February 13, 2006
a prairie home... movie?
OK, here's the pitch: take a popular Midwestern radio show, add a few big Hollywood stars, throw in edgy director Robert Altman, and what do you have? Pure screen gold. Or something.
Yeah, they lost me at "radio show" too. I can see the appeal of Garrison Keillor, consummate storyteller, but the rest of it sounds like an odd fit. Of course, it's been well-received at the Berlin Film Festival, so I may end up seeing it (and loving it) when it comes to town.
December 06, 2005
I'm not wild about Harry...
...despite what I said in a previous posting. I saw the film, I took a quiz, and now I know. What's weird is that I totally see this. I completely understood Neville's reaction in the spider scene...
(See next page)
Continue reading "I'm not wild about Harry..."
November 28, 2005
Oh, the perversion of muggles
My inner child has had a crush on Daniel Radcliffe since I first saw him interviewed about the Harry Potter movies and he was so nice to a wheelchair-bound kid in the audience (and Rupert Grint definitely WASN'T). Plus, well, glasses just do it for me. As it turns out, I'm not the only one with latent (and rather inappropriate) Harry appreciation. Check out the Harry Potter Legal Age Countdown Clock.
September 30, 2005
go see Serenity
I rarely ask you to do anything for me, but this time I'm imploring you: go see Serenity this weekend. Not later, not on DVD, but this weekend if you can. My motives are selfish: I want someone at SciFi to notice it and say, "Hey, that would make a good TV show." Better yet, I want Mark Cuban to say, "Hey, that would make a good HDTV-straight-to-DVD/download show." But that's probably pushing it.
Just see the movie. I guarantee you'll have a good time.
September 13, 2005
the return of penguin lust
Patrick pointed out a New York Times article on conservatives flocking to March of the Penguins because it "affirms traditional norms like monogamy, sacrifice and child rearing", not to mention (ugh) intelligent design. "Hooey" is the word that comes to mind, mostly because I saw the same film and didn't feel even a twinge of neocon longing.
Don't let a few kooky fans get in the way of seeing the film, though. It's an extraordinary documentary on a fascinating subject, and well worth the price of admission.
May 02, 2005
thumbs up, down, or out?
We saw the Hitchhiker's Guide movie over the weekend, as you might have guessed. I liked it a lot, and so did Karen. I can imagine we'll watch it again when it comes out on DVD.
Of course, we also watched and liked The Pirate Movie this weekend, so we're probably not the most stable reviewers around. Read on if you're also a silly sort.
Continue reading "thumbs up, down, or out?"
April 25, 2005
mark cuban would be proud
Now that's what I'm talkin' about! I usually don't go for over-the-top home technology projects, but the Jenkins Family Theater has serious panache. You have to give people credit when they're willing to work hard to make something so crazy. (At least I do, with the ideas I have...)
March 17, 2004
Quite a thing to see
Neil Young's newest film/music project, Greendale, looks interesting. I'm not sure which is most intriguing: the music, the story, or the biodiesel tour buses...
February 22, 2004
Raiding Shot-for-shot
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation
Jim Windolf tells the charming story of the quest of three kids from Mississippi to create a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1982, the VCR-less preadolescent cinephiles began compiling a list of 649 shots from the movie using an illicitly recorded audio tape, a novelization, and a comic book. There were boulder problems from the beginning: a bamboo-and-cardboard model wouldn't fit out a door, a weather balloon sagged, and a chicken-wire rendition blew away in a hurricane. But after seven years, an on-set love affair, and a location shoot on a submarine, the 100-minute Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation finally wrapped. Now 14 years later, it's a hit at festivals and on the Internet, and the guys have talked with producers about turning the "making of" story into a movie.
February 10, 2004
I have a bad feeling about this...
Actually, it's a good feeling. Looks like the original Star Wars trilogy will be out on DVD in September. Of course, by original they mean the films as re-released in the late 1990s, not to mention any retouching and remixing that The Flanneled One has decided to add to this Very Special Edition. Still, I'll be happy to see it, and we're almost assured of picking up a copy.
February 09, 2004
Just to Stir Up Trouble
I'm feeling cranky. So here's Betty Bowers' review of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Ha.
November 25, 2003
Is Star Wars Moral?
I came across this Catholic analysis of Star Wars by accident, but I find it rather intriguing...
October 24, 2003
Lightning strikes... twice?
OK, I'm not one to say anything, but it just seems odd that folks working on Mel Gibson's new film have been struck by lightning. Twice.
Of course, I've been reading a lot of Pratchett lately, and that may be influencing my perspective on these things.
August 16, 2003
Issues with The Passion
I love well-researched overview articles. The Independent has a great one about the issues surrounding Mel Gibson's new film, The Passion. Basically, it's likely to be: hard to watch, because it's gruesome and in Aramaic; hard to believe, because it's presented as "what really happened" but has major factual errors; and hard to swallow, because it will be seen as blaming Jews for the death of Christ.
It's not the kind of film I'd watch, because the subject matter doesn't interest me. More interesting to me are Gibson's reasons for making the film and the general reaction to it. I actually like his idea of offering the film in Latin and Aramaic (with no subtitles, apparently). It will be interesting to see what kind of audience it can muster, since most Americans won't even watch a foreign-language film with subtitles.
August 02, 2003
"Get thee to a nunnery!"
From Miramax Films:
The Magdalene Sisters, an unflinching and compelling emotional drama, charting several years in the young lives of four "fallen women" who were rejected by their families and abandoned to the mercies of the Catholic Church in 1960s Ireland. While women's liberation is sweeping the globe [I wish!], these women are stripped of their liberty and dignity and condemned to indefinite sentences of servitude in the Magdalene Launderies in order to atone for their "sins." The last Magdalene Asylum in Ireland closed in 1996, and only since has the true horror of conditions in these institutions begun to emerge.