23 July 2006
Programming Note - Comment Format Has Changed
Hello.
Due to over 120 comment spams that this blog has received, anyone wishing to post a comment will now have to enter a random verification word. This is so that I don't have to go through all of the posts and delete the comments one by one. I HATE SPAM. I don't understand why companies that support spam advertising would think in a million years that I would support them. I also don't support companies that advertise via pop-ups. Just plain annoying. Why can't we just stick to banner ads that are there, not annoying or making stupid sounds, and easy to navigate past? ¶ 7/23/2006 11:38:00 AM 0 Comments
Due to over 120 comment spams that this blog has received, anyone wishing to post a comment will now have to enter a random verification word. This is so that I don't have to go through all of the posts and delete the comments one by one. I HATE SPAM. I don't understand why companies that support spam advertising would think in a million years that I would support them. I also don't support companies that advertise via pop-ups. Just plain annoying. Why can't we just stick to banner ads that are there, not annoying or making stupid sounds, and easy to navigate past? ¶ 7/23/2006 11:38:00 AM 0 Comments
19 July 2006
strangers with candy, the movie was f*cking awesome
i love madonna, but so do millions of other gay men. i worship martha stewart but i am certainly not the only one. i adore rachael ray but she has a tremendous following. i am absolutely obsessed with gael garcia bernal, but not as much as the average 14-year old mexican girl. i have seen every christopher guest movie a dozen times, but then again who hasn't? considering this, therefore, i do not hesitate to say that john and i are the world's biggest fans of amy sedaris and her dumbfoundingly awesome tv show "strangers with candy." we can practically recite every line of all three seasons of the show. we watch the dvds like non-stop. we have introduced our best friends to it. to us it is almost a religion. so when we heard sedaris was releasing the movie at sundance over a year ago we were almost beside ourselves in anticipation. of course we shouldn't have been so excited considering that it wouldn't find a distributor and be released for another year and a half. but our "strangers" hunger would eventually be sated. at the end of june the film had its debut. and this upcoming weekend it has its debut in tucson. john and i and our friend abeer have been anxiously awaiting this friday and the entertainment possibilities it foretells. so much so, in fact, that we couldn't possibly wait any longer. so, on sunday, john and i broke down and drove to scottsdale and finally saw it.
and it was fucking awesome.
so, if you don't know what it's about (i.e., if you have been shielded from the funniest, most entertaining, most unfortunately shortlived television program of all time) "strangers with candy" was this spoof of after school specials that ran on comedy central for three seasons. it was the brainchild of amy sedaris (sister of confusingly more famous david), stephen colbert and paul dinello. sedaris played jerri blank, a boozer, a user, and a looser who, at 46, gets out of prison and goes back to high school. she still makes all the wrong choices, but, this time around, she makes them for all the right reasons. the movie is a sort of prequel to the tv series, and shows how she came to be flatpoint highschool's most famous concrete donkey.
the movie definitely isn't as funny as the series, but that would be almost impossible. still, i give it a strong b+. like every other movie i have ever seen based on a tv show, this movie went wrong when it marched in the guest stars. special characters played by philip seymour hoffman, matthew broderick, allison janney and, (most notable in her sucktasticness) sarah jessica parker almost doom this movie from the beginning. sarah jessica parker's turn as the flatpoint high grief counselor is so intensely unfunny that it threatens the whole film. this is especially notable considering how hilarious jeaneane garofalo was as the original flatpoint grief counselor. the other three guest stars don't do much better.
the good thing is, that if you can look past these four awful characters, you can get to the heart of this film. and that heart is fucking hilarious. sedaris, colbert, dinello, greg hollimon and deborah rush are so funny. the unfunny characters can be easily ignored if the viewer is promised a taste of the gooey rich center that is the cast of the original series.
there is no plot to this movie. it is more like a series of sketches. my favorite is the skit in which the blank family is eating dinner. in one part jerri's step mother tells her not to speak with her mouth full. she responds by spitting the food out of her mouth all over the table. but there are dozens of hilarious moments throughout. as a matter of fact, i don't know if i have ever laughed so much in a movie theater in my life. i was laughing so much that i feel i missed half the movie. i dont think i can write a review until i see it a second time this friday when it comes to tucson.
"megawatti- - you thinking about signing up for the science fair?
jerri- - no, i was thining about pussy. science is for queers." ¶ 7/19/2006 03:13:00 AM 2 Comments
i love madonna, but so do millions of other gay men. i worship martha stewart but i am certainly not the only one. i adore rachael ray but she has a tremendous following. i am absolutely obsessed with gael garcia bernal, but not as much as the average 14-year old mexican girl. i have seen every christopher guest movie a dozen times, but then again who hasn't? considering this, therefore, i do not hesitate to say that john and i are the world's biggest fans of amy sedaris and her dumbfoundingly awesome tv show "strangers with candy." we can practically recite every line of all three seasons of the show. we watch the dvds like non-stop. we have introduced our best friends to it. to us it is almost a religion. so when we heard sedaris was releasing the movie at sundance over a year ago we were almost beside ourselves in anticipation. of course we shouldn't have been so excited considering that it wouldn't find a distributor and be released for another year and a half. but our "strangers" hunger would eventually be sated. at the end of june the film had its debut. and this upcoming weekend it has its debut in tucson. john and i and our friend abeer have been anxiously awaiting this friday and the entertainment possibilities it foretells. so much so, in fact, that we couldn't possibly wait any longer. so, on sunday, john and i broke down and drove to scottsdale and finally saw it.
and it was fucking awesome.
so, if you don't know what it's about (i.e., if you have been shielded from the funniest, most entertaining, most unfortunately shortlived television program of all time) "strangers with candy" was this spoof of after school specials that ran on comedy central for three seasons. it was the brainchild of amy sedaris (sister of confusingly more famous david), stephen colbert and paul dinello. sedaris played jerri blank, a boozer, a user, and a looser who, at 46, gets out of prison and goes back to high school. she still makes all the wrong choices, but, this time around, she makes them for all the right reasons. the movie is a sort of prequel to the tv series, and shows how she came to be flatpoint highschool's most famous concrete donkey.
the movie definitely isn't as funny as the series, but that would be almost impossible. still, i give it a strong b+. like every other movie i have ever seen based on a tv show, this movie went wrong when it marched in the guest stars. special characters played by philip seymour hoffman, matthew broderick, allison janney and, (most notable in her sucktasticness) sarah jessica parker almost doom this movie from the beginning. sarah jessica parker's turn as the flatpoint high grief counselor is so intensely unfunny that it threatens the whole film. this is especially notable considering how hilarious jeaneane garofalo was as the original flatpoint grief counselor. the other three guest stars don't do much better.
the good thing is, that if you can look past these four awful characters, you can get to the heart of this film. and that heart is fucking hilarious. sedaris, colbert, dinello, greg hollimon and deborah rush are so funny. the unfunny characters can be easily ignored if the viewer is promised a taste of the gooey rich center that is the cast of the original series.
there is no plot to this movie. it is more like a series of sketches. my favorite is the skit in which the blank family is eating dinner. in one part jerri's step mother tells her not to speak with her mouth full. she responds by spitting the food out of her mouth all over the table. but there are dozens of hilarious moments throughout. as a matter of fact, i don't know if i have ever laughed so much in a movie theater in my life. i was laughing so much that i feel i missed half the movie. i dont think i can write a review until i see it a second time this friday when it comes to tucson.
"megawatti- - you thinking about signing up for the science fair?
jerri- - no, i was thining about pussy. science is for queers." ¶ 7/19/2006 03:13:00 AM 2 Comments
12 July 2006
awesome trailer
just saw this trailer on you tube for this awesome new action film. check it out here. i can't wait til it comes out. oh yeah!
¶ 7/12/2006 09:07:00 PM 0 Comments
08 July 2006
year in review (so far)
it really seems to me that filmmakers release their best stuff in biannual cycles. two years ago there were so mant great movies that it was almost impossible to pick a favorite. sideways, hotel rwanda, million dollar baby, finding neverland and the motorcycle diaries were a few of the highlights. then came 2005. and looking back it is hard to think of a single really great film outside of the one obvious standout, crash. therefore, according to my biannual theory of alternating excellence and sucktasticness, 2006 should thankfully be a good movie year once again.
and the theory holds up. i don't ever remember enjoying films in the first half of the year as much as i have in 2006. i mean, i used to go see maybe one film all summer, when theaters generally fill up with expensive, bland shootemups starring tom, brad and ben. but this summer has had a lot of great releases. and, even more surprisingly, a lot of these movies have actually made MONEY, which proves a point i am constantly trying to make: just because a movie has substance doesn't mean people won't go see it.
anyways, it is hard to rank my film favorites of the first half of 2006, because there have really been a lot of movies i have enjoyed so far, and i am not sure which i enjoyed most. but here are five i generally liked most.
- manderlay - okay, so i am not actually sure if this counts as a 2006 movie, since it premiered in 2005 in every country in the world besides the u.s. but, for me at least, it was the first good film i saw this year. lars von trier's second film in his ironically titled "u.s.a.: land of opportunities" trilogy is by far the most unique slavery film i have ever seen. von trier turns the emancipation myth of progress on its head. in the end, he proves a point that i have always strived to live my life by: rich white americans do not have all the correct (i.e. "scientific," "logical") answers to the problems of the world. i can't wait til this finally comes out on dvd.
- the da vinci code - (remind me that i have to go see this at least one more time before it leaves theaters). don't listen to critics that complained the code was dull and talky. i mean, if you are a 12 year old boy this movie might be a little slow and over your head. but to anyone else, i would be shocked if you weren't riveted by this story. sure the movie had its problems, most notably tom hanks' eminently boring performance as langdon, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. still, if nothing else, this movie has endeared itself to me forever, because it pissed christians™ off so much. hallelujah!
- the devil wears prada - i went to see this movie yesterday when i was feeling a little down and wanted to watch something that would make me smile and that i wouldn't have to think about too much, but i never expected this movie to be as good as it really was. it sort of reminded me of legally blonde or pretty woman or other REALLY well done, substantial chick flicks. it was unique, surprisingly unpredictable and incredibly well acted. probably the best comedy i have seen since sideways two years ago and lost in translation three years ago. if you haven't seen it i highly recommend it, especially if you are a recent liberal arts college grad like me.
- i'm going to tell you a secret - if i look back on this summer in 2 or 3 years i am sure that i will remember it as the summer of madonna. she has definitely been on my mind a lot. i finally got to see her perform live, which was amazing. and i have listened to her confessions cd pretty much every day since november. but also this was the summer that she released igttyas, her second docu-musical. it really hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as her first documentary, truth or dare, but it is an amazing work. i enjoyed it when it premiered on mtv in january, but when it was released a couple weeks ago and i watched it for a second time, i was reminded of really how well done it is. if you get a chance to see it, you definitely need to give it a chance.
- a prairie home companion - this was one of the year's movies i was most looking forward to seeing, and i wasn't disappointed. so far this year has been filled with movies that really push the limits of their genre, and prairie home is the quintessence of this. it is almost not even a movie, but rather a sort of post-vaudevillian tribute concert. still, i really hope streep gets awards attention not for this film, but rather for her superior performance in prada. that way, maybe the door can be opened for lily tomlin to get the attention she deserves.
i am really looking forward to seeing what else this year has to offer in the theaters. there are dozens of movies i can't wait to see. chief among these are strangers with candy, finally coming to tucson in just a couple weeks, the new christopher guest movie, for your consideration, two gael movies: the science of sleep and babel, the annette bening oscar vehicle running with scissors, the kate winslet oscar vehicle little children, sophia coppola's latest marie antoinette. musical idlewild, and nicole kidman's diane arbus biopic fur. ¶ 7/08/2006 11:34:00 PM 2 Comments
it really seems to me that filmmakers release their best stuff in biannual cycles. two years ago there were so mant great movies that it was almost impossible to pick a favorite. sideways, hotel rwanda, million dollar baby, finding neverland and the motorcycle diaries were a few of the highlights. then came 2005. and looking back it is hard to think of a single really great film outside of the one obvious standout, crash. therefore, according to my biannual theory of alternating excellence and sucktasticness, 2006 should thankfully be a good movie year once again.
and the theory holds up. i don't ever remember enjoying films in the first half of the year as much as i have in 2006. i mean, i used to go see maybe one film all summer, when theaters generally fill up with expensive, bland shootemups starring tom, brad and ben. but this summer has had a lot of great releases. and, even more surprisingly, a lot of these movies have actually made MONEY, which proves a point i am constantly trying to make: just because a movie has substance doesn't mean people won't go see it.
anyways, it is hard to rank my film favorites of the first half of 2006, because there have really been a lot of movies i have enjoyed so far, and i am not sure which i enjoyed most. but here are five i generally liked most.
- manderlay - okay, so i am not actually sure if this counts as a 2006 movie, since it premiered in 2005 in every country in the world besides the u.s. but, for me at least, it was the first good film i saw this year. lars von trier's second film in his ironically titled "u.s.a.: land of opportunities" trilogy is by far the most unique slavery film i have ever seen. von trier turns the emancipation myth of progress on its head. in the end, he proves a point that i have always strived to live my life by: rich white americans do not have all the correct (i.e. "scientific," "logical") answers to the problems of the world. i can't wait til this finally comes out on dvd.
- the da vinci code - (remind me that i have to go see this at least one more time before it leaves theaters). don't listen to critics that complained the code was dull and talky. i mean, if you are a 12 year old boy this movie might be a little slow and over your head. but to anyone else, i would be shocked if you weren't riveted by this story. sure the movie had its problems, most notably tom hanks' eminently boring performance as langdon, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. still, if nothing else, this movie has endeared itself to me forever, because it pissed christians™ off so much. hallelujah!
- the devil wears prada - i went to see this movie yesterday when i was feeling a little down and wanted to watch something that would make me smile and that i wouldn't have to think about too much, but i never expected this movie to be as good as it really was. it sort of reminded me of legally blonde or pretty woman or other REALLY well done, substantial chick flicks. it was unique, surprisingly unpredictable and incredibly well acted. probably the best comedy i have seen since sideways two years ago and lost in translation three years ago. if you haven't seen it i highly recommend it, especially if you are a recent liberal arts college grad like me.
- i'm going to tell you a secret - if i look back on this summer in 2 or 3 years i am sure that i will remember it as the summer of madonna. she has definitely been on my mind a lot. i finally got to see her perform live, which was amazing. and i have listened to her confessions cd pretty much every day since november. but also this was the summer that she released igttyas, her second docu-musical. it really hasn't gotten nearly as much attention as her first documentary, truth or dare, but it is an amazing work. i enjoyed it when it premiered on mtv in january, but when it was released a couple weeks ago and i watched it for a second time, i was reminded of really how well done it is. if you get a chance to see it, you definitely need to give it a chance.
- a prairie home companion - this was one of the year's movies i was most looking forward to seeing, and i wasn't disappointed. so far this year has been filled with movies that really push the limits of their genre, and prairie home is the quintessence of this. it is almost not even a movie, but rather a sort of post-vaudevillian tribute concert. still, i really hope streep gets awards attention not for this film, but rather for her superior performance in prada. that way, maybe the door can be opened for lily tomlin to get the attention she deserves.
i am really looking forward to seeing what else this year has to offer in the theaters. there are dozens of movies i can't wait to see. chief among these are strangers with candy, finally coming to tucson in just a couple weeks, the new christopher guest movie, for your consideration, two gael movies: the science of sleep and babel, the annette bening oscar vehicle running with scissors, the kate winslet oscar vehicle little children, sophia coppola's latest marie antoinette. musical idlewild, and nicole kidman's diane arbus biopic fur. ¶ 7/08/2006 11:34:00 PM 2 Comments
07 July 2006
And now, a programming note...
I have been keeping Luke occupied the last couple of weeks since I have been on vacation, but now that I am back to work, the blogshow will continue. There will be a new post coming soon, so stay tuned...
¶ 7/07/2006 12:15:00 PM 0 Comments
