The movie's titled so appropriately I don't even need a name for my blog

Gosh darnit. I had the whole little introduction to my blog written and then Firefox closed on me.

It's been an exhausting couple of days. A friend of mine who is in Godspell with me suffered a terrible loss--his little brother. My grandfather passed away yesterday morning, as well, so things have been a little crazy at my house. I enjoy keeping up with this, though. Unfortunately this one will be a little short because I have a wake to go to soon.

Oh! I almost forgot the daily music video. Today I'll go with:



It's a really pretty song from a beautiful and talented woman: Natasha Khan a.k.a. Bat for Lashes. Enjoy!

I'd also like to acknowledge that we're now entering exciting territory. The next few reviews I'm set to write are actually for indie/new release/interesting movies rather than obscenely popular movies that came out 20 years ago. My feelings will not be hurt if you didn't read reviews for the three Terminators, Alien, and The Exorcist seeing as everything worth hearing about them has already been said.

So, in the words of the men of Monty Python, and now for something completely different:

#13: Summer Hours



It's no secret that I love going to the movies. It also isn't any secret that I love off-beat indie movies. So when I happened to have a day without play rehearsal I asked my friend to go into the city with me to IFC to see whatever looked most interesting. Based on rave reviews and an interesting plot summary, this is what we chose.

Summer Hours is a French film portraying the interaction between the various generations of a family after the death of one of the family's members. Every review I could find was not only positive but laden with praise. While I don't really see it as something life-altering as so many critics seemed to paint it, it was a gorgeous foreign film that will fly under most radars.

If nothing else it should be seen for its scenery. The house that is the primary setting is utilized so dynamically that it is practically as animated as the characters. It appears differently at different times in the day. It undergoes physical changes at various stages of the plot that somehow incite specific emotions. It interacts with the characters to the point where its presence is felt almost as a member of the cast. I've never been to France so the setting was doubly intriguing to me.

I said if nothing else one should observe the scenery, but believe me when I say there is much, much more to be acknowledged about this movie. I've never seen a movie that could so effortlessly handle so many distinct characters. The subtle differences between how each character reacted to the death and what follows were just barely distinguishable and yet they were easily perceived. Every character was likable and presented a perspective that merited sympathy from the viewer, making it a refreshingly passive movie experience; you weren't stuck hoping and predicting and willing throughout the film but you could rather curiously observe how things would be resolved.

And that resolution (if you can call it that) is absolutely stunning. There isn't really much to be said about it because it's so minimalistic, but cinematically and emotionally it served as the perfect conclusion to a movie for which there seemed to be no potential ending. By the time the credits rolled I realized that the ending used was a long time coming, and deservedly so.

There is one other scene, in particular, that I won't go into detail about, but it was one of the most heartbreaking scenes I have ever observed. It justified the aforementioned summer home as a character as it interacted with the maid of the home in a haunting scene that needed no dialogue or music--it was able to stand alone.

One thing I hope is that when this movie is put on DVD the subtitles are fixed. The subtitles here were white and whenever they appeared over glare or someone wearing light colors a lot of the dialogue was lost. I would love to see the film again to try and catch some of the lines I lost. The dialogue was eloquently, realistically, and purposefully penned--just one more of the film's successes--and it'd be a shame to accept just a gloss-over of it. It's times like these, though, that I wish I spoke French.

Terminator ReRedux

I've decided to post something to listen to in every blog entry from now on. This video is absolutely horrifying (and no that isn't sarcastic or funny, it's legitimately creepy) but the song is so damn catchy that I figured I'd warn readers and suggest they just hit play and then start reading unless someone wants to be bold. The song is Kids by MGMT.



Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

I want to offer a preemptive apology to all the Kates in the world. Because everything that Kate of (formerly of?) John and Kate +8 does is apparently worthy of circulation, and because I have repeatedly failed to internalize her name, I now assume any Kate ________ that is spoken of is that woman.

I've also come to determine that raccoons are the divas of the animal kingdom; every one that gets run over dies in a pose reminiscent of the tragic hero in some Greek drama. Almost makes you feel bad for those little demons.

#12: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines



The thing about the Terminator series is that half of the fun is gone when you know what's coming. I can only imagine how much more suspenseful the first and second ones would have been had I not known what the role of the Terminator was going to be in either. While I had known nothing about the third one going in, I get the impression that the creators wanted that very same element of suspense in it. There are a few problems with that.

Firstly, Schwarzenegger's counterpart in this one is so ominous from the get-go that one never gets the sense she could possibly be a good character. Whereas both the Terminator and Kyle Reese in the first film were so eerily obstinate from the very beginning that neither was convincing as a hero until the viewer learned their respective intentions, the new female Terminator in the third installment lacked vulnerability from the film's beginning and established her undoubtedly as the villain.

Secondly, Schwarzenegger's "good" Terminator role in the second film was so memorable that I had virtually forgotten his character in the first. When he's introduced in the third one it seems as if they once again wanted him to be at least somewhat ambiguous; John Connor runs from him not knowing his mission. The thought hadn't even occurred to me that this Terminator might be a bad guy again. Therefore, the suspense the creators seemingly intended for the beginning was somewhat lost.

My biggest complaint about the film is how seemingly easily the new Terminator went down. If anyone remembers how many times they had to "kill" the Terminator in the first one it would seem like this one was almost weaker. Somehow it was more powerful but more easily beaten.

Having said that, T3 perpetually gets the short end of the stick. When you mention the series the first thing people says is how great the second one is, but they immediately follow with how bad the third one is. I really didn't see anything necessarily bad about the third one besides the fact that it wasn't nearly as good as the second. I definitely thought it was comparable to the first, though.

Okay. That's a lot of numbers. Let's hope I don't see the fourth.

I wasn't particularly thrilled with Nick Stahl's performance as a young John Connor--he just seemed a little too helpless for someone set to save humanity--but he was still a likable character who aroused sympathy. Clare Danes was a nice addition to the cast as John's future wife. The creators were also successful in conceiving a Terminator that topped Robert Patrick's from the second in terms of capability. The special effects built from the first two films, the action sequences were exciting, and the storyline was still believable.

The highlight of the third film, though, was the end. Of the three films my favorite is still the second, but of the three endings I really think the third was the best. It was actually a somewhat emotional conclusion as opposed to one that is simply edge-of-your-seat action preceding a moment or two of apocalyptic aftermath. I'm not sure if I've written about this before (it's a distinct possibility that I have) but a film theorist--possibly Truffaut--said something very astute about the conclusions of films. I wish I could find the exact quote because the way it was written was perfect, but the gist of it was that a film's ending must be the last thing you expect but the only thing that could happen. Applying film theory to T3 might seem a bit haughty, but I think the movie accomplished that feat.

T3 was probably the weakest of the series, but it still deserves acknowledgment as a successful installment, in my opinion. It wasn't much less enjoyable than the first even if it paled in comparison to the second. Although I haven't seen the newest one yet, I've heard it wasn't good. I sort of like where it's going in the sense that the war has begun so I'm hoping it's just another case of critics vindcating themselves by refusing to acknowledge an action movie as good cinema, but part of me believes that it's simply that a plot was abandoned in favor of awe-inspiring battle scenes. I've heard they plan on making two more though, so just imagine what the blog entry is going to look like upon conclusion of the second trilogy: "The second was the best though the fifth was excellent followed closely by the first then the third and although the fourth was disappointing the sixth was a disappointing way to end the series."

Or something like that.

I couldn't wait to get to Hell

I just recently picked up Iggy Pop's Lust for Life, which is a really excellent album. I can't stop listening to The Passenger, specifically. It's pretty popular now thanks to movie trailers/commercials/etc. so I'm sure everyone's heard it. I had no idea it was Iggy Pop until a year or two ago. I don't know what it is about it. I love the almost carnivalesque sound to it. It's not that fast but it still exudes energy. Give it a listen if you're reading this!



3 hours of sleeeeeeeeeep. I NEED TO FIX THIS ASAP.

The Passenger will get me through the day. Oh, and memorizing this effing script.

#11: Drag Me To Hell



I saw this trailer long before the film's release date and I had been amped for it since then. Virtually anything with Sam Raimi's name attached to it is a good idea. If he started to market Mayonnaise filmed gummy bears I'd probably buy them. I wouldn't eat them, but I'd buy them; that's how much respect I have for this man.

The critical reception of this movie was fairly positive but I really haven't met many people who liked the film. The problem comes down to how familiar the viewer is with Sam Raimi's approach. The horror/comedy/B-movie kind of thing going on in movies like this and Evil Dead is intentional and masterfully done.

I get the feeling that Raimi might agree with the philosophy that there's no such thing as a good horror movie. When he makes his horror movies, however, he holds the perfect shield: self-awareness. Truly bad horror movies don't exhibit any awareness on the part of the creators regarding the bad acting, haphazard plot, and hackneyed conventions. Raimi, however, chooses to laugh with the audience rather than risk being laughed at. By playing into the inherent far fetched nature of horror, he diverts the critical eye in an effort simply to create a fun experience for the audience.

Drag Me to Hell was an incredibly entertaining movie. It was loaded with shock scares to the point where you were cringing in your seat in anticipation of the next one. You knew it was coming, but it got you every time. The utilization of bugs and bodily fluids, as well, just heightened the already repulsive atmosphere. Once that old woman turns nasty her image and some of the things she does are tattooed on your mind for the rest of the day. Despite the playfulness of the film there are some genuinely scary moments.

I don't know about everyone else but once I turned 17 I stopped checking movie ratings since it didn't matter anymore and I could get into anything. This one can't help but catch your eye, though: a legitimately scary PG-13 movie. Sure, Raimi pushes the rating to its limit, but to accomplish what he did without excessive violence or gore is laudable. His creativity is boundless.

The last 15 minutes of the film was so very intense that the entire theater had erupted in the stereotypical horror movie chants: "WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!" "BEHIND YOU! BEHIND YOU!" etc. And the very end, specifically, gives Raimi the last laugh. The way the events unfold at the end is so predictable that you have to question it because it seems almost too obvious. Everyone knew what was coming and yet I still found myself thinking, "No way. It can't happen. He's hiding in plain view. That's just what he wants you to think." As it turns out, it IS what he wants you to think; the ending is exactly what you expect to happen but it still tortures you. That's the mark of a good movie.

The cast in the film did a really great job. Justin Long was his usual likable character and the lovely Alison Lohman does a fine job as a knowingly bad actress in a purposely B-movie. One scene in the cemetery towards the end of the movie is just so intense and over the top that even if you weren't a big fan of the film I imagine you'd appreciate it for the part alone. It's that typical scene of the protagonist's vindication, but Raimi's over the top nature makes a scene like that incite strong emotional reactions from the audience who, at this point, is struggling to not start cheering. It also doesn't hurt that for all of the scenes where Lohman is meant to be pretty, she somehow never looks better than when she's drenched from head to toe, covered in mud in street clothes looking like she's just itching to bust some skulls. What's not to love?

I can absolutely see why people wouldn't like the film. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm not a fan of mixing genres. For this one, though, the absurdity is integrated so well into the horror that the marriage of horror and comedy just seems natural. Fans of the Evil Dead series may not have found a Bruce Campbell replacement in Ms. Lohman (or is it Mrs.? Was that wishful thinking?) but they certainly found a comparable movie so fun that it's over before you know it.

Terminator redux

The Bright Eyes 7 LP Box Set that I recently lost on eBay popped up on Amazon, so assuming the seller actually has it in stock it looks like this week is looking up for me. FINGERS CROSSED.

Also, just won the Desaparecidos album on vinyl on eBay. If anyone hasn't heard Desaparecidos you're missing out. It's a shame they only released that one album.

I also just found about 100000000 bootleg t-shirts that I want online. Control thyself, Alex.

I fell asleep for two hours at work yesterday. I know what you're thinking: "Alex, don't you work at a computer lab?" I do, anonymous inquisitor. Picture this: Alex in a rolling chair, arms folded on the desk, head down for a full two hours. I woke up with both arms asleep, and the only reason I woke up at all is because my coworker knocked on the partition to let me know she was running out for lunch. My eyes were bloodshot from dried out contact lenses, I had a heinous headache from the sub-zero temperature in the lab, and ultimately it just made me more tired for the rest of the day. I don't regret it, though.

Play rehearsal was disastrous yesterday. I picked up a few more lines, though. Sweet deal!

Back to business.

#10: Terminator 2: Judgment Day



I'm going to get my one critical comment about this film out at the outset so I can get right to a few-paragraph love fest: Terminator 1's poster was much better than T2's.

Phew. Now that that's over...

Everyone told me that Terminator 1 was all right but T2 was phenomenal. I had no reason to believe differently until I watched T1 and thought it fantastic. I couldn't imagine T2 being so significantly better. Lo and behold...

I can't speak highly enough about this movie. It's a sci-fi/action movie, undoubtedly, but it should not receive the stigma that is so often attached to the genre. This film is as near-flawless as I've seen. As soon as I finished watching it I desperately hunted around for someone to talk with about it, but alas, it wasn't 1992. So now I can profess my love for this (especially the lovely Linda Hamilton) right here.

The improvement in the quality of special effects between T1 and T2 is incalculable. I was impressed with the effects in T1, but what T2 accomplished was comparable to what movies use nearly 20 years later. The representation of Robert Patrick's T-1000 character, especially, showed the leaps with which this series grew between the first and the second. The crazy gelatinous thing that T-1000 periodically turns into captivates me every time.

And speaking of captivating: Linda Hamilton. From a cinematic standpoint, it is surreal how astounding a job they did in documenting her evolution between the first and second films. Her physical changes made a great deal of sense in the context of the story but more importantly were so dramatic that they simultaneously gave you the effect of the long span of time that passed and the life-altering experiences she'd undergone. Her performance in the mental facility, specifically, was incredible. The manic exchanges she had with Earl Boen's oh-so-hateable Dr. Silberman were so tangibly tense that before any terminator even shows up you got a strong sense of urgency. She is, without question, the most bad ass movie character I have seen to date, and bear in mind I've seen The Dark Knight, Sin City, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, etc. And, from a personal standpoint, so is drop dead gorgeous. There, I said it.

All right. Back to the film.

I wondered how they were going to possibly get Schwarzenegger from the bad guy role to the good guy role for the sequel and I expected it to be an awkward and elaborate change that occurred in the future after the occurences in the first one that would distract me and subtract from the movie. Wrong wrong wrong. T2 went with perfect simplicity with a scenario that makes perfect sense and is easily explained: the Terminator is sent back by John Connor, himself to protect his mother. BRILLIANT. No convoluted time-warp talk, just a simple transition. That's how plots need to be written.

Another way the film surprised me: I typically like my movies to be straightforward. If it's a comedy, it's a comedy. If it's horror, it's horror. Mixing genres rarely works effectively, in my opinion. However, the subdued but still playful comedic moments in T2 did not at all diminish the gravity of the conflict and they flowed effortlessly. One minute you're chuckling at Schwarzenegger's inability to high-five, the next you're biting your nails wondering when his shot gun is going to run out of shells and what he's going to do when that happens. Kudos to you, T2.

Edward Furlong also came through as a solid child actor. His character was likeable and believable and I think he was perfectly cast for the part. Child actors make for another complaint I often have for movies, as until modern parents became willing to commit to selling their children's souls they had often been awkward and distracting. Not Mr. Furlong, though. Masterfully done.

I could go on for days--really, I could. This movie was that good. Anyone who has somehow let this one slip through the cracks like I had needs to indulge because you will not be disappointed. When Schwarzie says "I'll be back" in T1, he wasn't joking.

Finally getting some exorcise

I got a wonderful call this morning informing me that the maternity leave position I had accepted at South Brunswick High School has since changed into tenure track! This is the first particularly good thing to happen in the past week or so, so let's hope this is a sign of things to come.

Went from 2 hours of sleep two nights ago to 3.5 last night, too. Maybe things are looking up?

#9: The Exorcist



Since I consider myself an avid horror movie enthusiast it's a little strange that it took me so long to see what is so often considered to be THE horror movie. I've always firmly believed that there is no such thing as a good horror movie because good actors typically don't do horror; the plots are usually so thin and the dialogue so poorly written that any actor is relegated to how suspicious he or she can look when a noise is heard, how heavy he or she can breath when hiding from something, and how loud he or she can scream when caught or tortured. If this is true (and it seems to be), The Exorcist is special because it is so much more than that. There are no cheap scares to be found here, which is pretty miraculous considering current horror movies offer little beyond that. This movie relies entirely on atmosphere and exploiting the human psyche through unnatural and disconcerting depictions. One can't help but be made uncomfortable with the human vulnerability represented in the film--through Linda Blair's character who cannot control her own body as well as through her mother who can't fix the situation, doctors who can't determine what's wrong, and a priest with a distinct emotional weakness. The viewer can't shake the ominous message that there might be forces beyond our control. Here the viewers aren't supposed to jump, they're supposed to squirm.

It is amazing to me that in the 30+ years since this film was released no one has been able to match it. I can see why in the 1970's this became a phenomenon; it's so incredibly discomforting. Horror now unsuccessfully emulates many of the film's characteristics. The supernatural, rather than evoked simply as it is in The Exorcist with an independently moving bed, a thrown voice, and a spinning head, is now utilized through elaborate situations involving immortality and excessively elaborate make-up and special effects. The further removed something is from reality, however, the less unnerving it is.

What is most interesting, though, is how poorly vulgarity is used today. Current horror films are needlessly vulgar--using language, sex, and gore as sales draws. The Exorcist was able to purposefully use vulgarity. The things that the young girl in the film was doing were no different than the things that unabashed modern filmmakers employ regularly today, but the context made them infinitely more effective. The degeneration of the young girl occurs methodically and suggests it could happen to anyone. The language she uses is shocking because the viewer has seen what a sweet girl she starts out as. The masturbation scene is so incredibly disturbing in the same way. Even the scenes in the hospital were gut-wrenching because we know the procedures the girl undergoes will be futile, so she is being put through mind-numbing pain for no reason. These aren't examples of shock value for the sake of shock value but rather the means for creating an atmosphere of uncontrollable perversity.

Needless to say I enjoyed this one. I had no idea it was based off of a book so I'm very interested in checking that out because I heard it was very popular when it first came out. I imagine it's more that "Best Seller" literature rather than legitimately profound literature, but I will say that there were some unaccounted for scenes in the movie that I'd like to see if the book tied in. I'd love to say that someone is eventually going to be able to make something comparable to this, but even the Exorcist sequels weren't able to come close. Unfortunately, I have a feeling horror is going to persist as the reject genre.

Long Time No See

It's been a while. I've gotten sidetracked, but I haven't forgotten about you.

It was a crummy weekend, ladies and gents:
1) Stupid arguments with parents
2) Missed the first 10 minutes of Up
3) Saw Up in 3D when it had about 1 scene that utilized the feature
4) Didn't like Up very much at all (but you'll hear about that in due time)
5) Friends seemingly upset with me
6) LOST MY COVETED BRIGHT EYES 7 LP BOXSET ON EBAY WHEN I THOUGHT I HAD IT IN THE BAG
7) Didn't do as well selling things at the Record Exchange as I'd hoped
8) Record exchange didn't have the album I was hoping for
9) Domino's pizza was kind of crappy
10) Had an immature argument with a group of bratty middle schoolers

I figured it might have been karma for neglecting this. Anyway:

#8: Terminator



At this point in the game I had seen a few consecutive disappointing movies. Aside from This Is England, I'd suffered through Observe and Report, Wolverine, Dance Flick (which my friend convinced me to see), and The Soloist. Scary Movie was just okay. So for all intents and purposes, five of the seven films I'd seen were failures; a bunch of disappointing films does not a happy Alex make.

I bought the Terminator trilogy a while back because if its reputation (and reasonable price) but I never got around to watching it. Because I'd hoped to see the newest one in IMAX with a good friend of mine, I decided it was about time I get up to speed with the series. It couldn't have come at a more opportune time.

I'd heard that T2 was the end all be all of action movies. I also knew that so many people had seen T2 first so the first one paled in comparison. I had the distinct advantage of watching them in order. This movie blew me away for what it accomplished at its time. The acting is good for what is effectively a science fiction film. Besides the cheesy blue lightning at the beginning the special effects were very impressive. The premise was brilliant; I love post-apocalyptic things to begin with, but this concept was just excellent. It upsets me that every movie released now is either a sequel, a prequel, a spinoff, a parody, based on a book, based on a television show, or based on a true story. This is the time of unique film I wish my generation could boast.

The action sequences in the movie are genuinely suspenseful. So many movies now want to depict action in terms of large-scale battles to show what film is now capable of. The problem is that there is so much going on you often lose the intricacies. I loved The Dark Knight, for example, but there are multiple scenes which despite the fact that I saw it twice in IMAX, four times in regular theaters, and five times on DVD, I still can't quite figure out where certain explosions are coming from or what's going on. Here, the simplicity made it very clear what you should focus on and become emotionally involved in: The Terminator on one side, Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese on the other. You know who's going after whom, so when you see where Sarah is and the scene cuts to show you where the Terminator is, you obsess over the logistics of how she's going to get out of her situation. I watched it at work, but I was still practically sweating over what was going on.

*Speaking of watching it at work, of course a customer walked in when Arnold Schwarzenegger's junk came on screen. Just my luck.*

I'll be writing soon about my T2 experience, but with all the hype T2 (deservedly) receives it is wrong to forget about the first. It's just such an excellent film that it endures and remains entertaining to this day. Many are inclined to write off blockbuster action/sci-fi movies as cheap--striking them from discussion of good cinema--but this is the type of film I think deserves to be included in a film studies course. It was groundbreaking in terms of special effects and there is so much more to it than a battle of man versus machine.

A twofer

I'm up to four paper jams today and I've only been at work for 2 hours. Someone's got a case of the Mondays.

Luckily this blog entry redeems the disgrace of my last one.

Also, the title is not a typo; everyone's in for a surprise!

#7: This Is England



I imagine that after my all too recent admission that I paid money to see Dance Flick (the movie my friend convinced me to see) you might have thought that I have no credibility whatsoever. This film was my redemption, and it appropriately came right after That Movie Which Will Not Be Named to hopefully expunge at least part of the stain on my character.

Because so many of the films I've seen this summer have been swings and misses this was particularly refreshing. Not only was it one of the best movies I've seen this summer but it was one of the most memorable films I've seen in a long time. The movie portrays skinheads in England during the Thatcher regime focusing primarily on the involvement in the movement of a young boy who, in a quest for self-actualization, begins to spend time with the group. Before long he drifts away from the good-spirited skinheads who were a part of the movement to take part in a counterculture and becomes closer with the malicious members of the group who are championing white supremacy. There's a lot more to it, of course, but that's a little context.

I'd heard of this movie a while back but never got around to seeing it until my friend recently suggested we watch it while Netflix had it up online. The film completely blew me away. It did such a good job of portraying the awkwardness and naivete of adolescence through humorous interactions. It presented the tension of the Thatcher regime without addressing it specifically. Most of all, it beautifully depicted the near-tragedy of a boy whose search for identity led him into a crowd spiraling towards self-inflicted disaster. The viewer never gets the sense that the boy is wholly convinced or comfortable with any identity he finds, accurately limning both adolescence and the tenuous veil certain factions of skinheads covered their racism with by calling it nationalism.

I said certain factions because the movie seeks to expound the skinhead movement beyond the usual gut association: skinhead = bad. All but a few of the skinheads in the film are incredibly likeable, accepting, good-natured characters who do not fall into the usual stereotypes. The movie implies that the movement was not necessarily tied to a philosophy as much as it was to a uniting symbol for youth who felt marginalized in a particularly tumultuous atmosphere. The positively-portrayed characters are so well-developed that you find yourself wanting to be in the boys shoes--making a slew of inspiring new friends who genuinely seem to care. Even if that care seems inexplicable, you are swept up by the stratospheric high the boy reaches before his unfortunate fall.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. A documentary on the skinhead movement in the 80's might have been interesting, but it would not have encapsulated the realistic emotions in the film achieved by director Shane Meadows. The casting was perfect, the script was believable, the scenery always seemed to compliment the mood of the film, and the music--my God, the music--added an invaluable fluourish to an already laudable accomplishment.

Which brings me to my next point...

This Is England Soundtrack



I love a well-made movie soundtrack and THIS is a well-made movie soundtrack. The music from the era that is included is excellent (Come on Eileen and Tainted Love right after each other? Could it be any more perfect?) and it arises so subtly and yet so indispensably during the film--as the characters walk past a stereo, playing in the background of a party, etc. There is also a good sampling of the different genres: pop, new wave, reggae, punk. One band in particular that comes up multiple times on the soundtrack is Toots and the Maytals, whom I had not heard before the film. The soulful reggae/rock sound punctuates the lighthearted moments in the film perfectly but stands alone just as effectively. The song 54-46 Was My Number that plays during the film's opening sequence is especially infectious.

But a chance to finally have a legal version of Come On Eileen as well as a beautiful acoustic cover of the Smith's often overlooked song Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want was not what got me to...nay...FORCED me to pay for shipping for this from the U.K. What performed that feat was a heartbreakingly gorgeous score unlike anything I've ever heard before. There are a few truly beautiful instrumental songs on the CD, but the movements that composer Ludovico Einaudi wrote specifically for the movie are absolutely haunting during the film and equally moving apart from the film. When I researched it and found that the stunning piano composition that comes at the end of the film was included on the soundtrack I absolutely could not pass it up. If you are even a casual fan of instrumental music, the score of this film will break your heart--in a good way.

Interspersed between songs are dialogue clips that are somewhat unnecessary on an already packed album, but they are good representations of the film's versatility. I personally find myself skipping them when I listen to the album in its entirety, but this is really the only complaint I can make about what is one of the finest soundtracks I've heard since The Last Kiss. Excellent song choices and a beautiful score a near-perfect CD make.

God, this is so embarrassing...

It's times like these I'm glad that no one reads this...

#6: Dance Flick



When a friend suggests you stick your hand in a blender because the appliance works so well when you put fruit into it, don't do it. When a friend suggests you let him hit you with his car because people in the movies always get up just fine after they're run over, don't do it. And when a friend suggests you see Dance Flick because Scary Movie was pretty funny, for the love of God, don't do it. I'm smart enough to know the first two.

To address your question, I'm not sure what I was thinking. I will reiterate throughout this blog that a friend convinced me to see it and that this was not on my own volition. Scary Movie was all right, so I don't know what I was expecting out of this one. Maybe it's because I hate dance movies so much I thought that the Wayans brothers could spoof them out of fashion. But I now feel like I would have actually rather paid for one of those than for this.

When this was advertised I was afraid it would be like Meet the Spartans, The Comebacks, Date Movie, Disaster Movie, Superhero Movie, Epic Movie--movies that call themselves parodies merely because they consist entirely of rehashing popular films. But my friend convinced me that those were not by the Wayans Brothers like Scary Movie was, so this would be their return to form. Why didn't I ask myself what form this was?

What my friend didn't tell me was that this one was by Damien Dante Wayans. In the game of "How many Wayans brothers can you name" that one doesn't come up too often. Had I known that before he convinced me to see the movie with him, I might have taken a closer look. This was the epitome of the misunderstanding of parody.

There is nothing inherently funny about recreating a scene from a popular movie with new, less attractive actors. Therefore, any scenes that were nothing more than an obvious reference to another movie with no punchline to be found were immediately ineffective. I've always considered a parody to be something that uses the original against itself to poke fun at the original (...like in Scary Movie). Making your product a string of absurd stream of conscious nods to blockbusters makes the originals look better, not worse. The movie was so concerned with slapstick and crude humor that it forgot to exploit the innumerable holes in the stereotypical dance movie.

Despite a few laughs from racial and sexual jokes, when my friend convinced me to see this movie even the many middle schoolers who found their way into the theater were largely quiet; there just weren't that many laugh-out-loud moments. Of course, movies can be funny without those moments, but if your selling point is a ridiculous spoof they really should be there. After the first half hour when I hadn't laughed once, Marlon Wayans came on and I thought his presence might inject at least a little life into the film. I'm not really sure why I thought that.

The rest of the movie consisted of a joke format I vote we officially declare deceased: the literal interpretation of figures of speech. When Shawn Wayans comes into the room pronouncing he's here to pick up his son, and he proceeds to step forward, lift his son for a second, and then leave, and not a single person in the theater laughs, you know this band of brothers has exhausted that one.

However, I can't be angry at how terrible this was; it'd be like getting angry at myself for running a marathon after eating at Chili's. Live and learn.

Also, my friend convinced me to see this movie.

Profoundly disappointing

Just so you all don't think I am faltering miserably in my hundred-movie endeavor for the summer, I may only be writing about #5 but I am up to #12.

#5: The Soloist



I saw the trailer for this one a long time ago and the movie was actually pushed back so that it could contend for the next Oscars, from what I hear. To me that seems tantamount to me putting off my novelization of My Bloody Valentine in hopes of competing for next year's Man Booker Prize.

Okay. It wasn't that bad. I was just really entertained by the idea of me turning My Bloody Valentine into a novel.

I was so excited for this movie that I was legitimately disappointed when it got pushed back. I was prepared to see it in November until it was changed to a June release. I actually watched the trailer a few times between Fall and Summer because I thought that this would be one of those inspirational, life-changing movies. Instead, it was a hackneyed political statement masquerading as an inspirational, life-changing movie.

This is exactly what happened when those who weren't familiar with Rent went to see the movie based on the trailer; everyone expected an uplifting, feel-good story and then viewers were kicked in the groin with all that AIDS talk. I had been familiar with the play, personally, so I was prepared for the downer, but again here the misleading trailer led to an incredibly disappointing movie experience.

I'm not really certain what the message of this movie was. It seemed to want to make you feel bad for not doing anything to help the homeless, and yet it portrayed a character who was consciously alone--resisting the help of others throughout the movie. I sympathized with him, but primarily because he was a character who was good-at-heart suffering from an unfortunate mental illness. I'm not sure where sympathy is supposed to come in for someone who chooses to be homeless.

This issue wouldn't have been so bad if the movie didn't use Jamie Foxx's homeless character as a vehicle for presenting the unfortunate situations of hoards of homeless people in Los Angeles. You want the film to be about the beauty of someone's gift and how another person is renewed having drawn inspiration from the character. Instead, you get accused of having it too good. The statistics of the homeless in California is shoved into your face at the end as if the director believed you didn't realize his agenda from the outset. A potentially beautiful (and potentially Oscar-worthy) story was relegated to a guise for politics.

Had RDJ and Jamie Foxx been allowed to carry the story of this movie without the in-your-face message, I feel like I would have loved it. I believe this was based on a book and if it was I'm interested to know if the book was more forthcoming with its intention. It's not that I believe politics should be separate from film, but I do believe it's important to advertise honestly. Had I known going into the film what the message was going to be, I would have donated the $10 and saved myself the time.