It was entertaining, but such a weird film. It reminded me of a PG rated Harmony Korine Film, without anything really offensive or grotesque.

Yeah, I rank this pretty high on my favourites list.

Watched that 3+ hour Tom Petty documentary today. I give it a huge thumbs up - an excellent, entertaining look into Petty's career, as well as an interesting overview of three decades of musical industry dirty tricks.

Enjoyed this too.

Just watched:



Wasn't horrible, but I think the critical praise for it is a bit much. I have no idea how Gwyneth still gets roles, and to be honest, I'm kinda glad Joaquin is nutso (or at least acting so). It had an atmosphere to it, that I really enjoyed--reminded me a lot of another NYC set film, Birth. However, it just didn't add up in the end.

Saw a handful of things over the past week:

Primo Amore
Italian flick about this goldsmith dude who gets some chick to come live with him and then essentially forces her to stop eating so she can fit into his ideal of beauty. Slow, pretty low key. Nicely shot, etc. Meh.

Burn After Reading
I really liked this, actually. Sort of the whimsical, "stupidity conquers all", cousin to No Country for Old Men. Even more cynical than that movie in a lot of ways. George Clooney was great, and Brad Pitt was way less annoying than I thought he'd be.

The Promotion
Low key comedy with John C. Reilly and that guy who plays Stifler in the American Pie movies. Not hilarious, but a decent flick. About two guys competing for a promotion to a management position at a grocery store chain.

Gran Torino
Really, really enjoyed this. So much more than the sum of its parts. It's weird. I don't really think that Eastwood is a very good director or even that good of an actor, but he has such great screen presence. Also, it kind of helped that almost no one in this movie was a good actor.

All signs pointed to Burn After Reading being awesome, but I think it was probably one of the worst Cohen Brothers movies. I'm trying to remember why I thought that, it's been a while since I've seen it, I'll probably give it another shot.

I saw it expecting it to be bad or at least kind of irritating, and I was pleasantly surprised. I have a pretty high tolerance for Coen Bros. whimsy and sadism, though.

Sun. Night: Revolutionary Road (de-po)

Tonight: Away We Go

on IFC over the last two nights: The Hot Spot (watched due the the soundtrack ft. Miles, John Lee Hooker, Taj Majal, all arranged by Jack Nitzche; It was pretty crappy, but that's what DVR is for. FFWD)




Definitely one of the better films I saw in '08.

It was one of my favourite movies of 2008. I actually grabbed a whole whack of Coen Brothers on tap for the weekend that I've never seen before. Picked these all up for roughly $4 a piece.

Blood Simple
Miller's Crossing
Barton Fink

That's a nice haul.

I really need to see Blood Simple again. Loved that when I saw it several years ago.

Miller's Crossing is one of my favorite Coens. It's a love-it-or-hate-it kind of movie, I think.

I wasn't that crazy about Barton Fink, but it's another one that I've only seen once and need to see again.

I'm starting to think that I should actually watch Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. I've seen all their other movies, and for the most part I like them all.

I LOVE all three of those. Probably Miller's Crossing most.

As for Transformers 2, it irritated the shit out of me. What is the purpose of dogs humping, a deceptacon humping a leg, and two stereotypical "black" (I guess) autobots spewing absolutely unfunny crap throughout. I agree with the ridiculous depiction of college that someone mentioned. All those girls running around like that? Sheesh. John Turturro was the only mildly entertaining thing about this, and even his performance was pretty irritating.

Serves you right for going to see this puddle of Michael Bay ejaculate.

Believe me. Wasn't my choice.

I thought they were supposed to be Hispanic. I had this discussion w/ a coworker who thought they were black as well.

Anyway... yeah. I fully expected Transformers to be silly, but I guess the joke's on me for not expecting it to be so inundated with 13-year-old dick humor.

I don't have a link, but I heard that some black leaders were really in an uproar about it (Surprise!).

Here's a link about the racism, though it doesn't mention black leaders getting up in arms (only quickly skimmed it though).

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/06/25/no- ... nsformers/

In the past few days I've seen:

That Obscure Object of Desire - Luis Bunuel's final film, but the only one of his I've seen. Basically about this one chick constantly blowing off a middle-aged suitor who is obsessed with her. Pretty interesting, with a slightly surrealistic way of using two actresses to portray the main girl and her different sides and emotions.

United 93 - I've come to learn that I really like Paul Greengrass' movies, and this one was no exception. Very emotional and intense.

Man, I totally forgot about the black human stereotype that was onscreen for all of 2 seconds in the deli scene. I mean, that pretty much spells it out.

WTF, Michael Bay? Do you wish it was 1927 and you were making Bosko cartoons?

this was damn good. sad though.

directed by david bowie's son

Both suck, easily their worst films (I haven't seen Burn After Reading yet)

I have, and I'll agree that both those are the suck compared to Burn After Reading.

Ladykillers is watchable. Tom Hanks is a little hard to stomach at first. The accent is so aweful and cheesy, but once you kind of sink into the world they're in, it's pretty funny.

I'll admit that I didn't bone up and watch the original - which is apparently a tour de force from old Ben Kenobi, but I did enjoy Ladykillers enough to NOT demand those two hours back.

My lowpoint in movie viewing has been and will always be The Village (-10). My highpoint would be Requiem for a Dream. (+10). I'd stick Ladykillers at about a 2.

I haven't broken down and watched Intolerable Cruelty.

[img][357:500]http://www.suchhawkssuchhounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/shshamaray_f1.jpg[/img]

Also, I watched Such Hawks, Such Wolves over the weekend. It's a documentary of the 'Stoner Rock' scene with some great footage of Earthless, Om, Sleep, SunnO))) and Comets on Fire. It's nothing revelatory or anything, but it's a nice summation of where the scene came from and where it may be going. I just wish there would've been some Growing in there (beside a little snippet of music in the soundtrack).

Additionally I finally watched Mullholland Drive and I'll admit that as much as I liked the lesbian action and as much as I liked the first 1:45, I don't get it. Lynch lost me at the Blue Box and Key. It was better than Lost Highway, but I still don't get the temporal switching and shit.

where did u find the Such Hawks, Such Wolves?

Rented it from my local DVD rental place - Orbit DVD in Asheville. They've got a pretty fantastic selection. Oh I was wrong on the title
- it's Such Hawks, Such Hounds. Wolves just sounded right...go figure.

Orbit has another one there about the Portland noise scene that I might check out. The only band featured in that one that I even know is Yellow Swans, so I'm a little terrified of what it'll sound like.