminds me of someone like Rev. Wright, or Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson. They just need to make an absolutely ridiculous comment now and then to feel important. I mean, I wasn't ever a big fan of Tracy Austin or Christ Evert (whatever the hell her last name is now), but somehow, I missed the part about them being white trash.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP)—WTA head Larry Scott said Thursday that he strongly disagrees with comments made by Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus, regarding racism on the women’s tour.

Saying he was disappointed by Williams’ recent remarks during an interview in India, Scott said in a statement: “The Tour has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to racism, and I have previously let Mr. Williams know that he should let me know if he ever had evidence of racist comments or acts in women’s professional tennis.”

While his daughters were playing earlier this month in Bangladore, India, where Venus reached the quarterfinals and Serena won the title, Williams told the Deccan Herald, “Well, I’m black and I’m prejudiced, very prejudiced. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don’t think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be.”

He said the media treated his daughters unfairly, that it was “the worst media job that they have done on any human being in the world,” and that if he were Serena and Venus, he would have quit playing.

“But if you get some little white no-good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert, who cannot hit the ball, they (the media) will claim this is great,” he said.
Scott said, “Champions like Chris Evert and Tracy Austin have done so much to help build women’s tennis to where it is today, and it is regrettable that anyone would criticize them in this manner.”


The Williams sisters haven’t played at Indian Wells since 2001. They were booed after Venus pulled out of a semifinal match against her sister, citing knee tendinitis. Serena went on to win the title, but was booed during and after the championship match.

New Gaslight Anthem gets release date/title

According to my friends at punknews.org, a release date of August 18th has been made official for The Gaslight Anthem's sophomore offering named, "The '59 Sound". I can't wait. For real.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Please...

You're kidding, right Joe?

Obama's speech also drew praise from one of his former Democratic presidential rivals who has not endorsed him or Clinton. Delaware Sen. Joe Biden called it powerful, truthful and "one of most important speeches we've heard in a long time"

By NEDRA PICKLER and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Nader...why not?

This was from the editor's desk (I'm assuming James D. Hoff) at the CUNY Graduate Center Advocate. And it sums up a lot of what I've been thinking, or have thought for quite some time as I voted for Nader in 2000 and 2004.

What Nader’s Bid Really Means

“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.” —Aristotle

By the time this goes to press, I am sure we will have all heard the chorus of doom and gloom voices from the moderate left bewailing Ralph Nader’s recently announced Green Party bid for President of the United States. There will be the usual pundits saying things such as: “he was a great consumer advocate, but has no business being in politics” or “now is not the time;” and, of course, there will be plenty of arguments about Nader’s naive idealism, the inefficacy of third parties, and the paranoid-fueled fear of a Nader driven Republican win in 2008, but there will be little talk about the real implications of his campaign. Indeed the media coverage of Nader has always focused on him as a spoiler and very rarely as a real candidate with real issues. I can still hear, for instance, somewhere in the back of my brain the revered Nation columnist Eric Alterman’s whiny, petulant, schoolboy voice complaining how Nader cost the Democrats the 2000 election.


“Thank you, Ralph, for the Iraq war. Thank you, Ralph, for the tax cuts. Thank you, Ralph, for the destruction of the environment. Thank you, Ralph, for the destruction of the Constitution.”

Of course, Nader could not possibly be respnsible for any of these things, and to suggest that he might be is the worst kind of intellectual dishonesty. If Nader had even half of the power embittered Democrats like Alterman think he does, the Democratic Party would have courted him long ago — at least offering to take up some of his positions — rather than demonizing him. As everyone who wasn’t living under a rock knows, the Democrats did not lose the 2000 election; the 2000 election was stolen! The Democrats were defeated because the president’s brother was the governor of Florida, not because Ralph Nader took away Al Gore’s vote. The Democrats were defeated because after the election Al Gore cared more about political stability and the reputation of his party than taking on the Bush campaign, and rolled over precisely when he should have been mobilizing street demonstrations and demanding a thorough recount. The Democrats lost not only because Al Gore lost Florida, but because he failed to win a solid majority of states outside of Florida, which would have protected him aginst the fraud perpetrated there. And lastly, the Democrats were defeated because they courted members of the Republican Party and “swing voters” and completely failed to energize their base and speak to their real constituency, many of whom stayed home. So thank you Al Gore for losing; thank you Al Gore for the tax cuts; thank you Al Gore for the Iraq War; and, uh, thank you Al Gore, for the impotent, utterly demoralized, and ineffectual party that you left in your wake. And this brings us to the real issue at hand; there is no better reason to support a Nader campaign than the current Democratically controlled congress, which, despite all of it’s rhetoric, has done nothing to end the War in Iraq, absolutely nothing at all to move toward a real national health care plan — neither Hillary nor Obama are currently offering anything like the kind of national health care plan our country so desperately needs — and very little to repeal the Bush tax cuts or the Patirot Act.

Like in 2000, there are still few significant and substantive differences between the two parties. Sure, McCain supports continuing the war if necessary and Obama at least says that he supports bringing the troops home within a year, but Clinton’s position on the war is as muddied as most of her fellow Democrats, and any final decisions, regardless of who is elected, will be based on the realities on the ground in Iraq in January and have little do with campaign promises. The political consequences of a real withdrawl are too much for either of the two big parties to handle. What we do know, however, is that Obama, Clinton, and McCain are all pretty hawkish on US foreign policy, (Obama, for instance, has argued for increasing the military budget and bombing Pakistan if necessary) and all see a continued PNAC style role for the U.S. in controlling and manipulating international affairs. Likewise, Clinton and McCain have little or no interest in repealing or voting against trade pacts like NAFTA and other economically liberal trade policies that destory local economies, cultures, and workers’ rights. Although Obama has very recently paid lip service to criticizing NAFTA, he has also said that not re-negotaiating the current trade agreements could lead to what he called “protectionist rhetoric” from the right and the left.

This kind of fear mongering is typical neo-liberal rhetoric and is hardly the position of someone sincerely interested in real trade reform, but rather reflects the positon of a true moderate, interested in ameliorating some of the negative impacts of trade agreements like NAFTA but not repealing or significantly changing them. Indeed, “amelioration” is exactly the term that Clinton used in the last debate to describe her response to NAFTA. Of course there are issues where the two parties actually differ significantly (abortion, guns, immigration, gay marriage), but on the big issues, there is simply too much common ground. Who is to say whether Al Gore and the Democrats, for instance, would have invaded Iraq after 9/11 (the Clinton administration, after all, had no qualms about killing innocent Iraqis with its sanctions)? Who can guess whether or not he would have instituted even more draconian survelliance legislation after the attacks? Or whether he would have closed down or expanded Guantanomo? Lastly, who is to say whether or not Gore and his party would have been capable of implimenting any of the environmental policies that he ran on in 2000? It is more likely that the Republican run congress would have bullied Gore into a stalemate on probably all of these issues, pushing him into Iraq, stonewalling his environmental policies (or placating him on one or two), and limiting his executive power, just as they expanded the executive power of Bush. George Bush may have been the one in charge for the last eight years, but the groundwork for all of our recent foreign and domestic disasters were laid by both parties — let us never forget the cowardly bi-partisan congressional vote to authorize the use of froce against Iraq. As Jonathan Edwards, a Democrat himself, was fond of reminding voters:

This system is corrupt. And it’s rigged. And it’s rigged against you, and we can say ‘As long as we get Democrats in, everything’s going to be OK.’ It’s a lie. It’s not the truth. Do you really believe if we replace a crowd of corporate Republicans with a crowd of Democrats that anything meaningful is going to change? This has to stop. It’s that simple.

It is really no coincidence then that Nader announced his exploratory committee on exactly the same day that Edwards chose to drop out of the Democratic race. Without Edwards and Kucinich running, the Democratic Party nomination has been handed back to the politicians, corporatists, centrists, and moderates of the Clinton era. Like Edwards, Nader recognizes that the real problems facing our nation are not al-Qaida or Iran, but are largely internal and domestic. Nader’s campaign, and the Green Party’s platform, unlike Obama’s or Hillary’s, has always been about change; it is about fundamentally changing the nature and structure of our democracy. It’s about changing the constitution and moving away from a winner take all two-party system of entrenched interests, toward a more real, more representative, more inclusive, more dynamic, and more diverse democracy, where votes are never wasted, and people’s voices are heard. Let us not forget the Green Party either, whose candidacy Nader is seeking, and whose progressive platform of reform would seek to implement such necessary and common sense changes as living wage laws, real national health care, cooperative ownership of enterprise, a steady-state economy, and global disarmament of nuclear weapons, not to mention a dedication to actually doing something about global warming and environmental destruction now rather than later. While Obama and Hillary compete to see who can offer the flimsiest multi-payer health care system, the Green Party supports “a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health insurance program.” This alone should be enough to convince anyone who actually cares about the coming health care crisis to vote for the Green Party.

But it’s not just about voting for Ralph Nader or the Green Party. Vote for whomever you like — including Cynthia McKinney, should she win the Green Party nomination — but whatever you do, leave the Democratic Party; join the Green Party or the Socialist Party USA or whatever party tickles your fancy; volunteer to help out in a local campaign; and donate what you can. Nader’s presidential bids have obviously never been about winning, but, like all third party campaigns, have always been about gaining support for the movements, the parties, and the platforms that really matter, and raising awareness about the real options and possibilities that are available. Although Nader will not win in 2008, he, once again, has the opportunity to challenge the status quo, force himself into the conversation — and maybe even the debates — garner support for the causes that really matter, and force the Democrats against the wall on the real issues facing our country. The pundits will say what they always say: “Nader is a spoiler;” “it’s not time;” “this would be fine if we had a parliamentary democracy,” etc. But this is exactly what they’ve said all along from 1996, to 2000, to 2004. Ask yourself, when will it be time? And how long can we stand to wait before we realize our time has passed?

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

I don't think Barack is necessarily a bad candidate...

I am just a cynical/skeptical guy. But please, if one more person tells me to read "The Audacity of Hope" again (by the way, already read it), then...well...a quick kick to the junk is on the way :)

Monday, March 10, 2008

The Beatles to iTunes

Does this smell fishy to anyone? I mean, in addition to the fact that I would just as soon have Paul McCartney go into seclusion and never be heard from again? I'm just saying...how exactly is it that Paul gets "most" of the money? Doesn't everyone know by now that he couldn't carry Lennon's genitals, let alone write a better song? Okay, I'll give you "Let it Be" and "Hey Jude"...alright, I seem to remember myself playing HJ over and over in the jukebox near closing time back in the day...but still. How does Paul end up with most of the money? I'm guessing Ringo got about $100K out of the 400 million, lol.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Buried in March, the Blizzard of '08


So yes, they say 15-16" of snow has fallen in about 30 hours. Amazing. I've never seen anything like it...well, I don't remember '78 to be honest. Still a toddler. But this was unreal. Truly. Oh, btw, Right at Your Door was pretty good stuff, I recommend it, if you feel like being scared...and then paranoid :) B+

Friday, March 7, 2008

They are calling for...

9-15" of snow over the next 24 hours. I think we've already got 2-3! Wow. I can't remember the last time Columbus had that much. Guess its a good thing I got a few movies out yesterday from Hollywood, that at least look somewhat interesting. We'll see how Trade, Right at Your Door, and The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair turn out, along with the last 2/3 of Season 3 of The Wire.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Out On DVD Today!



I watched Into the Wild for the second time in the theatre last week. Still amazing. Definitely rent it if you haven't seen it yet.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

3/2 at 32...

Perhaps, just maybe, it is not too late to start one's own adventure...again.

"Happiness only real when shared" - Chris McCandless

Saturday, March 1, 2008

So I've seen this for a second time...

...and it's still that good. Go rent it on 3/4!

It's a mystery to me
We have a greed
With which we have agreed

You think you have to want
More than you need
Until you have it all you won't be free

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me

When you want more than you have
You think you need
And when you think more than you want
Your thoughts begin to bleed

I think I need to find a bigger place
'Cos when you have more than you think
You need more space

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

There's those thinking more or less less is more
But if less is more how you're keeping score?
Means for every point you make
Your level drops
Kinda like its starting from the top
You can't do that...

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
Society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me

Eddie Vedder - "Society" - from Into the Wild

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

And why...

Barack, does your wife read such high-brow fair like US Weekly, lol.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Yeah...but it was an educated guess

So Maxim (where all people should be getting their music knowledge from) finally admitted that their reviewer didn't actually listen to all of the new Black Crowes album before assigning it a 2 1/2 star review. But like I said, at least it was an "educated" guess.

It used to be...good

Wrestling, yes, professional wrestling used to be good. It was fun to watch, and for a time...say about 1997-2003, it was competitive. I'll still tune in to watch Shawn Michaels (the 2nd best ever to Ric Flair) and a few others. But honestly, Vince McMahon has no idea what he is doing since he now has no competition, or hasn't for about 7 years. The first few years were okay, when the Rock was kind of still around, but anymore, 80% of it is pure shit. Ah, but wait! Floyd Mayweather is going to save it. Yes, you heard me. Honestly, I don't why anyone in McMahon's stable would bitch about what they are getting payed or who is in charge of marketing or anything like that. $20 million. That's right. More than he could make in a boxing match in the future. Another arena that's dried up for now.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

NADER!

Yeah baby! Ralph's Back to keep those corporate whores in check. Hehe. Seriously though, I'm loving this. I know many will disagree with me, but that's okay.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Oscars...should and will...

Okay, I used to be really good at this, like usually 85-90% for major categories...though I think my skills are slipping. I'll give it an educated guess though.

Best Picture - Regardless of what anyone is telling you about Juno, it's between No Country and There Will Be Blood. This is as close to a toss-up as I've seen. I'll go with TWBB just because I think No Country's end may have pissed-off enough people to hurt its chances.

Best Director - Diving Bell is too small, Juno is too cute, and Michael Clayton is too straightforward. So here we are again, the Coens vs. P.T. Anderson. I'll side with P.T. Though as with Best Picture, either can win.

Best Actor - This has to Daniel Day-Lewis' second statue. Especially after getting screwed out of this 4 years ago by Adrien Brody. All the performances here are great, but DDL's is by far the most memorable...and the best.

Best Actress - Cate Blanchett's second turn for Elizabeth was eh...fair. Ellen Page was too cute, and Marion Cotillard is too foreign. I have a strong feeling this is going to go Julie Christie for her excellent turn in "Away from Her". Should it? No. Laura Linney's performance in the other movie of similar subject matter, "The Savages", is more nuanced and much less romantic. But hey, the Academy has awarded Christie before, and looks like they will do so again.

Best Supporting Actor - Nobody, including the Academy saw Casey Affleck's performance. Sadly, Into the Wild never truly caught steam. Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent, though in a movie with mixed reviews. Everybody has said that Javier Bardem's turn in No Country will and should win. I'll agree with the first part. But in my opinion, I would give the statue to Tom Wilkinson. Just barely. He has every opportunity to turn his role into a complete stereotypical mess. But he rides the tightrope without every falling off.

Best Supporting Actress - Experts are pointing at Cate Blanchett on this one. Honestly, I have not seen her or Saorise Ronan's performance in Atonement. I know Tilda Swinton and Amy Ryan both were amazing. And Ruby Dee...eh...very good but this seems like a lifetime acheivement award. I'll stick with Blanchett here.

Best Original Screenplay - I haven't seen Lars and the Real Girl. Though I will most likely the day after in the dollar theatre. As for the rest here...I'd give it to "The Savages". Quite realistic and yet, quite funny, in a very human way. But I'm guessing the Academy is going to favor the cute "Juno". They tend to that more with screenplays than Best Picture.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Diving Bell is foreign, Christie will get AFH's for Best Actress and Atonement's momentum seems to have stalled out to early. So...surprise, we are back to the Coen's vs. P.T. Anderson. Anderson has already lost in screenwriting for Boogie Nights and Magnolia...and I have a feeling he will here too, especially if he wins for Best Director/Picture. My dough is on the Coen's.

And I'll once again say...wtf is up with three of those crap songs from Enchanted being in the best song category and Eddie Vedder being completely shut out with his songs from "Into the Wild"? Garbage.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

So yeah...its late...but its here

So, the ceremony is actually going to happen. And I still can't come up with a 5th and final nominee for Supporting Actress. Apparently I missed a lot of the movies with good female parts this year. Sorry. And let me say, that the Original Song category including 3 songs from Enchanted??? WTF? And not including Golden Globe winner Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild? I can only hope that "Falling Slowly" from Once can at least take that. It's a late opinion but I was trying to catch up on some other movies before giving my opinion :) (And even with that I still have yet to see Atonement, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Lars and the Real Girl, and a few others). So, here they would be, if I was givinge noms based on what I've seen...


Best Picture
Into the Wild
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac

Best Director
David Fincher, Zodiac
Ethan and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Judd Apatow, Knocked Up

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortenson, Eastern Promises
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages

Best Actress
Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
Ashley Judd, Bug
Kate Dickie, Red Road

Julie Christie, Away from Her
Laura Linney, The Savages

Best Supporting Actor
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Garner, Juno
Catherine Keener, Into the Wild
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Adapted Screenplay
Charlie Wilson's War
The Hoax
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay
The Darjeeling Limited
Knocked Up
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

Sunday, February 17, 2008

The Gaslight Anthem

Yes, The Gaslight Anthem do indeed have a new 4-song EP out now, titled Senor and the Queen. I highly recommend giving it a spin or a purchase. And if you still haven't listened to their debut, Sink or Swim, well...you are disappointing me, and hurting yourself :)

Yes, It Is

Fabchannel.com is indeed good shit. Real good shit. I can't believe that I just watched full multi-camera, good-sounding shows by Strike Anywhere, Bouncing Souls and Joe Henry, among others. This is too good to last for free. But get it while you can, at least the free part.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Yes, Owen Gleiberman, you said...

..."That's more than you can say for Hayden Christensen, a gifted actor..." when speaking about "Jumper". Gifted actor? Is there another Hayden Christensen we don't know about?

Completely Savage


Okay, so maybe it's not completely savage. But "The Savages" is a better film about alzheimers/dementia than the romanticized version that we got in "Away from Her". No, I am not saying that AFH was not a good movie. It was. Julie Christie deserves a nomination. I'm just saying as someone who has seen the effects first hand, its a little too romanticized for me to be in love with the film.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, two of the best in film today, are in the roles of sister and brother, both long estranged from their father. They are both in various states of mid-life crises, and Linney's character, a playwright taking temp jobs to support herself, may be the only person to be turned down for a Guggenheim fellowship more than her brother who is still dying to get his book about playwright Bertolt Brecht published. They play off each other with such ease, that at times you forget that Alzheimers/Dementia, end-of-life, however you choose to label it is not a laughing matter. But Tamara Jenkins, in only her second film and first since 1998's pretty decent "Slums of Beverly Hills", directs "The Savages" reminds you that life is, well, absurd, but never takes the picture to that of a dark, heartless comedy. And you will often find yourself laughing at it in places you know you shouldn't. Philip Bosco is wonderfully unsentimental and most often unloving as their father who can no longer take care of himself after the death of his longtime girlfriend he was living with.

Okay, so it's probably not going to be high on the Valentine's weekend list of films you want to see. But I'm guessing if you're reading this, then garbage like "Fool's Gold" probably isn't in your plans anyway. The bottom line is that there are seldom a time you should ever miss the work of both the leads here. And if Hoffman has created a problem, a good one to have, it's that he has 3 Oscar-caliber performances this year! Comparing these performances to the two that Cate Blanchett (who I love very much) was nominated for? Not even close. And Linney? She definitely deserves her nomination and in my opinion a victory, though I'm guessing it will never happen. And as "The Savages" reminds us, life goes on. A

Sunday, February 10, 2008

So...

You can't edit posts or use spell check while you create them? Pretty sweet. Ahhhhh....well, here we are a day later, and I can at least edit once again. Thank you blogger. Feel free to update that spell check feature anytime.

Movie Round-Up

A few from the last couple of weeks...

1. Charlie Wilson's War - Pretty decent stuff. I can't say that I didn't enjoy CWW, though I also can't say absolutely loved it. There is a pretty fair amount of chop to the way it's filmed, and it can distract from time to time. As for the leads, Tom Hanks does a good enough job...Julia Roberts...never been a big fan, and this performance hasn't convinved me otherwise. I think you have a pretty good idea when the majority of the talk about the performance is the fact that she looks good in a two-piece bathing suit after she has had kids...is well, not quite focusing on her acting "ability". I'm not saying she's bad or anything, but just isn't up holding her own against Tom and Phil. And Philip Seymour Hoffman, what can I say? The man is incredible. Sinking, once again, completely into his role as a CIA chameleon. He's funny, serious and completely believeable. Outside of Daniel Day-Lewis he is THE guy. B+

2. The Kite Runner - I wouldn't lie if I said it was hard to be objective on this one. I read this book a little less than a year ago, as apparently many other did as well. It was moving, perhaps even more so because of my personal history. Marc Foster has done a pretty good job here with an unenviable task. The film stays true to the novel and gets some pretty nice performances out of the two child actors as well as Houmayoun Ershadi as "Baba", Amir's father and incredibly compassionate and generous employer of Hassan and his father. Many of the scenes in the film are actually exactly like what I imagined them to be in my head while reading the book. TKR never got a wide release in the states. As for why, I can't answer that question based on how many people have bought, read and loved the book. Possibly the fact that the majority of it is in a foreign language? I hope not. It's well worth seeing. B+
-
3. Juno - Ah, the hip little indie that could for 2007. Many have compared in the Oscar watch to Little Miss Sunshine. That's nice, only this is waaay better than LMS. And the annoyance factor is mainly held to the er...cutesy dialogue which after a while, I gotta tell you, does start to make me roll my eyes. Is it better than having to listen to Abigail Breslin scream and preen? Not even close. I'd watch Juno another 10 times before I'd sit through another viewing of LMS. Ellen Page is dead-on in her role as the other girl that was "knocked-up" this year. I still recommend checking out "Hard Candy" if you have yet to see it. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner are both Oscar-nod worthy in supporting roles as the adoptive parents to me. And Michael Cera is...well, okay, he's just Michael Cera. The same character in Arrested Development, Superbad...you get the idea. Does he actually have any range? Dunno. Haven't seen it. I do know that Juno is still worth watching again, even with my cringing at some of the hipster dialogue. And to me, that makes the rest of the movie just that much better. A-

Friday, February 8, 2008

I am moved from time to time...


...by movies. However, "Once" is an exception. As in moving me to tears. In a good way. Truly, truly remarkable. Hit your local video store now if you have yet to see this musical triumph.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Zzzzzzzzzzz...

Hipper-than-thou criticism of the hipper-than-thou. All very yawn-inducing if you ask me.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Taking out the trash, cleaning out the hopper, scraping the walls of the stall...you get the idea: Films I hated in 2007




With the award season upon us and everyone has given out their praises, its also time for everyone to speak on what they hated. What can I say, its fun. And for one of the few times I am in agreement with Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune. Well, at least with his number one pick.

5 Movies that critics had concrete hard-ons over that I said..."eh, they're okay"

5. The Host - I lost track of how many critics said this was truly great horror movie. I think Jim Emerson from the Chicago Sun-Times said "...wild, crazy, messy, preposterous -- and all the better for it". Well, I agree with the first part.

4. Superbad - It's not that its "bad", lol, it just looks rather limp after seeing "Knocked Up". Sure, some of it's funny, but instead of the crudeness actually making you roll on the floor like Apatow's first of '07, this one in which he produces, continues to trail off until the end. Many have said that Seth Rogen and Bill Hader's cop non-plot per se was played out for too long. Honestly, they are the ones I am thanking most for getting me to laugh. And if you thought their part had no plot, did you watch the rest of the movie? Note: You can of course now see Michael Cera play the same role in Juno. Also, the same role he played in Arrested Development. Also...okay, you see where I'm going right?

3. Borat - I know, I know, technically released at the end of last year (to raves). I didn't hate Borat, but I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be so damn funny. Sure, I did laugh, but not like the other people in the dollar theatre who were probably seeing this for the 4th time. What this really supposed to so "out-there" and "controversial"? Maybe I'm just not easily shocked. Dunno.

2. Rescue Dawn - Rescue Dawn isn't a bad movie and Christian Bale is pretty good in the role of Dieter Dengler, whose plane is downed over Vietnam, on his first mission. Yes, it's like Missing In Action, with a true story and much better acting. And I had began to wonder where Steve Zahn had gone the last 5 years or so. This was supposed to be a one of those true stories of inspiration, but I tell you what, after the last 20 minutes or so of this I left the theatre cold as ice after the demise of a certain character and the absolute nothingness that seems to be felt by the star.

1. The Queen - I know, also from late last year. Not awful. None of these are. Helen Mirren's mimic is quite good. James Cromwell isn't so great. What is more obvious than anything else is that Judi Dench's performance in Notes on a Scandal trump's Mirren's so greatly that it goes down in my books as one of Oscar's biggest screw-ups.

And the absolute worst...

10. Perfect Stranger - It's more about the convoluted ending than anything else. Okay, it's way beyond convoluted.

9. Transformers - Did anyone actually think that this would be worth 1/2 a shit after Michael Bay signed-on as the director? It's not, and if John Turturro's talent was ever completely wasted (which is hard to do), this is it. Check out Shia Labeouf's much better summer film, Disturbia.

8. Spiderman 3 - Yeah, you thought it looked promising at first with that evil black suit and all didn't you? Yeah, I did too. Too bad it sucked. Not dark enough, and the attempts comedy with Tobey were um...yeah, let's forget about it.

7. Death Proof - This was supposed to be the better of the two right? God I hope not. Not funny or serviceable in its supposed homage to the exploitation flicks of the 70's. And Tarantino has was over-extended himself with his once-hip dialogue. If I wasn't Kurt Russell fan I would have turned it off before it ended. Probably should have.

6. Hitman - Yeah, the premise is pretty stupid. And so is the rest of it. I do have a question though, if you're supposed to be one of the greatest assassins in the world, wouldn't it make more since to grow your hair out, or at least cover the barcode tatoo on your head with a hat?

5. The Hitcher - Yeah, I do like horror movies. The original back in 1986 with Rutger Hauer, John C. Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh was actually scary and engaging. Now, all we have is upped production values and a whole lot of gore, body parts, etc. Sean Bean is not exactly the man for the job, and the supporting cast is lesser so. So much that you are cheering for their demise.

4. The Contract - I am not sure exactly how Morgan Freeman or John Cusack got messed up in this piece of garbage that plays out like a bad cable movie. In fact, I think it went straight to dvd. How either of these actors is in something that goes straight to video is beyond me. I'm not sure who they owed a favor to, but I hope that debt has been paid.

3. Tideland/The Reaping - Two examples of good, talented people, one being a director and one an actress who both seem completely lost. Terry Gilliam has made many movies that I can count among my favorites. From Monty Python and the Holy Grail to Brazil to The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Gilliam's film always leave you with something to talk about. Except for the last two. After not releasing anything for 7 years (the ill-fated "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote nonwithstanding), then directing this and The Brothers Grimm back-to-back. Well, the only thing we are talking about now is how bad they are. Tideland is a complete, absolute mess and a total waste of Jeff Bridges (and your time for watching this). Hillary Swank on the other hand, has two Oscars to her name. I'm not sure how, but she does. Don't get me wrong, "Boys Don't Cry" and "Million Dollar Baby" are very good movies and she is excellent in them. I'm just saying that, outside of "Insomnia", everything else she has done has stunk-up the joint. "The Reaping" is so bad I couldn't even enjoy it for some kind of camp value. You won't either.

2. Black Christmas - Oh wow, if my number hadn't come around, this would have been a clear winner. It's that bad. I know, surprise, another good original turned into complete shit by a re-make. Hard to believe by now. The acting is awful, well beyond actually. The directing, okay I'm going to stop. It's all shit.

1. Hostel: Part II - Eli Roth. What's happenin'? You make Cabin Fever, a really good low-budget horror film, that's gory as hell but also a hell of a lot of fun. Then you make Hostel. Mmmm...losing the humor a bit. Still creepy. Sadism and toture elements ratcheted up. But at least a somewhat original storyline where the viewer isn't exactly sure where their loyalties should lie. Then you make this. This utter piece of shit. There is no joke here, no wink of the eye. And overall its simply a bore. Please don't make a 3rd.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Guy Pearce...


I have a feeling will never be a box-office draw of any kind. It's certainly not for his acting ability, which is very, very good. So good that it can take a film like "First Snow", and make it more than watchable, even compelling. It's not a film that other indies haven't traveled down before; discovering for one reason or another that your life is going to end at certain point, and the inner-turmoil of the mind and body that follows along with the actions that result from it. Well worth the watch for both Pearce and a for-once restrained J.K. Simmons.
Grade: B

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Please...kill me

No, I didn't sit down and re-read Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain's excellent oral history of the first half of punk. No, I came down with the flu over the weekend and was feeling like death. So I turned on Fox for the Sarah Connor Chronicles (hey, give me a pass, there is no "24" this year) and what do you know, there is good ol' George coming out to give what is thankfully his last State of the Union address. Apparently he now wants to preserve his conservative legacy...so trying to work with Congress is something he ain't gonna do. Beautiful. It's really not that G.W. is stupid (you can't win twice and be stupid), it's that he just doesn't care.

Friday, January 25, 2008

I can't tell you...


what you already should know by now. That Daniel Day-Lewis is the finest actor of this generation. That if I was stuck on an island with only the films of two actors to watch, it would be him (and Philip Seymour Hoffman). I could go on. Pointless. The bottom line is that "There Will Be Blood" is everything you thought it would be and more. Go see it. Now.

It's not that bad...

I know, I know. You want to hate this one really bad. Not as much as I hate blogger right now for wiping out my 4 paragraph review about 3 minutes ago! Is this a sign I'm not supposed to come back? Anyway, yes, "Lions for Lambs" is a bit talky and and could easily be viewed as preachy at times. However, it is actually worth giving it a view with an open-mind, if nothing more for the dialogue exchanges between Cruise and Streep. And Andrew Garfield actually holds his own with Redford. The third act featuring Michael Pena and Derek Luke in Afghanistan with the military falls a bit flat and at times the rhetoric may have you rolling your eyes, but the message about what can we do about changing the direction of the country/world is one that should not require a party line.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

It really doesnt...

Willful ignorance does not equal an intelligent opinion

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

R.I.P.

Heath Ledger (1979-2008)