What I'm Watching #303

Set in New Zealand, it's rather a predictable story line with cliché moments, my favorite coming right after one the characters accuses another one of being cliché.  I think the whole "Whale Rider" association led me to expect more.

What I'm Watching #302

Working through a backlog of movies here. Today it was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". Turned out not to be what I expected, but full of things expectable in a movie with this premise. Delightful, wonderful cast. I felt Bill Nighy's performance was just a wee bit too dirivative of one Hugo Horton from the village of Dibley, and the best performance was actually that of Penelope Wilton who didn't even rate a picture on the cover of the DVD.

"Everything will be all right in the end, if it's not all right, then it's not the end!"

What I'm Watching #301

Jitters is a 2010 film from Iceland.  It's the tale of a group of friends on the verge of becoming adults who drink a lot, flirt a lot, fight a little and other stuff.

Before the film is over, one remains a jerk, one meets her father for the first time, one comes out as gay, and another one commits suicide.  And try though you might, it's really hard to actually care about any of this.  And that's the film's killer flaw.

What I'm Watching #300

Wow, #300!--and it's Lincoln, too.

As you know, I am never worried about arriving late to the party.  I was a little worried (needlessly) about this film having the curse of "Gandhi" on it.  That film was so long that before it was over I was ready to kill him!  But not so with Lincoln.  It's hard to find something I do not like about this film.

So here I go with my accolades.  First, Tony Kushner is an amazing writer.  The film was one poem after another delivered by an amazing ensemble of actors.  Of course, Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Fields, but also Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, Peter McRobbie, Gloria Reuben and Gulliver McGrath.  And just so many other fine actors whom I also love to see like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Stephen Spinella.

Some complained about the darkness of the settings, but I liked it.  Gave the whole a cohesive foreboding.  The score was no great shakes.

Favorite dialogue.  When Lincoln entered in upon the "lobbyists" card game and W. N. Bilbo exclaimed, "Well, I'll be fucked!" and Lincoln replied, "I don't doubt that."

Great movie, well worth the time.

What I'm Watching #299

Received this CD as a premium for my sustaining membership to National Public Radio. I support two stations: WAMU in Washington, DC and WNYC in New York City (Home to Radiolab, one of the best shows on the Radio!) to the annual tune of $624.00 If you listen to NPR where you live and don't contribute, shame on you! But I digress. This CD is of a live show that they did on stage and that was broadcast into theaters around the world at the time. So more than just just stories, and music (OK GO and Taylor Dayne), there are cartoons, photographs, dance--and when Longtime contributor, David Sedaris, is the weakest thing in the show? Well, Hon, that's a Homerun! Exactly what this show is. I think you can only get it if you contribute to an NPR station, so what are you waiting for?

What I'm Watching #298

Watched tis interesting little film. I like that the director has an eye for story telling that is not dependent on dialogue. You feel like you get to know the characters, and then you doubt what you thought.

What I'm Watching #297

Another film watched was "Weekend". A very intense and authentic film. I really found it compelling. I would recommend it to everyone.

What I'm Watching #296

More movies to watch this weekend. Magic Mike. Nothing special. The best moment in the entire film occurs in the first three minutes when Tatum Channing gets out of bed naked and walks away from the camera! God never made a more perfect set of man ass-cheeks. As to the rest of the film--ho hum. No fan of Matthew McConaughy, not enough of Matt Bomer. And where was the story? Sap like "The Notebook" only with a little nudity. Was that the pitch to the network executives?

What I'm Watching #295

It's a movie weekend. Just watched "Going Down In LA LA Land" another in the present series of gay themed films by Caspar Andreas. I liked it. Matthew Ludwinski and Allison Lane are delightful in the leads. No Andreas film would be complete without both him and Jesse Archer in some role. Cameos by Perez Hilton and Alex Mapa add to the fun. Have a kleenex ready.

What I'm Watching #294

Saw this very odd and, well, QUIRKY, film tonight. Actors were asked to understate their performances all around. Storyline interesting and slow. Oscar material? Maybe the director...but not so much...

What I'm Watching #293

I watched this really bad movie today. 10 Things I Have About You is part of my quest to see all of the movies that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been in. In my humble opinion, he's one of the young actors whose work will eventually come to define the critical essence of his generation of actors--not the whores and self-indulgent pretty boys who snark at one another over the spotlight, but the truly and entirely real yet transcendent talents. Actors who are interesting to watch.

This was perhaps is his first big role in a film since taking on the sitcom 3rd Rock From The Sun. He actually made it while still participating in the show. He's clearly both enjoying the experience and learning from it. The movie itself suffers from just about every flaw a film could. The most interesting things about it are it's location and the boom camera! There is also a performance by the young Heath Ledger, who looks so much like the more mature Joseph Gordon-Levitt does today--I found that to be a little freaky.

What I'm Watching #292

Just watched a wonderful film. "50/50" both taught me something and touched me at a very profound level. Every performance was pitch perfect; Angelica Huston, Anna Kendrick, even Seth Rogen (who I'm no particular fan of) and most especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who I adore). If you haven't seen it, Netflix-it, Sweethearts--and thank me later!

What I'm Watching #291

Mass Appeal is one of my all time favorite films. It's a fine play, but it's a better movie! The storyline is simple and the joy is found in the performances of Jack Lemon and Zeljko Ivanek. The relationship between the two characters is a tour de force of acting.

If you've never seen it, you must. You simply must!

What I'm Watching #290

Just finished the third film in this iteration of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawntreader. And of all of the books, this one was always my favorite. The movie doesn't disappoint either, but the book remains better. The use of CGI really allows this tale to be told well, as a film. Actor Will Poulter is a fine edition in the role of cousin Eustace, and both Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes are exiting just in the nick of time in the roles of Lucy and Edmund Pevensie. Playing adolescences has an expiration date.

So I liked it, but I am given to understand that there will be no more in the series to follow. Just not the cash cow that Harry Potter turned out to be.

What I'm Watching #289

Just watched the film version of Li Cunxin's autobiography, "Mao's Last Dancer." It's a lovely film, not a terribly good film.

But it's an amazing story, a story that overtakes the faults in the film to leave you amazed and enchanted by his life. It makes Cinderella look pedestrian.

What I'm Watching #288

"Harvest," or in the original German "Stadt Land Fluss," is a interesting little independent film by Benjamin Cantu. It's the story of two young men who meet at an agricultural training farm and discover in each other the thing that they have been waiting for.

It's a simple story told with an acute eye and some amazing cinematography. At times I was imagining an album cover by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós; stark yet exposed.

It's a sweet film.

What I'm Watching #287

The Help is an Oscar contender on many levels and as usual, I'm late to the dance.

I enjoyed this film for its' acting and myriad of cameos. In an oscar competition I wouldn't know who to give the award to. Everyone was more than adequate, but the whole story seems so "wishful thinking". Rewarding such racial fantasies seems very un-PC.

So great movie, but not a necessary premise. "Cookie's Fortune" was a better pic in this genre.

What I'm Watching #282-286

Tonight I watched a collection of 5 short films. I'm sure I've said it before, but it's worth repeating, I LOVE short film as a genre! I really do. The same way I love the short story, or a well crafted poem. To capture an idea, to share a moment, to frame an epiphany or make a statement in any short form is art as amazing to me as any epic novel or opera or symphony.

This collection assembled by Alluvial contains an entry from South Korea, Australia, Spain, the US, and France. Hands down the tightest is "The Postcard" from South Korea. Nothing benefits a short film like attention to detail.

The dog of the batch is Spanish entry "Sístole/Diástole" which really hangs it's hat on a tired cliché threaded through a melodramatic and senseless plot. Watching it, I felt embarrassed for the everyone involved.

The others are fine and altogether worth watching.

What I'm Watching #281

Just watched this Brazilian film "Do Começo ao Fim" which tackles the subject of same sex incest. Or more accurately bumps into it. Well acted, yet without much of a story or even really a message.

Two brothers fall in love as children and never stop being in love. Okay. Whatever. Good eye candy.

What I'm Watching #280

"Sagwan" is a Filipino movie, probably the 5th or 6th one I've seen. They all have a flaming gay character in them--which makes me wonder just what an iconic role flamboyant gay men play in Filipino culture in general. Or perhaps, why I only seem interested in movies from the Philippines that have this stock character as part of the cast!

The larger story is that of 18 year old Alfred who is a virgin and confused and haunted by a dream/memory that centers, like all things in this little village do, around the beautiful Tatalon River. It is simply written, melodramatic and mostly a vehicle for a final scene that is an extended ménage à trois in which Alfred tastes both the love of his long suffering mute girlfriend, Cecilia, and his boyhood best friend, Eman. The latter having only just that same day introduced him to the village's main economic activity, male prostitution.

Plenty of eye candy, but not much else.