cineblog

2003-10-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Kill Bill, Lost in Translation, Once Upon a Time in Mexico
I have one thing to say about Kill Bill- It's out of control.
Lucy Liu must have studied japanese diction very closely because while her accent was highly detectable, it was still a heck of a lot better than most western stars' japanese. Of course Julie Dreyfuss, "Sophie", spoke better japanese than I did, but come on, let's face it, Kill Bill belongs to Uma fuckin' Thurman.

Lost in Translation was funny because I could relate. I'm not sure if my boyfriend enjoyed it on the same level as I did, since he's never been to Tokyo or had much exposure to japanese pop culture, but he seemed to like it nonetheless. My favorite part: The glorious Scarlett Johanson(sic) on the phone in tears, saying, "I'm taking ikebana classes and he's using hair product and I don't know who I married anymore..."
Bill Murray and his Lat Pack/Lip my stocking/mascara-wearing scenes with the crazy director and incompetent translator scenes were the highlights of this film.

Once Upon A Time in Mexico...Missed the first half, and only went to see it because of Johnny Depp, but Enrique Iglesias ruined the show, in my opinion.

Here's a bit of movie news for anyone who's a Chuck Palahniuk fan. He's apparently in talks with none other than Spike Jones to adapt his novel 'Survivor' into a film. Hope this one works out.

2003-08-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

Joseph Cotten Weekend Cancelled...
My Sunday plan to rent Touch of Evil, The Third Man, and The Magnificent Ambersons was thwarted by the numskulls at my local Blockbuster who "don't carry those titles." Damn it. I'll have to find a better rental shop. One that isn't too hip to carry the classics.

Changing the subject a bit though, I have a sinking feeling that Gigli will do well in Japan. I have a sixth sense about these things. First off, I don't believe the japanese have been bombarded to the point of sheer irritation by the phony antics of Ben&Jen(c) the way we have in America. They don't get Access Hollywood, so their eyes have not been desensitized by the likes of Pat O'Brien. By the by, have you seen him on Jimmy Kimmel? It was sad to see him in a pair of jeans(probably Diesel, if you can believe that). Well, I've lost my train of thought, so I'll have to leave it at this.

2003-07-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Love Liza
Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Kathy Bates
Directed by Todd Louiso

Written by Philip Seymour Hoffman's older brother Gordy Hoffman, Love Liza is the agonizing tale of Wilson, whose wife has just offed herself, leaving behind a suicide note and a widower who is by no means taking the loss well. To console himself or, rather to escape any form of honest coping and work up the courage to read the note, Wilson begins huffing gasoline to get high.
I don't want to give away too much detail, but he quickly loses his job and the moral support of his mother-in-law, played by Kathy Bates. The people around him are by no means unsympathetic and actually go out of their way to try and help him out, but he cannot get past the loss and habitually fucks things up for himself.
Jack Kehler, who plays Denny, Wilson's boat-model-building hobbyist friend gives a great performance as well as the rest of the cast, but Hoffman's acting is so potent you can smell the gasoline on his breath every time he opens his mouth.

2003-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Vincent D'Onofrio

I've been all up on Vincent D'Onofrio films lately. I've seen The Whole Wide World, Steal This Movie!, The Salton Sea, and The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, not to mention one third of the Law and Order franchise that stars D'Onofrio. No, I have yet to watch 2000's The Cell, starring J.Lo and Vince Vaughn, because of an on-going boycott of J.Lo movies. I can't forgive her OR Ralph Fiennes for that matter, for "Maid in Manhattan". There is just no excuse!
But I may lift the J.Lo Sanctions because I hear The Cell is one of her better films and I think the DVD version may include deleted scenes.

2003-06-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

Bootleg DVD of The Matrix Reloaded

was brought home by my brother and I watched it again last night. I must say that on the small console screen, many of the action sequences were hard to follow and that "Burly Brawl" looked totally fake, so fake in fact that it made me laugh. Don't get me wrong, I like the movie. I like the story and all that, I just realized how much better it is to see an action movie on the big screen.
Maybe it was just the poor quality of the bootleg DVD(which was better than the Two Towers bootleg, by the way) but I think it had more to do with the size of the screen.

2003-06-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

The Animatrix
Watched it last night. The animation was stunning, that much I would expect. Not really a huge fan of anime, I am not into that, but it was lovely I will admit. There were 9 short (maybe 10 minutes long each) animated films, the first one was very disturbing, a lot of people getting ripped apart by robots, I thought some people might find that oddly erotic. I guess it's an anime thing. Makes me think of those weird hentai comics. Anyway, I liked the look and feel of Detective Story the best. Very film noir. In this tale, a P.I. is trying to find Trinity for the agents. Turns out there were several detectives before him who tried to track her down and did not fare so well. The films were directed/created by japanese animators, with the exception of one short that reminded me of Aeon Flux, and a totally CG short with a cool sword fight/striptease.
There was one short set in Japan that I liked a lot. If you like the Matrix, you'll be interested in the Animatrix. It'll put you in a contemplative frame of mind for days.

2003-06-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

A funny thing about watching american movies in foreign countries or foreign films in America is the change of titles. Like, in Japan, Monster's Ball is called 'Chocolate' and Billy Elliot is 'Little Dancer.' The same goes for many TV shows. Ally McBeal in Japan is called Ally my Love. The list goes on and on. The film, Amelie's original french title is 'Les Fabloux Destain d' Amelie Poulain' pardon my crappy French. I probably spelled that wrong.
Well, you get the idea.

2003-05-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

List of films to rent:

The Pianist
25th Hour
Rouge Baiser
Talk to Her

I think I'll skip going to the movies this weekend and opt for a quiet night of DVDs instead. I'm looking forward to the director's comments on The Pianist DVD. I have yet to see 25th Hour, and I've been meaning to, since I missed it in theaters, Rouge Baiser is french film about love and communism (sort of anti, but that's okay), and of course, any Pedro Almadovar film is top notch in my book.
This is a tentative list, and I expect either 25th Hour, or The Pianist, or both to be rented out by the time I get to the rental shop, so I'm putting Road to Perdition on my list as an alternate. I haven't seen it, but my mom recommends it highly. She used to hate Tom Hanks; thought he seemed really cheesy and fake in public, but I suppose that even she cannot deny that he is a great actor.
What ever happened to Peter Scolari, by the way?

2003-05-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Since I'm here and I'm bored and I have not prepared a new review, I'll rant about movie critics. You see, I like movies. Even bad ones. I find the good in every film I sit through because otherwise, it dawns on me that I have just wasted 2 hours of my life and it's all my fault. Besides, I watch the movies that interest me from the get-go. If I see an interesting preview, or know that one of my favorite actors, actresses, or directors are involved in a film, I will see it, no complaints. This causes me to get very personal about the films I watch. I love them all. I even liked Striptease because I thought Burt Reynolds was great in Boogy Nights.
So here's the rant: Critics are full of shit. They jump on the bandwagon and jump off, they never really have an opinion of their own, and they turn around and change their reviews just in time for the DVD release, when audiences have had a chance to decide for themselves whether a film is good or not. Take for example Leonard "Dumbass" Maltin, and his bitter bitch co-host on Hot Ticket. They gave The Pianist a horrible review, called it "another one of those holocaust movies" and said Adrien Brody was "okay." It wasn't until after the film got nominated for many awards and garnered acclaim from international audiences and critics alike that they changed their tune. Surprise, surprise.
Sure, there are critics out there who know a thing or two about a good film, but anything anyone has to say about art in general is just that person's opinion and really doesn't mean anything special.

~fin~

2003-05-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Taxi Driver

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Paul Schrader
Starring Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris...

Perhaps my favorite film of all time next to 'Touch of Evil' and 'Notorious'. The film, as everyone already knows is about alienated and lonely taxi driver Travis Bickle, who repeatedly reaches out to people only to get shot down. Take, for example Cybill Shepherd's character, Betsy. Sure, he took her to a porno theater on their first date, but nobody's perfect!
He befriends a 12 year old prostitute named Iris and eventually kills her pimp after a failed assasination attempt on a presidential candidate.
Long story short, he ends up a hero. There is also a classic scene involving the film's director, Mr. Scorsese, a .44 caliber pistol, and a cheating wife, whose pussy is about to get blown away.

2003-05-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

testing 1-2-3