venezuelan television

being marooned on a gorgeous caribbean island (isla margarita), my viewing options have been slim. thanks to the programmers of venezuelan television, however, I have seen two movies I most likely would not otherwise have come across: Speak and Life/Drawing or Apartment 12. Speak features one of my personal favourites, Steve Zahn, playing a wild art teacher that mentors a teenage girl (a very haunted Kristin Stewart) who went through a traumatic experience at a party that caused her to lose her friends and her place in the world. the movie's very simple and sad and pretty well done. I love Steve because I worked on a movie with him in Auburn, NY called Blowin' Smoke (which we shot as Freak Talks About Sex). it's probably not that good, but my name is in the credits, along with Steve's. Apartment 12 stars Mark Ruffalo as an artist whose girlfriend breaks up with him, causing him to wallow in self-pity until he meets a girl from Colorado who entered the Air Force afterhigh school and is far too much of a hick for the painter's pretentious sensibilities. the movie has a lot of apartment antics - wacky neighbors abound.

failure to launch

this movie made no sense, from its premise - that a girl would hire herself out to date losers who won't leave their parents' house - to it's metaphor of biting animals. it's very very very mildly amusing. I must fly to venezuela now.

night watch

unfortunately, this Russian movie about Others who are preyed upon by both light and dark forces and a medieval truce that comes undone in modern Moscow made no sense. it did have some highlights though: the second scene, involving a crazed old woman witch, a shot glass of blood and a near miscarriage, was one of the strangest things I've ever seen and promised a truly twisted movie that never materialized; a boy about to be visited by a vampire watching Buffy; and subtitles choreographed and color-coded to the action on screen. the combination of this movie's digression into confusion and pints of beer had both JL and I fighting to keep our eyes open. oh well.

cock and bull

just came back from seeing Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story in the best possible way - on a front row couch at the Parkway with a pitcher of Newcastle Brown Ale and wonderful company. this movie is highly amusing, particularly if you have never seen a window slam down on a penis before. the movie has tons of great British actors (Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry, Ian Hart, Kelly McDonald, Naomie Harris, Shirley Henderson) all playing second fiddle to star Steve Coogan, just the way he likes it. there's no real point to the movie, just a movie-in-a-movie about adaptations, egos and mocking Fassbinder fanatics. not to mention, a hot chestnut in the pants. what more could you want?

double feature

today I saw V for Vendetta and Ethnic Notions. I don't know anything about the graphic novel V is based on, but I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. instead of being too scary in a Holocaust-type of way, it was jumpy and tricky and political. in this England-of-the-future, the US has already devolved into civil war and environmental chaos while the UK retains some semblance of peaceful life, albeit fully controlled by a fascist chancellor. everything about the political situation rings true; the government is an amalgamation of present and past leaders. forget about Natalie Portman's shaved head - it really doesn't matter. this is her best role since The Professional - she plays an everywoman victimized by the system and unsure of whether or how to fight back. the movie is inspiring and almost feels radical at times, except for its tendency to remind you of its comic-book origins. Ethnic Notions is a Marlon Riggs' documentary about cultural and media stereotypes of African Americans since slavery that fuel the kind of regime portrayed in V. this insightful 1986 movie needs a sequel to bring us up to the present and question how much things have changed in the past 20 years, if at all.

find me guilty

during Find Me Guilty I kept thinking 'this is totally unrealistic, people would never say that in a courtroom' and then I would remember that much of the dialogue was taken from the real court transcripts. Vin Diesel is completely unsexy in this movie, from the awful haircut to the paunch, but sadly, I think I like him better this way. Annabella Sciorra, as always, is awesome and manages to hide how pretty she really is. I personally love Jerry Adler who, by playing Jackie's soon-fired lawyer, provided a twisted sense of authenticity because he also plays Tony's lawyer on the Sopranos. I've worked with this man and can tell you that he is better at the New York Times crossword puzzle than anyone I have ever met. he's also very kind. this movie will strike a chord with Italians who still feel persecuted but will not resonate well with anyone anticipating a career in law. the trial ran for 2 years, the attorneys slept in their offices, and the jurors' families probably went bankrupt. meanwhile waiters poured wine for the mobsters at lunch in the courthouse. Jackie, who represented himself, was the only one who wanted the trial to drag on longer - he was going back to his jail cell no matter what the verdict.

hangover cure

scrambled eggs and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. this is a relentlessly depressing movie - a true story about a woman with 10 kids and a drunk husband who resents her ability to provide temporary relief from their abject poverty by writing simpering jingles for household products and collecting prizes. particularly bad scenes included: after being humiliated by the milk man, mother is pushed to the ground by drunk father, cutting open her hands. after a neighbor takes her to the hospital, father wistfully watches a pool of milk and blood draining through the floorboard. after mother wins a shopping spree and treats her family to the most exotic food she can find (capers and artichoke hearts), father throws half the food out the side door. in her one defiant moment, mother throws red jello with marshmallows on father and refuses to let daughter get him a towel. despite stars Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson and a brief appearance by the always-brilliant-but-under-used Laura Dern, if I weren't feeling somewhat braindead, I would have had a lot more trouble getting through this one. other viewing highlights of the week have been episodes from Angel Season 1, Battlestar Galactica Season 1 and, finally, The Sopranos.

an italian epic

for a 6 hour movie, The Best of Youth feels very short. this is an epic, which means that years in the characters' lives are lost to the viewer, children grow up from one scene to the next and grey hair substitutes for true aging. the best of youth has all the charms of a European movie - a sharp focus on characters and relationships with political movements creating the backdrop for dramatic changes. best of all, after paying close attention to the subtitles for 6 hours, I can now speak italian.

paradise now

I FINALLY got to see Paradise Now tonight - in the best possible way - on the big screen at the Grand Lake, one of the two best movie theatres in Oakland and the world. The fundraiser was crowded and the crowd was inspired. Even the gentleman who slept through the screening let out snores at poignant moments. This film is focused. It is unapologetically an exploration of suicide bombing that asks you to accept that occupation is bad without showing any of the gory details. Highly intellectual, it's also suspenseful, terrifying and unexpected. Kais Nashef has the saddest eyes I've ever seen and the movie keeps you guessing as to why. The movie is political and entertaining. Much, and nothing, like Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which I saw on the same screen in the same week.
One thing though - why don't they put subtitles at the top of the screen? Then the audience could read them.

domino

I definitely would have watched Domino in the theatre had I known how perversely entertaining it was. best line: "I knew in my heart of hearts that we should have stopped when my goldfish died. It was a sign from a higher power." other highlights: cell phone interference leads to an arm being cut off unnecessarily; Ian Zearing and Brian Austin Green play themselves as washed-out celebrities hosting a reality show called bounty squad; Mo'Nique on Jerry Springer preaching about a new mixed-race nomenclature that includes "Chinegro," "Blactino" and "Japanic." other highlights included macy gray, delroy lindo as "charlie" to the 3 bounty hunter angels, keira knightly, mickey rourke and edgar ramirez, keira flirting with lucy liu, and no pretense whatsoever about being a "true story" despite characters based on the real domino harvey (who died before the film came out), real life bounty hunter zeke unger and real life bail bondsman celes king III. I was not bored during this movie, not once. delroy lindo - raised in england, moved to toronto, then san francisco. not to mention incredibly talented.

oscar hosts

obviously, Dave Chappelle would be the best oscar host ever, which is why they will never let him do it. Ali G is my second choice.

Canadian movies

tonight I watched Where the Truth Lies - a movie by one of the most famous, respected and talented Canadian directors, Atom Egoyan. this was a departure from a lot of his earlier stuff (the ones that made it big in the U.S. were The Sweet Hereafter and Exotica, but other classics are The Adjuster, Speaking Parts and Family Viewing) - more straightforward and linear, a good old-fashioned murder mystery with lots of sex, drugs and glamor. cameos by some Canadian classics: Don McKellar, a friend of mine from back in the day who is also a famous Canadian actor, writer and director; Arsinee Khanjian, Atom's lovely wife and classic actor Maury Chaykin, who has been in well over 100 movies, Canadian and American. I particularly enjoyed the scene in the Chinese restaurant that, although purporting to be in New York, is actually one block from the nursing home in Toronto where three of my grandparents currently reside.
another Canadian movie I watched recently was Phil the Alien. I could tell it was Canadian because it mocked Americans shamelessly. it also featured a talking beaver voiced by SCTV classic Joe Flaherty, my sister's ex-boyfriend playing a member of the world's worst band, Graham Greene as a surly bartender and the title role of Phil played by writer/director Rob Stefanuik, who, on one occasion, I knew quite well. Rob looked better that night we hung out on College Street, but I think he pulled off the alien thing. the movie is funny but in that way where you can tell everyone had a great time making it - a better time than you had watching it. but don't take my word for it - ask NS, who I believe enjoyed it almost as much as he did The Search for One-Eyed Jimmy, which he watched three times - in a row.
I almost went to see Dave Chappelle's Block Party again tonight, but wasn't quite ready. It is a shame though because my best movie friend, JL, wanted to go, and I owe him a lot of movies. every obsessed movie-goer should have a friend like JL - he indulges all of my strange movie requests, likes and hates the same movies as me, gets things I don't get and is overall fantastic company. JL - move to puerto rico with me!! it's only for a couple of years....

throttled

I am a netflix throttle victim. apparently, I watch my movies too fast and the only way they can make a profit off of me is to delay sending me my videos, which leaves me with days like this, with nothing to watch. instead I went on the site and rated movies - 2456 so far and counting. sadly, only a year ago I was still a netflix holdout. I didn't want to make video stores, where I have spent many of my finest hours and made some truly wonderful friends out of store clerks, obsolete. now I'm looking ahead, wondering how moving to puerto rico will affect my movie-watching. lots of big changes ahead, but six more months to watch as much as I can before I feel too guilty staying in instead of soaking up the sun or hanging out in the warm night air.

movies 2006

the oscars ended a little while ago and, as usual, the fact that I had seen most of the nominated movies made my picks losers. crash wasn't the best movie of the year but it had a lot going for it: some great actors, a movie unapologetically about race, and pure entertainment. I liked it. since I'm starting this blog a couple of months into the year, let me catch you up on what I've watched so far in 2006. in the theatres: Memoirs of a Geisha, Match Point, King Kong, Fun with Dick and Jane, Rumor Has It, Glory Road, Casanova, The White Countess, Munich, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, Last Holiday, The Matador, Imagine You and Me, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Cache, Something New, Freedomland, Transamerica, Running Scared, The New World. on video: Cronicas (if you look closely you may see me and my cousin walking through a very tense scene in front of the prison), Mysterious Skin, My Summer of Love, Head-On, Eurotrip, Look at Me, Phil the Alien (a very Canadian Canadian movie with Toronto friends in it), The Chumscrubber, Just Like Heaven, Elizabethtown, The Best of Youth Part I, March of the Penguins. also watched and loved Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared.
that brings us to last night, when I saw Dave Chappelle's block party and Why We Fight. these films are a good double feature. block party was incredibly inspiring with great music and some very funny jokes. the feel-good movie of the year so far. why we fight was a great reminder of how far in the wrong direction things have gone since the 50s with some nice little plot twists in the narratives.