Been away, a little of this and that
No bloggy-bloggy in long-time-y. My apologies. A media whore's work is never done, but along with my day job, I've also been immersed in a fiction class and one of the downsides of that has been that I've become very possessive of my time. The upside is, I keep myself entertained for hours, just like our dog licks the patio tiles in the back yard, jumping up and barking at nothing. Paging Cesar Millan...
A dear friend recently remarked on how I'd gone strangely silent during the Election 2006 madness, and my apologies for that beforehand, too, but I'm remaining mum on this one for the time being, preferring to take the same attitude of Harvey Keitel's character Winston Wolfe in Pulp Fiction. You probably remember the scene after Vince (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) have just cleaned out the inside of the car following the unfortunate and messy death of Marvin, when they're all standing admiring their handiwork, and Winston Wolfe cautions them, "Well, let's not start sucking each other's dicks quite yet?" Well, my sentiments exactly in regard to this last election. Just you wait 'til 2008, baby.
Not to say there weren't highlights in 2006: The new "Call me, Harold!" tabloid era in campaign ads, Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff going down in flames, the Voluptuous Horror of Mark Foley and His Playing of 'The Cards' (Homosexuality, Drunkenness, Past Abuse by Preacher), and that icky-poo evangelical Preacher Ted Haggard, whose meth-and-hooker 15-minutes of fame and former direct line to the White House made for a slap-happy electoral season indeed.
Truth be told, I was also immersing myself in escapism during most of the pre-election nuttiness, high on the glory of HD, hunkered down in my theater seat, or drowning myself in deafening decibels. The American people have spoken, and they still want their trash. Now more than ever.
Here are some of my fave-rave and not-so-hot flicks of the season:
The Departed. Hovering somewhere between a B- and a C. Not my favorite Martin Scorsese, but this sudden crush on Alec Baldwin is disconcerting, to say the last. And what's Mr. Scorsese's obsession with "Gimme Shelter?" More like gimme me break from this bloody song already. Damn!
The Notorious Bettie Page. Rock me, Mary Harron!
Lila Says. I don't give a damn what anybody says, but the French do Lolita stories better than anyone else on the planet, even when they're rife with the most lurid and ugly realities of the human lovemap. Saw this on the heels of Catherine Breillat's 'Fat Girl,' another French coming-of-age flick that left me clutching my shredded heart in my hand, so talk about a double whammy. Lila Says is also directed by Ziad Doueiri, the Lebanese born director (and Tarantino cameraman) responsible for another heart-wrenchingly wonderful coming of age story West Beirut, which is still only available on video. Fuckers.
Freedomland. Sucky sucky. I'll take Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore in anything but this. Besides that, you could immediately suss out whodunnit in the first five minutes. An irritating waste of time. I still want my money back.
The Day The Earth Stood Still. Klaatu barata nikto, yo! I so wanted Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal to find the nearest hotel room, but believe me, there were deeper messages lurking underneath the surface of this 1951 sci-fi gem. 55 years later, not only does the immortal line "I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason" ring truer than true, it also turns my stomach sour.
Inside Man. I'd had hopes for the dynamic duo of Spike Lee and Brian Grazer, but alas, something was lost on me here, unless you count my impure thoughts about being sandwiched between Clive Owen and Jodie Foster on a dark and stormy night. For me, Mr. Lee hung the moon with Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, 25th Hour, Summer of Sam and Bamboozled - but as much as I hate to say it, this one gets the big 'meh' from inconsequential little movie-lovin' me. Even the riding dolly shots and appearance of Da Bomb worked my last nerve. However, if you were to pair this with Quick Change, you'd have one helluva double heist feature night...
Jesus Camp. Voted No You Can't Watch's Best Horror Flick of 2006, featuring an ultra-creeptacular cameo by Preacher Ted Haggard himself, getting all schmoozy and casting his greasy-horned love-gaze upon the countenance of Levi, the kid preacher with the rat tail. Eeeewwwww...
A dear friend recently remarked on how I'd gone strangely silent during the Election 2006 madness, and my apologies for that beforehand, too, but I'm remaining mum on this one for the time being, preferring to take the same attitude of Harvey Keitel's character Winston Wolfe in Pulp Fiction. You probably remember the scene after Vince (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) have just cleaned out the inside of the car following the unfortunate and messy death of Marvin, when they're all standing admiring their handiwork, and Winston Wolfe cautions them, "Well, let's not start sucking each other's dicks quite yet?" Well, my sentiments exactly in regard to this last election. Just you wait 'til 2008, baby.
Not to say there weren't highlights in 2006: The new "Call me, Harold!" tabloid era in campaign ads, Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff going down in flames, the Voluptuous Horror of Mark Foley and His Playing of 'The Cards' (Homosexuality, Drunkenness, Past Abuse by Preacher), and that icky-poo evangelical Preacher Ted Haggard, whose meth-and-hooker 15-minutes of fame and former direct line to the White House made for a slap-happy electoral season indeed.
Truth be told, I was also immersing myself in escapism during most of the pre-election nuttiness, high on the glory of HD, hunkered down in my theater seat, or drowning myself in deafening decibels. The American people have spoken, and they still want their trash. Now more than ever.
Here are some of my fave-rave and not-so-hot flicks of the season:
The Departed. Hovering somewhere between a B- and a C. Not my favorite Martin Scorsese, but this sudden crush on Alec Baldwin is disconcerting, to say the last. And what's Mr. Scorsese's obsession with "Gimme Shelter?" More like gimme me break from this bloody song already. Damn!
The Notorious Bettie Page. Rock me, Mary Harron!
Lila Says. I don't give a damn what anybody says, but the French do Lolita stories better than anyone else on the planet, even when they're rife with the most lurid and ugly realities of the human lovemap. Saw this on the heels of Catherine Breillat's 'Fat Girl,' another French coming-of-age flick that left me clutching my shredded heart in my hand, so talk about a double whammy. Lila Says is also directed by Ziad Doueiri, the Lebanese born director (and Tarantino cameraman) responsible for another heart-wrenchingly wonderful coming of age story West Beirut, which is still only available on video. Fuckers.
Freedomland. Sucky sucky. I'll take Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore in anything but this. Besides that, you could immediately suss out whodunnit in the first five minutes. An irritating waste of time. I still want my money back.
The Day The Earth Stood Still. Klaatu barata nikto, yo! I so wanted Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal to find the nearest hotel room, but believe me, there were deeper messages lurking underneath the surface of this 1951 sci-fi gem. 55 years later, not only does the immortal line "I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason" ring truer than true, it also turns my stomach sour.
Inside Man. I'd had hopes for the dynamic duo of Spike Lee and Brian Grazer, but alas, something was lost on me here, unless you count my impure thoughts about being sandwiched between Clive Owen and Jodie Foster on a dark and stormy night. For me, Mr. Lee hung the moon with Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, 25th Hour, Summer of Sam and Bamboozled - but as much as I hate to say it, this one gets the big 'meh' from inconsequential little movie-lovin' me. Even the riding dolly shots and appearance of Da Bomb worked my last nerve. However, if you were to pair this with Quick Change, you'd have one helluva double heist feature night...
Jesus Camp. Voted No You Can't Watch's Best Horror Flick of 2006, featuring an ultra-creeptacular cameo by Preacher Ted Haggard himself, getting all schmoozy and casting his greasy-horned love-gaze upon the countenance of Levi, the kid preacher with the rat tail. Eeeewwwww...
posted by No, You Can't Watch at 8:39 PM
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