Howl

Howl

Nearly everyone I know, who's a reader anyway, goes through some sort of Beat Generation phase (Hey, it was better than our ska phase). But there is a stigma attached to those that don't grow out of it.  I'm not sure why, maybe it isn't really true but among my general reader circle it is.  Perhaps it is still cool to read William S. Burroughs whom Lauren recently described as someone who was, thankfully, a writer and not a serial killer.  Yes, it is still cool to read Burroughs, I just decided.  And soon this will be coming out.  (Watch it and pretend they are talking about a serial killer and not a writer.)
Anyway, I was never a particular fan of Allen Ginsberg. in fact, Howl may be the only thing of his I have ever read.  Too jazzy.  Too New Age-y, ultimately.  So I wasn't sure what I was going to get out of Howl.  On one hand, I really enjoyed James Franco's portrayal which really wasn't much more than him doing some readings and kissing some dudes but on the other, the movie was riddled with horrible animated sequences that were distracting on a level that I can't quite comprehend.  They really took me out of the film's narrative.  The rest of the movie was split between glimpses of Ginsberg's life and a court room segment detailing the obscenity trial that resulted from Howl's publication.
I think I would have enjoyed this movie quite a bit, maybe even gaining a new appreciation for Ginsberg and his poetry, but because those damnable animation sequences, Jesus F. Christ they were bad, kept shitting on the screen I think I hated the movie.

Movie Goer Actor Hall of Fame: Jeff Bridges

I'm inducting Jeff Bridges as the inaugural member of the Movie Goer Actor Hall of Fame. Everyone has that barometer actor that they follow and see any film the appear in.  Jeff Bridges is that actor for me.  He may seem like an odd choice for the inaugural member but it's my blog and I don't really give a shit whether or not it makes sense to anyone else or not.
Jeff Bridges is the Neil Young of acting.  He started out with some seriously hardcore performances:  The Last Picture Show, Fat City, Bad Company, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and Stay Hungry all before 1980.   But he's always managed to stay somewhat relevant just like Neil Young in the artistically turbulent 80's and 90's with roles in movies like Tron, Starman, The Last Unicorn, The Fabulous Baker Boys, the Big Lebowski, The Contender, and Crazy Heart.  And you know what, fuck it, I liked Stick It because he was in it.  No shame.  Now he's starring in two of the most highly anticipated movies of the last few years this Christmas, Tron Legacy and True Grit.  So I salute you, Jeff Bridges, welcome to the Movie Goer Hall of Fame.

Classic Bridges

Movies, That If You Haven't, You Need to See

Fat City

Movies, That If You Haven't, You Need to See

Little Murders

Catfish

Catfish

Every time I saw something written up about Catfish it said something about how you wanted to know as little about the movie as possible before you see it.  Why then was a reading an article about it in your idiot magazine?  The trailer is a little misleading as well, making you think you're signing up for some kind of horror movie.  Well, it isn't but I won't spill the beans entirely or let any cats out of bags.
In many ways this was the perfect companion movie to the Social Network.  I saw them on back to back days.  In one film you have the basic building of the site and in this film you sort of witness the power it can hold.  It's hard to explain that power without giving too much away so you're really just going to have to see it to witness the whole thing.  Basically, a New York city photographer receives a painted version of one of his photos that appeared in a newspaper somewhere.  It arrives out of the blue but he soon discovers that it was painted by an 8 year old girl named Abby.  His brother and another friend convince him that he needs  to let them document the relationship that ensues as Abby continues to recreate his photos in paint.  Things get a little strange when he starts interacting with different people in Abby's family and some things start to not add up.  There are a few scenes, once they go to meet the family in person, that are so awkward and uncomfortable, that I felt kind of sick to my stomach.
I enjoyed Catfish more than the Social Network, but it kind of reinforces the power and audacity of what was going on as Facebook was being created in the Social Network.  Seeing Catfish made me more interested in reading the book that the Social Network was based on than the Social Network did.  Seems rather odd but it's true.  The connections you can make, the people you can be or not be once on the internet, especially Facebook, are now staggering.  I highly recommend seeing these movies in conjunction if you can I think it really added something to the experience.

The Social Network

The Social Network

I saw the Social Network the other day and I really, really wanted to get some popcorn.  But I didn't, I fought the urge.  I did get a huge soda in some kind of weird plastic cup that I can bring back and get refill for "only" three dollars.  I figured it would pay for itself by next week.  Anyway, I haven't been to a movie for a long time that featured so many other single audience members.  There was probably 15 other people in the movie and only two groups of two.  The rest of us were flying solo.  I'm not sure why I noted this except that the Social Network seemed to be to be mostly about the crippling isolation and loneliness felt by its protagonist Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook.
It's hard not to watch this movie and not be completely bowled over by what an unrepentant petty asshole he is.  He's brilliant, yes, I guess, I mean he was writing codes and shit on a computer. I can't really even gauge that kind of intelligence but god, what a dick hole.  Jesse Eisenberg is extremely competent in the role of Zuckerberg,  So good, you kind of wonder what kind of asshole he might be in real life.  The rest of the cast is good too, it includes someone named Armie Hammer, I don't know who he played but that name is hilarious.  The low acting point was Justin Timberlake.  Normally, I think JT is really good in movies, preternaturally underrated, but here he brings little to no energy to the screen.
This movie kind of reminded me of the Insider since it's a pretty riveting tale about something I really couldn't care less about.  David Fincher does a really good job with the pacing, it never lagged, and the non linear story arc worked really well.  I also liked the score which was by Trent Reznor whom I usually think is a nincompoop.

Dagon

Dagon is one of the few Lovecraft inspired films out there that gets it right: its very entertaining while staying somewhat genuine to the source of inspiration. I guess this is not to surprising given Stuart Gordon made it, I mean this guy has already made the only other decent Lovecraftian movies amongst the fairly small sea of competition. I have wanted to re-visit this one for awhile now as I remember the original viewing to be quite entertaining. I specifically remember a scene that has to be one of the most intense face ripping scenes I have ever laid eyes on. Even more interesting, this act of is performed by some elite fish-man (gilled neck and all) for ritualistic purposes that seem true to the little I actually know about lovecraftian lore. If you search for "dagon face rip scene" in google the first response is:
"Dagon - face rip - greatest movie deaths of all time". This movie also pulls off being fairly funny , not taking itself all to seriously which adds to its b-movie charm .
Thinking of all this reminds me that Guillermo del Toro is working an adaptation of a Lovecraft story which if all goes well should be fantastic ... on another note concerning gogle searches, try searching for "dagon" in google images; the results on the bizzar-0 scale rank pretty high up there. There are so many awesomely bizarre images that its hard to pick a favorite but this one on page 5 may be the best (this guy does in fact look like some of the creatures in Dagon):

The Secret of Kells

Secret of Kells is totally awesome. Based in part on Irish history (the setting and some of the story) and mixing in some mythology and fantasy makes for quite an captivating tale. If Secret of Kells had to exist as a short story it would seem fitting flowing from the pen of Neil Gaiman. But then itwould be stripped of its visual beauty which blew me away. One segment in particular that induced euphoria was where Brendan has to go questing in the mystical woods for some gall nuts, which in turn sends him crossing paths with a faerie/wolf spirit type creature named Aisling (both pictured below). Yeah sure, I know this sounds like some bullshit story that the burnt out acid-head around the way would spew out endlessly but unlike that asshole Secret of Kells actually delivers (and you can just shut if off if it does not).

Talk about an animated feature that really delivers on all fronts, this one has it all. I love an animated movie that is so engrossing that it has the power to really take you on a journey that can only be achieved through the medium of animation. Some Hayao Miyazaki films are a prime example of this (Howl's Moving Castle is one of the best, and his next one is another Porco Rosso!), The Iron Giant was another top notch feature that really uses this form of expression to its full extent.

Sound awesome or what! ...... Whats that?!? ... This sounds like nutty kids stuff?? Not for a sophisticated chap like yourself? Whatever then, I guess you can just go and watch something more hardcore like Oldboy.... wait, you say Oldboy is to much for you?? Ok, Ok, I understand: you want to spend your time seeing some played out new comedy that yet again makes you feel like your at some awkward celluloid family reunion with Michael Cera as the guest of honor. Well, whatever, if you get sick of that shit and decided to invest in some good taste then Secret of Kells would not be a bad place to start.

Trailers for Movies that Look Good

Tiny Furniture

The Illusionist

Marwencol

Carlos

Movies, That If You Haven't, You Need to See

King of the Hill

Let Me In

Let Me In

One of my least favorite trends in American movies is the remake of a recent foreign movie.  Every now and then a remake of a foreign movie is no big deal.  Especially if the movie is a short (12 Monkeys) or nobody really saw the original (Quarantine).  But when the original is a wonderfully captivating and original film that played in theaters all across America, I kind of take exception.
Let the Right One In is an ethereal, striking magical film that extended the vampire myth in ways that True Blood and Twilight could only hope to achieve.  Let Me In, though a capable remake, lacks any of the magic and wonder that sort of shimmered through the original.  It is rough and gritty and goes to great lengths to contrast the bullying the little boy goes through with the violence the girl is forced to perpetrate to stay alive.  It feels a little heavy handed.  It could have been done in a much more subtle way but I already knew that because there already is a perfect version of this story.  The CGI vampire murder scenes looked terrible, almost like a video game.  That bad.  The other aspect of Let Me In that really fell flat was the music.  It was a constant annoying presence attempting to sway the audience's feeling.  And, just wondering, does it really snow that much in Los Alamos, New Mexico?
That being said, the performances by the leads in Let Me In were pretty stunning.  Still not as good as the original actors but they hold their own nevertheless, especially in their scenes together.  Richard Jenkins was suitably creepy, and probably the best part of the movie, as the weird old man aiding our little vampire.  So while it doesn't really hold a candle to the original I still think it was a pretty decent movie.  Sean has never seen Let the Right One In and he enjoyed it more than me so I think if you haven't seen the original you'd probably like Let Me In.

A Woman, A Gun, and a Noodle Shop

A Woman A Gun and a Noodle Shop

This faithful remake of Blood Simple doesn't quite make it.  The plot is there but the pacing and characters really don't do the story justice.  There is a lot of unimaginative slapstick humor that seems really forced and intentional.  I found it mostly distracting.  The original Blood Simple does have some humor but it is dark.  I don't think you necessarily have to include the same tone when a movie is remade, in fact, it may be a mistake.  Remakes should come off more as cover songs, imbuing the new film with a different sense of time or place or character is essential in producing a decent remake.  Most are just rehashes.  I applaud this film in that respect.  Yimou Zhang normally does interesting things with color in his films.  It starts out brilliantly but the palate sort of fades into the background of the drudgery that is the third act of the film.  Perhaps it was intentional but I needed something to look at as the story dragged on and on.  I guess the title translates more directly to A Simple Noodle Story which is a much better title than the one it got in America but I suppose that's neither here nor there.  The only real glory of this film is in this noodle making scene.

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps

Obviously this movie was bad.  Oliver Stone hasn't made anything worth seeing since JFK but all of his movies leading up to and including JFK I actually enjoy so there is always a chance.  It just seems like he's lost his way with the basic idea of Story.  This particular dud contained no compelling characters or ideas.  He lets all the bad guys off easy and the good guy, you can tell because the good guy is the one trying to make money off of green energy, kind of wins in the end.  I just didn't see the point.  There are so many lines and tangents in this mess that just go nowhere, it's like a plate of spaghetti just glopped on the screen.  I spent most of the movie trying to figure out why Josh Brolin's character would have an office with two huge Keith Haring paintings as well as a Goya's Saturn Devouring His Children and a Richard Prince nurse painting.  His opulence did not compute.  And if you hate Shia Labeouf, he cries in this.  Finally, while "money may never sleep," I did for about fifteen minutes in the middle of the movie.

Trailers for Movies that Look Good

The Tempest

Burke and Hare

True Grit

Savage

Devil

Devil

















(It was remarkably hard to find an image pertaining to this movie, probably because everyone is collectively trying to forget it.)

Initially I was so filled with vitriol after seeing this movie that I wanted to run home and layer my intense hate upon well deserved hate in a sort of bean dip of hate but I let it go and after a week it has mostly abated.  It was just so stupid.  Every time someone said something, I thought, that's ridiculous, nobody says those words in conjunction with those other words in response to yet other utterances nobody would bother to produce.  And that's just the dialogue.  The plot does have some merits.  The initial premise that these people are stuck in an elevator with four other people, one of whom is the devil incarnate, could have worked.  They just kept blowing it with every plot turn.  Have you ever been riffing on some subject with a friend who just keeps inserting inane, unfunny, unrealistic smaller riffs into the greater riff?  Yes?  Well this is the movie that friend would make.
M. Night Shyamalan didn't write or direct this movie though he is credited with the story and producing.  It has to be the only thing that got this mess into the theaters.  There's so many straight to dvd movies that are better made than this, it's an injustice.  All that being said, we did laugh our asses off for most the movie.