"I watched Black Snake Moan last night. Good movie. Recommended."

Double-recommended.

Matthew

I watched Prarie Home Companion last night. Another good movie. Recommended.

It's a shame that Lindsey Lohan has turned into the skankiest skank in skanksville. She's not without talent as an actor and singer.

Recently, I've watched:

FF4-2 -- Never saw the first one, and definitely won't now. The Surfer looked and sounded good. The Thing looked alright, but he was too small. Mr. Fantastic's stretching was terrrible and I couldn't help but be distracted by that shaved on the sides dead raccoon looking hair he had. Invisible Girl's costume wasn't very revealing, so I had to focus on her acting, unfortunately. Plus, Byrne was right, she's not Aryan enough. SPOILER ALERT -- Galactus is defeated in a completely nonsensical fashion. Not recommended.

THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI -- This is a pink film where the lead, Sachiko, a Japanese girl with a Westernized ass, gets accidentally shot in the head by a Korean terrorist/assassin. Instead of dying, she's left wandering around with a big, bloody hole smack dab in the middle of her forehead. In a daze, she gets raped by a stranger, but discovers she can't feel anything. She then looks deep in her hole in the mirror, jabs a makeup pencil in there, pushing the lodged bullet deeper into her hypothalmus and ... psychedelic imagery ... enlightenment occurs. She begins to devour all the world's philosophy. Then things get weird: our president, George W., starts talking to her from a tv set about how his big weapon is going to put the world in it's place. Sachiko gets remote controlled fucked by a copy of W.'s index finger, painted red with the American flag for the finger nail. She then proceeds with her mission, to spread knowledge of the Real through her vagina. "Chomsky" (misspelled with an 'i' in the subtitles) is used like a sex mantra throughout the film. As with other wannabe intellectual films (WONDER BOYS, I HEART HUCKABEES, etc.) the philosophizing is nothing but nonsensical sloganeering and random name-dropping, but at least this one has some good fucking. Recommended.

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPER-HERO -- This is a documentary about those panhandlers who dress up as pop culture icons in front of Mann's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd.. Tourists come along and want their picture taken with a pot-bellied Spiderman, only to be told at the last minute that he works on tips. The film follows 4 of them (all of whom are -- surprise, surprise -- struggling actors): Superman, a guy who's so obsessed with Chris Reeve that he breaks down in tears when talking about his idol and has his entire apartment covered with Superman junk from floor to ceiling. This guy wears this soiled outfit 24-7 and even under his civvies. Wonder Woman's the most amazing looking panhandler you'll ever see, curvier than Linda Carter and much prettier. She's also the only actor in the film who might get a chance in another film or at least get to sleep with the right guy. She's pure pathos, saying stuff like people who create things aren't remembered, only their creations are, but to be famous is to be eternally remembered. Batman is this pathological liar who can't control his anger, brought on by his years as a supposed trained assassin (you even get to see him learning kungfu with an Asian gal who's half his age). He looks like Bizarro George Clooney, and keeps reiterating his resemblance in every interview. He's the most "famous" of our heroes since getting arrested for being too physical with tourists who refused to "tip" him and the cops who told him to stop. The Hulk is this pinhead black fellow who used to live on the street until he started becoming the Hulk for money. This film is about the myth of pop culture, so I recommend it.

SOUTHLAND TALES -- The followup feature from the director of DONNIE DARKO. It feels like the film version of Morrison's THE INVISIBLES set in Dick's Southern California, with 90s Britpop music selected by Moby that was referenced throughout that book. Filter that through BRAZIL using Lynchesque riffs and you get the picture. Primary problem is this isn't near as smart as Dick, Morrison, Gilliam or Lynch, so it comes up empty by the end. It would take too long to summarize the plot or problems with this film, but it stars the Rock as a right-wing hero suffering from amnesia and being used by Sara Michelle Geller's porn star prophet who is secretly working for the liberal Neo-Marxists [sic], led by 90s cast members from SNL playing misandrist dykes. The fratboy with the dumb smile from American Pie plays a Christ figure and his inter-temporal simulacrum for some purpose left on the cutting room floor. There's also tons of guest appearances from every minor star namechecked by Dennis Miller at one time or another. Half of the story is told in a Big Brother qua Fox News-like fashion with various boxes flashing images and text on the screen and the other half is narrated by Justin Timberlake as a Bud-drinking, scarred assassin who is after the modern-day Christ for some reason that involves his scar. If you're one of those people who really found a lot to think about in DONNIE DARKO, then you'll have even more to think about with this one. The version that was so widely panned at Cannes was 4 hours long, the original script I'm told was 800 pages, and this version is 2 1/2 hours of what was evidently randomly selected in a Burroughs cutup method. Whether you come for enlightenment or a train-wreck, it's worth seeing.

Just watched The Departed on HBO. Great movie. Highly recommended.

I also enjoyed it. I liked the original (Infernal Affairs) more, though.

from another thread: I look forward to your take on SOUTHLAND TALES, Stevv.

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN -- This movie will flop. Contrary to many critics' opinions, the Coens usually set up certain characters for audience "identification" (you, at least, feel close to one or two of them and that carries you through their adventures). This movie, which is getting universal critical praise, is closer to the common criticism, allowing no such identification. The two leads, Bardem and Brolin, are more or less ciphers for violence and morality. Only the secondary character of the sheriff, played by Jones, allows you into his head, and he functions as a reflection or diegetic interpretation on the main characters' actions. It's cold, real cold, but an interesting way of telling a story. Highly recommended.

If you like a movie or dislike it, it's always nice to hear a little about why that's the case. I know not everyone's going to be up to writing a full-blown film-nerd critique, but just a thought.

I've never heard of any of those movies Charles listed, but they sound like fun. Especially the superhero one. Sounds right up gene's alley.

As a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and a sort-of Coen Bros. one, I'm dying to see No Country For Old Men, but it's not playing around here yet, to my chagrin. I need to move to a real city.

I tend to recoil at the idea of movie adaptations of McCarthy's novels, especially the ones I've read (which doesn't include NCFOM), but I always figured the Coens as being among the few well-known filmmakers out there who might be able to pull off a decent take on his work. And everything I've read about the movie makes it sound like exactly what I was hoping for.

The only movie I've rented lately was CELLULAR. Mmf. It was on some list somewhere of the Most Underrated Movies of the Last Five Years, or something to that effect. But no, it's not underrated at all, it's exactly as dumb as it looks/sounds, at best, and probably got the reviews it warranted. I mean, it's watchable, in the same way that a really mediocre television show with a cute hook might pull you in despite yourself, but there's just absolutely nothing to really recommend about it. It'd be an easy movie to pick apart in detail, but why bother -- suffice to say it set the bar for itself very low, and just barely managed to tumble over it. If you relish absurd, highly implausible, gimmicky little action-adventures with characters too underdeveloped to even qualify as solid cliches, and delight in not-so-subtle product placement, then this movie will probably strike you as slightly above average.

K

I don't have a DVD player yet (and when I do get it, my time will probably be spent on buying and watching tv series before films... The Avengers, here I come... er... eventually!!!), so I'm gonna just recommend one I've seen in the theatres.

Control: Actually, just yesterday I saw this one for the second time. I doubt you'd have to be a Joy Division fan to get into this Ian Curtis bio-pic. Really well-acted (if you want to make a poorly-acted film, you don't hire Samantha Morton, for one thing -- and whoever this Sam Riley guy is, who plays Curtis, he's tremendous, seemlessly carrying Curtis' conflicts from day-to-day life to his work on-stage/in the studio/at the writing tablet and back again), beautiful to look at (rarely has black and white been so striking; director Anton Corbijn's a famed music photographer and authored many iconic Joy Division images) and great to hear (for the concert and recording sessions, the music is actually performed by the actors playing the band -- including Riley on lead vocals -- and recorded live; they do a creditable job recreating Joy Division's sound and this wise decision on the filmmaker's part adds a real excitement and emotional punch to the musical scenes).

But the reason Control is a great film is ultimately the way it refused to either mythologize or sentimentalize its subject. Curtis is no rock hero; altho the film allows for viewer sympathy for Curtis, it also shows him to be a damn bastard in many ways, and you'd have to be a bigger Joy Division fan than me to really forgive him his trespasses in the name of his troubles (disatisfaction with working-class English life, epilepsy, standard young-person immaturity, likely emotional disorder). Control addresses the hope of personal deliverance music-making offers, but it isn't about the glamour of "rock" in any way; rather, it's very much about the dreariness of real life.

If today were January 1st, 2008 and I were asked to name my own Best Films of 2007, I'd be hard-pressed to come up with ten titles I could bring myself to put on such a list (sure... The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters; Away from Her; The Dead Girl... and...?... and, at that, that last film is, I think, actually a 2006 film whose theatrical run didn't reach my city until this year). But I'd have no such reservations including Control.

Oh, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead might make that list, too. I might go see that one a second time as well.

Matthew

Charles,

"FF4-2"

What does that stand for? Fuckin' Fantastic Four?

"Mr. Fantastic's stretching was terrrible"

This is the very reason I believe a Fantastic Four film should not be made yet. I *KNEW* they couldn't pull off Reed's stretching -- and if you can't make The Fantastic Four *fantastic,* why even fuckin' bother, exactly? Make a superhero movie you actually CAN make, instead.

Matthew

It's my f key, goddamnit! It either sticks or won't give me an f at all.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is without a doubt the best film I've seen this year. It's as good as any of Morris's docs, which are an obvious influence.