Happy Feet, Rolling Eyes

Happy Feet proves something that I've thought for a while. Unless the title of the animated film is preceded by "Pixar's", it might not be worth the money or the time. Happy Feet in animated film about a penguin who is not like everyone else. Every penguin has a heart song that is sung during mating season and in general but Mumbles the penguin cannot hold a note. Instead, he can dance. This makes him an outcast. The themes of parents accepting a child for who he is, a community handling differences and also the destruction of nature by humans are all present in a somewhat uninteresting cartoon. The funny parts weren't that funny, there was no real emotional "Bambi" moment and though the messages were important, they were sort of muted by the length and uninteresting nature of the film.

On another note, this was the first movie in a movie theater for my nephew and I think the first full movie he's sat through. He handled it pretty well and expressed our sentiments when periodically he would ask "All done?" and point to the exit. Stubbornly, the adults wanted to stay in case it got better. Maybe next time we'll listen to the 2 year old.

I don't want to say no one will enjoy this one but it is a rental for sure.

Bobby

Bobby is the story Emilio Estevez passionately and expertly wrote and directed about the events of an ensemble and disjointed cast of characters ranging from the Ambassador Hotel's kitchen staff to a lounge singer to campaign workers; on the day leading up to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. I recommend this film (that is the quick review for those who are in a hurry).
For the first time that I have seen, the audience in the theater did not stir at the conclusion of the film. With the exception of one couple, everyone sat through the initial credits in miraculous silence. As the assassination of Kennedy grew closer towards the end of the film, the film did grow more tense. The burden of knowledge lay on the audience since we know what is going to happen while the characters do not.

There are quite a few subplots and characters that are neatly brought together up the assassination of RFK and though there could have been fewer side stories to create this fictional retelling, Estevez made them each compelling and somehow people who one can relate to in varying ways, showing how ordinary and possibly extraordinary people lived and were so sadly denied hope when Kennedy was shot.

The emotional impact of this film is quite intense. I was struck by Kennedy's words (actual audio and video footage are woven into the film). The idea that we have made little progress as a nation since then is quite clear. Kennedy's words about violence in 1968 after the assassination of MLK, Jr. echo the issues of today perfectly. It is undeniable and painful to wonder at what the world would be today had Kennedy been elected. Of course we will never know but there is hope that someone will come along again to bring us together, not in hate, but in hope for peace and love...Not to be cliche in using those words together, but we as a nation were brought together for a time by hate on 9/11 and where has that gotten us?

Stranger (and Better) Than Fiction

"Stranger than Fiction" is a great film. Now that I've gotten to the point, I'll talk a little about the film. Will Ferrell portrays beautifully the part of Harold Crick, a tax man who leads an uneventful and predictable life, until a narrative chronicles his actions begins running through his head. Emma Thompson, a writer with writer's block serves as the narrator. Co-stars Maggie Gyllenhal, Queen Latifah and Dustin Hoffman were also a delight.

The film was well-written and heartfelt, humorous and dramatic enough. There was an enjoyable balance of all elements and it stayed interesting and not totally predictable. Creative elements in the use of graphics and unique camera angles contributed to the enjoyableness of the film.

Emma Thompson is always wonderful and stayed consistent in this film. Will Ferrell was the standout because his role was completely different than the overtly comical and obnoxious characters he has played. His performance was pitch-perfect for the character; understated, vulnerable when appropriate and showing a respectable emotional range. Comedy it is said is not easy and Ferrell is among the best in my opinion. He has shown now that as an actor he has a greater range than he had exposed before, his most serious role previously perhaps having been in "Bewitched", and in addition to the compelling writing and directing, for that reason this film is worth watching.

Starsailor and others I've met...

Tuesday night I had the opportunity to meet and interview James Walsh from Brit Rock band Starsailor. KROQ in L.A. and some radio stations here are playing their new single and you may remember them from a few years ago when their first album came out. Check them out! James was a very cool bloke (British for guy) and I enjoyed our chat which took place on the tour bus before their show at iPayOne center as the openers for James Blunt. I got the call that they had accepted our interview request at 430pm on Tuesday so I had less than 2 hours to prepare. That said, it went pretty well.

You can find that interview and my interviews mentioned below from the film festival at Pirate Pods' website. I have some but not all of the interviews at my Pirate myspace page as well. Yes, I am a myspace music artist. :)

Thanks for reading about the interviews and hope you check 'em out!

Red Carpet Diaries -- Fast Food Nation

Video cameras and microphones, flashing lights and still cameras; and then a lone iPod...that was the scene at the red carpet event prior to the Los Angeles premiere of Richard Linklater's rendering of Eric Schlosser's ground-breaking non-fiction book Fast Food Nation. As reporters for Pirate Pods, I ventured up to LA with two other pirates to cover the 3rd Annual Artivist Film Festival. As press covering this event, I had the opportunity to interview several film directors, activists and also for very brief moments some of the stars of FFN as the exited the red carpet. We pirates attended the screening of the Fast Food Nation and other films which I will review shortly.

The red carpet is a crazy place. This was a minor even compared to the enormity of some premiers but it still looked unenviable to be an actor repeatedly taking questions which were essentially a new iteration of the same inquiry and smiling constantly so as not be caught looking "normal" by one of the cameras. Having never covered a red carpet, none of us knew where to position ourselves and we were at the end of the carpet so I only got to ask one or two questions of each person who would talk to me. The last person down the carpet, Greg Kinnear, didn't stop but I walked with him up to the theater door, nervously formulating and asking a question but successfully getting an answer. Next time I'll have questions written out!

Check out the Pirate Pods in a week or so to catch the interviews from the festival. My Fast Food Nation interviews include Greg Kinnear, Wilmer Valderrama, Ashley Johnson and the Catalina Sandino Moreno. Hopefully my audio came out! As a group we also conducted interviews with directors of films and the producer of the festival.

And now, the Fast Food Nation review: Like the book, the film is disruptive to the idea that what we eat and where we choose to eat had no effect on anyone other than ourselves. Basically, it is about the true cost of a hamburger from the worker in the slaughterhouse to the teenager in the restaurant to the consumer. It was interesting to see a non-fiction book turn into a fiction story and is a worthwhile film.

Forgive my misuse of html below as I show you pictures of my L.A. adventure. Hopefully these pictures will be straightened out by the week's end. :)

Victory

Being a resident of CA, election day was a bittersweet day because the victories Democrats (Dems as the media calls us) felt in the House and also very likely in the Senate were not reflected in the weakly played Governor's race out here but overall I am very please with the outcome of the elections. Honestly, as much as I despise "Ah-nold", I wasn't at all fond of Mr. Angelides, his somehow equally unfortunately named nemesis. I am looking forward to the change in politics that is sure to come through legislations. I do not think that all of the world's or even America's problems will be solved through new Democratic rule but I do think that generally the government and myself will be on better terms. :) More later...

Election Day

Tomorrow is election day. Please do your part and vote! I am already afraid that the Governator is going to hold onto his seat in this sequel, Governator 2: Re-election Day, but that doesn't mean that all is lost. Educate yourself on the issues in your area and take the 1/2 hour out of your day. Here is a General Election Voter Guide for California in case you aren't sure about an issue. Tomorrow's "in" accessory is the "I Voted" sticker. Wear it proudly!

Has-been Bobby Brown

I saw something in an email that was just annoying. Bobby Brown is reuniting with New Edition for a winter tour. Why and who is actually going to go see that? :)

(low)Tideland

I'm thinking of coming up with a clever movie-ratings system. Since I tend to write less about me and more about the movies I see, it might be a good idea...like branding this aspect of the blog. Mr. Cranky has his bomb symbolism and Rotten Tomatoes goes with a percentage-based system so I could do my own thing too. More on that another time.

I could have predicted that Terry Gilliam's latest release, Tideland, would be unwatchable but despite that I saw it anyway. Scratch that. I saw half of it. We left after 1 hour and 10 minutes though we could have saved time by leaving after 20 minutes or in fact not going at all. I just don't get him I suppose. I like Gilliam when I see him in interviews and I try to like his films but I just don't ever see the point in his storytelling. Similar to David Lynch, I just don't understand why he does what he does. The only difference is I can't stand Lynch as a person whereas I enjoy Gilliam.

Basically, Tidelands was hard to watch because of it's annoying young star and her creepy imaginary friends which are barbie doll heads that she attaches to her fingertips and holds conversations with, her dad who she prepares drug syringes for and her mom whose demise comes early in the film due to drug use and chocolate binging. The characters are disgusting and disturbing and the imaginings of the child are pointless.

In other words, by no means do I recommend this film. See Borat for the first time or again before you even consider this one!

Borat -- A Better Workout Than an "8 Minute Abs" Video

At one point during "Borat's Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan", I had been laughing so hard for so long that my stomach hurt. It was like an isometric hold on a series of crunches and I couldn't sustain it for any longer. In other words, this movie is funny.

The humor, as offensive as it is, does not fall away from also being intelligent. Borat and his film producer are the main characters with truly embarassing and authentic Americans from Manhattan to the South to the Midwest serving as co-stars. The most off-color and hideous thing and statements that Sacha Baron Cohen makes as Borat, a fictitious and terribly ignorant Kazakh television personalty are duely equalled or topped by the statements and actions of real Americans, playing themselves. I think I was most appalled during the rodeo scene when an old cowboy briefly expresses his viewpoint on homosexuals. The only time I didn't find myself laughing was when the highly anti-Semetic Borat meets and old Jewish couple. I was about as uncomfortable as I could be.

Without giving away too much, the sequence of events that occur a little over half-way through the wisely short (84 minutes) film, that feature a nude Borat and producer are the disgusting, immature and such an overwhelming relief to watch just because there is no choice as a veiwer other than to join the rest of the packed theater (no doubt this thing will continue to sell-out) in a chorus of the loudest laughter you may ever witness.

The film requires an open mind and the ability to suspend yourself from your normal life and beliefs of what is appropriate for long enough to enjoy a good laugh at stupidity, ignorance and general disgusting humor. It also relies on a sense of humor about Americans, especially Southerners. It is definitely not for everyone but I loved it.

Incidentally, Sacha Baron Cohen has been offered $22 million and a gorgeous budget for his next film, quite extraordinary. There were some big names on the Borat film with Jay Roach of "Meet the Parents" fame as producer and Larry Charles (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthisiasm) as director. It will be interesting to what team Cohen assembles for the next transfer of on of his small screen characters to the big screen.

Now, go to the theater and see what Borat found in the U.S. & A. Enjoy this moviefilm. It's worth the 10 bucks.

A Real Cool Hand

The movie I have seen the most times is Cool Hand Luke. It remains one of my favorite films and one that I never become bored or tired of it. There was a time for the duration of at least six months, when I was about 13 or 14, that I put my VHS copy into the VCR every Sunday afternoon and about 1/2 an hour later, answered "No," to my mom's exhausting and persistent "Aren't you tired of this movie?" interrogation.
I finally replaced that old VHS with the DVD a couple of weeks ago and tonight, my affair with this wonderful work is rekindled. I can't choose a favorite scene but there are probably 20 I could go on about. I see something new each time I watch and I understand differently a line that I did not fully grasp the time before. There is nothing convoluted or even terribly interesting about the story. It is just about a man named Lucas Jackson who loses absolutely everything while working on a chain-gang. You may think, "You say he was in a chain-gang, what could he possibly have to lose?" No matter how little someone may have in the form of possessions or property, there is always something to lose. The crazy thing about Luke though was that he almost always found a way to smile and not in the cliche, he's always happy sort of way. He just seemed to be somehow entertained by it all. I adore that.
I suppose though I don't have a favorite part, I do have a favorite line. It is the line that gives Luke his chain-gang name after he wins a hand of poker. "Sometimes nothin' is a real cool hand" was said and then he became "Cool Hand Luke".
If you haven't seen it or haven't see it in a while, I invite you to check it out and get back to me on what you think. I hope you agree that if anything, it's a real cool film. There is really no point to this entry other than to say that I love this film and I wanted to share the enthusiasm. Thank you for indulging that need. Make some popcorn and enjoy!

Arrgh!

It is about time I explain one of the links featured on the blog page, piratepods.com. A few months back, a friend sent out a group email asking if anyone would be interested in working on a new website with her. I wasn't really sure what it would end up being all about but she is someone who I've always thought very highly of, probably since the first time I met her, and I wrote back in a less than timely manner.

Now, I am a pirate. Pirate Pods is a webzine of sorts that began as a place where podcasts of interviews with musicians or bands, recorded using an iPod, could be found and heard by anyone for free. The site is already evolving into much more with interviews with environmentalists, activists, theater-types and soon a film festival director also docking there.

Personally I have conducted about 7 interviews with local bands, one of which has been featured lately in Spin magazine and is currently supporting a new album release with a tour. It has been a wonderful experience speaking with various individuals and also finding myself introduced to music I never would have heard otherwise.

Next weekend, my most exciting interview is upon me. I am traveling to L.A. with two other pirates to attend the Third Annual Artivists Film Festival & Awards and could not be more thrilled. Previously, "Super Size Me" premiered at this festival and this year, "Fast Food Nation" is opening. "Born Into Brothels", and Academy Award winning film was screened at a previous festival as well. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to attend this festival and hope to interview many people all who are making a difference in the lives of others. The festival honors films and those who work in films that are dedicated to the welfare of children, human rights, environmental preservation and animal rights.

I am very proud of the work I've done so far as a pirate and if you're interested, please give the interviews a listen. You may even find a band on our site that you already enjoy. It's late. Time for me to walk the plank, matey...

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I can't guarantee a daily or even weekly posting but I can guarantee that you will be entertained at least once if you sign up for a subscription to this blog, the only place online that you'll find my exclusive movie reviews and other useless ramblings. I tend to write more often when I'm bored or angry and with the holidays coming, you can guarantee that at least the latter will be true of my mood through January. I kid, I kid...but seriously, if you'd like to, go ahead and sign up. At worst you might end up saving $10 on a movie sometime!

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