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Third Party Videos:
Carrie Fleming in
The Tooth Fairy
Victoria Abril in
101 Rejkavik
I looked at two movies yesterday: Apocalypto and Conversations With Other
Women. They could not be more different, but they are both excellent. Here are
the Movie House reviews:
More important, here are the pictures and film clips:
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* Yellow asterisk: funny (maybe).
* White asterisk: expanded format.
* Blue asterisk: not mine.
No asterisk: it probably sucks.
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OTHER CRAP:
Catch the deluxe version of Other Crap in real time, with all the bells and whistles,
here.
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The Motel
Ernest is 13, a little chubby, and in the throes of puberty. He has
entered a writing contest, but his mother calls him a failure for only getting
honorable mention. (According to his bio, writer/director Michael Kang won
"honorable mention" in a scholastic writing contest in grade school). The one
bright spot in Sam's life is a 15-year-old girl who works at her parents'
nearby restaurant. Ernest is in love, but she merely sees him as a friend.
Further, he is stuck working in the family business, a sleazy motel with
hourly rates, although dealing with the motel guests does provide his life
with a liberal education. One night, Sam, a charismatic Korean man,
arrives with a hooker in tow and evidently sees something of himself in
Ernest, so he takes the boy under his wing, even teaching him to drive.
Unfortunately, Sam is really just an overgrown kid himself, separated from his
wife, and trying to screw his way to happiness. He used a maxed-out credit
card to pay for his room, and Ernest tries to hide that from his mother.
The Motel (2005) is a wonderful coming-of-age comedy that happens to take
place in an Asian-American family. It should appeal to any man who
remembers what thirteen felt like, and any woman who ever had to deal with
13-year-old boys. The children's performances are excellent, and Jade Wu nails
the role of the mother with a harsh exterior, but so much more just beneath
the surface. Although the film was made with a miniscule budget, it doesn't
seem to be cheaply made because the budget is stretched by a story that takes
place almost entirely in the motel. Granted this is not a large film, but it
is a sensitive one with an excellent sense of humor and a great deal of truth.
Motel is good enough that I am recommending it to friends.
C+
IMDb readers say 6.8. It won a prize at Sundance and an Independent Spirit
award.
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Cheryl Campbell does full frontal
in a scene where mom breaks into their room with a baseball bat demanding
additional payment, because the couple exceeded the time they paid for. On the
way back to the office, mom casually tells grandpa that room 15 needs a new
lock.
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Jackie Nova also shows
breasts as one of Sam's women.
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NOTE: The collages in yesterday's Fun House have the
second actress wrong. The IDs above are absolutely correct, per the credits and
commentary.
- As far as Jackie Nova goes, she is specifically identified in the
commentary.
- There were only two naked women in the film, and Campbell must be the other
one because she was credited as "Naked Woman" right under "Cheap Ass Naked
Man."
(I did notice the IMDb problem. IMDb must have the wrong Cheryl Campbell.) |
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Under Lock and Key
Today we wrap up Under Lock and Key with caps and
four zipped .wmv clips of
Wendi Westbrook, who was top billed as the
undercover cop in prison. This woman has one nice body.
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El Cortez
El Cortez is the story of an autistic man, Manny (Lou Diamond
Phillips), who was released from a prison for the criminally insane,
to which he was committed after killing his girlfriend and her lover
in a fit of jealous rage.
He starts working as a night clerk in a hotel in Reno called El
Cortez, and serves as an informant for the persistent cop (James
McDaniel) who arrested him back in the day. Currently under his watch
is Jack (Glenn Plummer), a drug dealer whose former hooker girlfriend,
Theda (Tracy Middendorf) has quite the eye for our Manny, especially
after hearing him mention something about a gold mine belonging to the
wheelchair-bound Popcorn (Bruce Weitz), who recruits Manny to help snare a
high-rolling investor.
The movie keeps the twists, crosses and double-crosses coming until
the very end, but all of them are familiar and predictable.
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Notes and collages
The Ladies of
Sci-fi/Fantasy
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Geena Davis in
Earth Girls Are Easy
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(no nudity in the last two)
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Geena Davis in
The Fly
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Joy Boushel in
The Fly
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When this remake of "The Fly" came out it seemed awesome, probably mostly
because the original was just awful. (Even though we viewers of that original
can potently remember that "help me, help me" scene in the spider's web.)
This remake actually got more into the slow degradation of the scientist as
he transformed into a fly, which was interesting to watch. The new strength
and sex drive and walking on walls is a cool thing ... but I didn't know how
flies digested their food until I saw this remake.
I swat them faster now.
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