I watched the 1st season of THE SARAH SILVERMAN PROGRAM. This is the funniest show since Larry David's.

Remind me not to watch Larry David's show, then.

The first season of the Sarah Silverman show is wonderful, definitely my favorite new show, and it just got better as it went. Season Two seems comparatively weak so far.

Her promotional appearances on Howard Stern have been a lot of fun too.

Though it's always brimmed with potential, I really can't stand Curb Your Enthusiasm -- and yet, inevitably, I always end up watching the new seasons when they come out. It's weird. The show consistently annoys me and yet I always feel compelled to give it another chance. I mean, it does have its moments. I remember liking the Crazy-Eyed Killa episode quite a bit.

I checked out Curse of the Golden Flower on DVD recently. I kinda liked it, but in a purely ... absurd, Zhang-Yimou-to-the-Craziest-Extreme sorta way. It's sort of fascinating how abstracted and hypervisual his filmmaking has become.

And I hadn't seen Chow Yun-Fat in anything for a good long while, but he's still got it. I forgot how much I enjoy him.

K

I had been wondering about Curse of the Golden Flower. Thanks for the heads up.

Here are some things I've watched lately:

Get Carter: I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find out that the original Michael Caine version is way better than the Stallone remake. But it was kind of weird to find out that the remake kept almost nothing from the original. I also didn't expect all the quirky sex stuff. Or the ending. Still... If it had just been a better version of the main plot (getting revenge for the dead brother), it would have been sort of disappointing. I can see now why people respect this movie so much.

Recommended.

Played: On paper, this sounds pretty good. Gabriel Byrne, Val Kilmer, Vinnie Jones, Patsy Kensit, and all sorts of other cool actors in a mostly improvised, low-budget gangster film.

Unfortunately, the protagonist is played by some nobody who co-wrote the outline for the movie. And most of the people you've heard of before are barely in the movie. The concept is good, but the execution is kinda meh. And the ending isn't particularly satisfying. Watch it if somebody else offers to pay for the rental or you have a free coupon or something.

Not recommended.

Castle of Cagliostro: The classic Lupin III movie lives up to any hype you may have heard about it. It's more serious than most of the Lupin stuff I've seen, but there's plenty of funny action and slapstick humor for people who prefer the earlier Lupin cartoons.

Highly recommended.

Ninjas and Dragons: You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll want to see it again and again. I was intrigued by the title for a long time and the premise sells itself. A ninja teams up with some Chinese martial arts masters to rescue a princess. There are also some evil ninjas causing trouble in China. Some of the special effects are a bit cheesy, but if you're into the story you won't care. The good ninja has a bunch of cool gadgets that add to the fun. Also, there's an evil midget who knows kung fu. And the princess almost manages to rescue herself a couple of times which made the movie a lot more fun for me.

The only problem? Not enough ninjas. Highly recommended.

"Remind me not to watch Larry David's show, then."

You never disappoint me, Dumas.

To clarify and expand a little, Curse of the Golden Flower is likely to disappoint anyone seeking a good action movie. It's more like watching a giant, beautiful chess match. It's interesting in that Yimou has seemingly abandoned any lingering interest in giving his action any arguable anchor in reality, or visceral action-movie punch. It's not even a "ballet" anymore in the tradition of John Woo, Yuen Wo-Ping, etc., so much as pure movement, color, and texture. It all has the feeling of some kind of stylistically stilted traditional stage play (and come to think of it, I'm pretty sure is based on one.) The story is fairly simple, the dialogue minimal, and all that's left is to watch the political punches and counterpunches unfold (with the usual heavy dose of melodrama) on the canvas of Yimou's beyond-lavishly-decorated wallpaper: his set design, costume design, image composition and use of color. And these aspects of the film are truly astounding.

[img]http://static.flickr.com/119/302212343_784cfe429f.jpg[/img]

It's an odd progression. HERO was out there, but satisfied on some level as an action movie in the vein of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. House of Flying Daggers felt like a step in the wrong direction, the action sequences no longer ridiculously enjoyable as much as just plain ridiculous, and the story/characters very boring. Curse of the Golden Flower returns to interesting characters, but is even worse in terms of the action element, going beyond just plain ridiculous into the purely absurd -- but something clicked for me about Yimou in this outing, and I realized damn, this guy has just really veered off into his own world entirely. The film has that slight glazing of madman-artistry to it, which appeals to me. I like when artists and filmmakers dive headfirst into their own peculiarity, the weird aspects and flavors of their work that make it their work -- and, to me, that feels like what Yimou's done here, consciously or not.

You may love it or you may hate it depending on your expectations, but I guarantee -- especially towards the end of the movie -- you've never seen anything else quite like it.

[img]http://kmingy.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/flower-2.jpg[/img]

Oh, and it also has the best bosomry of any movie, ever. In both quantity and quality.

K

I've pretty much given up on Zhang Yimou. I really love his earlier stuff, but all of his later films, buckling under political pressure, are a bit of a let down. His historical action films are enjoyable enough, I guess, but it was already wearing thin with the second one. Fucking communism. One complaint I heard about CURSE was the cheesey look of the film, which, if that shot is representative, seems correct. That looks worse than some of the similar scenes from the later STAR WARS films. But I'll get around to it eventually.

Naw, it's 50x the visual treat any fuckin' Star Wars prequel movie is. Cheesy? Sort of ... depends on how you define it though. Mind-blowing-cheesy, not crappy-video-game-Star-Wars-cheesy. Still shots might not do it justice though. Or you might just disagree.

I like the cold political themes of Yimou's Hero-onwards stuff. Not so much out of actual political embrace, it just makes them different, spins them in a weird way you wouldn't otherwise see, and sorta adheres with Yimou's weirdly formal visual structure. It's interesting seeing the characters who would normally be the bad guy, were it anyone else's movie, just sort of ... win.

K

I gotta say, I've heard a lot of people say how much they love both the Larry David Show and Sarah Silverman. I watched a bunch of Larry David on orders from some hipster friends and I just couldn't get it. And I just watched my first Silverman show too, and I admit it was second season, but It was kinda the same thing, it was all just too obvious, she's fun to watch, unlike Larry David, but it's all lost on me. Same thing with Always sunny in Philadelphia too. I sat through six episodes of Larry David, and more than that of Always Sunny and I just was bored, not enjoying them at all.

It's all by-the-numbers, should-be-funny stuff, but it's missing something.

Is it something where you just keep watching and it starts to grow on you, or is it a "you either get it or you don't" thing?

Hmm, I can't think of any other comedic shows or talents like either, but maybe I just haven't experienced enough stand-up comedy or sitcoms to see how derivative they really are. In terms of sitcoms, my favorites are, without a doubt: GREEN ACRES, SEINFELD, CURB, GARY SHANDLING SHOW, LARRY SANDERS, OFFICE (UK), EXTRAS, and, now, SARAH SILVERMAN.