Movies and Television

How have you not seen "Donnie Darko"? I own it and technically didn't just watch it, but felt like posting something. Go. Rent it and watch with friends. Then watch it again before it's due back to the store or your kind DonnieDarko-owning friend. Ignore any reviews you've seen. It's like Fight Club. Don't let anyone tell you the ending. But, it is set in the 1980's, so be prepared for *good* era music. And a nifty reference to "Evil Dead".

I actually watched this one a few weeks ago, but I realized that I had not yet formally recommended it to y'all. It's great. Well, except for the ending. I wrote a whole big thing about it before, and here's what I said after I first watched it.

So I watched "Laurel Canyon" today. Great movie. Like "High Fidelity" and "Almost Famous", made with the loving touch of someone who really appreciates music and musicians. I'm gonna see if the soundtrack is at Amoeba. My biggest problem with this film, sadly, is the ending. I just hate when good movies fail to have a decent ending. But then I realized who the writer/director is. Lisa Cholodenko. I went to the advanced screening of her first film, "High Art" and had to endure the same awful lack of ending. Except in her first film, she committed the high crime of playing into lesbian stereotypes. As such: Intro to filmmaking lecture #27: Are you stuck with sexually confused characters? Is one of them an artist who does drugs and has too much sex? Do you need an ending to elevate the previous hour from just bland softcore erotica? Well then, have the guilt-ridden seducer kill herself for dragging an innocent into the world of sin! // So you see, "Laurel Canyon" was going along quite well until the writer needed an ending. Why not settle for Advanced Filmmaking #34: don't end the movie at all, just stop at a convenient place after one (or more) characters has said something profound but no one actually did anything different. Then you will seem "smart" because your audience can ponder the ending and the "profound" utterances of your characters. // Yeah, well I call BULLSHIT. Learn to end your movies!


Adding on to that, I really should add the Lou Barlow thing. He's in the movie!! The band in the movie is Folk Implosion! Think Sebadoh. Dinosaur Jr. You love Lou Barlow and had no idea. Plus, the soundtrack is amazing. Mercury Rev. Sparklehorse. T. Rex!!! Go rent this movie and just enjoy the ride, okay?

Yummy yummy stand-up comedy delivered at the Warfield Theater right here in San Francisco in 2000. Dressed in luscious pinks and reds (and kick ass platform boots), Margaret describes the following: why she adores gay men, the concerned messages left by her Korean mother ("Are you GAAAY???"), her time spent working on a lesbian cruise (So, I ended up having sex with a woman ... and then I was all concerned, Am I straight? Am I gay? ... Then I realized, I'm just SLUTTY! Where's my parade???), the infamously short-lived television show "All-American Girl", her rapid weight loss, her drug addiction, her post-cancellation desire to commit suicide, dating Quentin Tarantino, and what her mom thinks about gay porn. Margaret Cho is amazing. Kinda the female David Sedaris, but much more brash. Also worth renting: Notorious C.H.O. from 2002.

So, thanks to Netflix, I got on a little Michael Moore kick. I'd never actually seen Roger and Me all the way through before now. Sure, I knew what it was about, but to sum up ... Roger Smith was the CEO of General Motors when the company started closing plants in and around Flint, Michigan. Those of you here for the Old 97's content should recognize the references in "Buick City Complex", a fantastic song from the "Satellite Rides" disc. Anyhow, Michael Moore grew up in Flint and made this great documentary about the effect of corporate optimization on mid-sized industrial towns. Flint was actually voted "Worst Place to Live in America" and the town responded by burning Money Magazine for the slam. Now, stylistically, this film is identical to everything else Moore has done since then, including his effective blend of stock footage, celebrity spokespeople, popular culture, and interviews with very sincere locals. Will you learn anything new by watching this film? Probably. The most amazing segment was easily the interview with a local woman on Social Security who raises rabbits for extra income. She sells them for pets or as dressed meat. At the end of the film, she actually brains a rabbit to death with a few swift baseball bat hits to the head. She then proceeds to suspend the rabbit by its hind legs from a rope in a tree. She quickly skins the rabbit with a degree of proficiency rare in today's world. She says "I'm a survivor" and damned if it ain't true, dripping fresh blood a few feet away. The town of Flint never stopped bleeding, though, and Moore paints a bleak picture, dutifully noting that his film cannot be shown in Flint ... because all the movie theaters have closed.

So I was at a grad student party the other night and heard the host make a reference to "Felicity". The host was trying to explain how awful it can be as a Teaching Assistant, instructing all these young hot girls. He said, "I felt like Noel, the RA, you know?" But the sad thing was, the kids at the party *didn't* know. Hence, my delight that the first season on "Felicity" is available on DVD. The show lasted for the exact four years that I was in college, so maybe this is why I adore parts of it. But the first season, full of Noel or Ben? Ben or Noel? drama is delicious. Just as I am a Jeff Tweedy girl, I am totally a Noel girl. For those of you who missed it on the WB, "Felicity" is the story of a young Palo Alto High School graduate who gives up her spot at Stanford to attend a New York University, all because she found out that Ben Covington was going to New York. Ben, of course, was voted most popular and is that all-American althele/alcoholic we all knew in college. Upon arriving in New York, Felicity begins to question her decision, but not before emo/sensitive hot Resident Advisor Noel tells her to stay in New York. The pilot is almost like a film, with such elegant side lighting and scripting. The rest of the season plays out with kinda normal results, but it's really the journey that matters on this show. Ben ignores her. Noel adores her. Ben starts to like her. Felicity starts to like Noel. Felicity realizes that Ben might like her. Oh no! Also rounded out by a good cast of regulars and some scary professors. The casting of the Grad Student Chemistry TA? Perfect. So yeah. Be girly and rent the first disc.

Oh, oh, this movie is amazing. 1971 and it just still blows me away. Think "Fight Club" plus "Igby Goes Down" plus a bit of "the Graduate". I want to post a photo too, so I'll add more later.

Yay for television shows being released on DVD! This is Michael Moore's project from a few years ago. Season 2 is set in 2000 and I'd already watched a few episodes back in Austin right when they came out on video. Amazing stuff. Michael Moore does the following: registers a FICUS as a write-in candidate to run against a New Jersey Congressman (the man was running unopposed); send a pimp to Congress to collect some of the money they are getting from corporations; challenge all the presidential candidates to a mosh-pit full of registered voters ... oh it goes on and on. I'm amazed that this aired at all. So if you like your politics with the slice of the irony that made "Bowling for Columbine" so successful, check out this show.

Just watched.

I'm switching to a weblog style to post reviews and thoughts about movies and television shows that I'm watching.