Here's the rest of Emily Mortimer in Young Adam. (Movie
House Review - It's an arthouse movie. I was impressed by it,
but didn't find it pleasant to watch. Tuna didn't like it at
all, but conceded that it was made with style. In other words, we
just had different degrees of the same opinion, except I thought
the positives outweighed the negatives. ) This may be the
craziest sex scene ever performed by mainstream stars. Obi-Wan
canes the living daylights out of Mortimer, then covers her with
condiments, then takes her from behind. (Leaving her panties on -
that part I don't get.) More from this film tomorrow. (4 .avis
zipped together)
This week's movies (2500 theaters):
Crank - 100% positive reviews for this ludicrous, past-paced Besson-style actioner. This movie didn't get a massive amount of advance publicity, but all indications are that it may just be a word-of-mouth hit. It's 1994's "Speed" crossed with 1996's "Rage." A hit man (Jason Statham) learns that a poison injected into his body will kill him if his heart rate drops below a certain point. He sets out to get the baddies while keeping his heart pounding rapidly. (Five words: public sex with Amy Smart)
"Mindless fun"
"Mindless entertainment"
"Edgy and outrageous"
"Engaging and thoroughly over-the-top"
"Zealously absurd"
"It won’t be to everybody’s taste, but with a deliciously sick sense of humor and a refreshingly mean streak, Crank at least has the courage to carry its convictions through to the bloody end."
"When he was reading the script, and saw the part of the movie where he is supposed to run through the forest in a bear suit, I hope Cage asked for a huge pay raise."
"This is the kind of film
for which Golden Raspberries were invented."
My favorite line: "Even Lil' Kim, who once appeared at the VMAs wearing a pasty on one breast, failed to get the party started. Recently released from prison after serving time for perjury, she stripped off an orange jail suit to reveal ... something that resembled a funky business suit. Hillary Clinton has worn more revealing outfits."
One thing that did surprise me. I never realized that James Blunt and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) are the same guy! (See picture accompanying story)
Yellow asterisk: funny (maybe). White asterisk: expanded format.
Blue asterisk: not mine. No asterisk: it probably sucks.
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is being released again in a new
widescreen transfer, and this time it includes special features: a full-length
commentary and a special retrospective of Dorothy Parker's life. Honestly,
the special features were more interesting than the movie itself. Scoopy
discussed the problems with this film in a
review of the first release
with I completely agree with. I started the film with a great curiosity about
Dorothy Parker, one of the most humorous and intelligent women ever to become
a public figure. She is best known, of course, as a pivotal member of the
Algonquin Round Table, and everyone in my generation knows some of her quips
and short poems.
Perhaps the most telling fact about this brilliant and talented woman was
that, when she died of a heart attack in her 70s, most people who read her
obituary were surprised that she had still been alive. In the 20s, she was the
toast of the New York intelligentsia. She then became a successful but
dissatisfied Hollywood writer. Later, she came under attack by Joe McCarthy,
and took part in the Spanish revolution.
Jennifer Jason Leigh was brilliant in her portrayal in what Rudolph claims
is a very accurate telling of Parker's story. The supporting cast was equally
good. My biggest problem with watching this film is the same as my objections
to drugs suck films. It is two hours of watching a brilliant and talented
woman in torment. Director Alan Rudolph chose to focus on the negative
part of her life, and the lives of those around her. I feel he left plenty of
room for another Dorothy Parker biopic. He also borrowed a technique from
mentor and producer Robert Altman, and used overlapping dialogue, much the
same as what you would encounter at a loud party or a huge dinner.
Unfortunately, just as at a party or large dinner, it is difficult to follow
what is being said. It was made even more difficult by the accent and diction
used by Jennifer Jason Leigh in her Parker impersonation. Unfortunately,
although the earlier release had English subtitles for the hearing-impaired,
the re-issue does not, and that feature would have been very helpful.
This is a C. It is a very good film, but not one with an substantial
audience, except maybe women over 45, who rate it 7.1 at IMDb!
Scoop's note: the image quality is much better
on this DVD, and the disc has some nice features, but the old DVD had the
English sub-titles for the hard of hearing, and that was a great feature for
this particular movie.
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Gwyneth Paltrow
Dann reports on Do You Like Hitchcock?
Written and directed by Dario Argento, this 2005 thriller is a
treat for Argento fans and Hitchcock fans alike.
Film student Julio, who has been studying
films by Alfred Hitchcock for his thesis, is practicing his hobby of
peeping into people's windows when he sees a fight between a young woman
and her mother. Days later, Mommy is killed by an intruder in her
apartment, and Julio suspects foul play. Julio's girlfriend suspects he's
peered into one too many windows, and suggests he get psychiatric help.
Continuing to poke around, Julio discovers
from a friend who runs the local video store that both Sasha, the dead
woman's daughter, and Federica, a woman from the neighborhood who
befriends Sasha during a visit to the store, have rented Hitchcock's
Strangers on a Train. He decides that Sasha and Federica are trading
murders just like the characters in Strangers, which means Sasha
must now kill someone to repay Federica for killing her mother.
As things progress, the pace of the movie
gets frantic, including a really cool chase in the pouring rain between a
man and a motor scooter. As you can guess, things do not turn out as
expected, making this a first-rate effort worthy of either great director.
Elisabetta
Rochetti
Cristina Brondo
Chiara Conti
unknown
Something different this time: Porn star
Gabriella Bond
A.J. Khan in Shock-O-Rama
Julian Wells in Shock-O-Rama
Carla Romanelli in Steppenwolf
Dominique Sanda in Steppenwolf
Asia Argento. I can't think of any woman who
more obviously belongs in a magazine called Bizarre. She is sexy,
though, in a
creepy sort of way.
Pat's comments in yellow...
28-year veteran art teacher Sydney McGee of Frisco, Texas, took her
fifth-grade class on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art, and afterward,
one parent complained about her child seeing nude art. McGee claims the
principal reprimanded her and gave her a bad performance review. Fearing she'd
be fired, she hired a lawyer and requested a transfer to a less hostile school,
but the school board rejected the request. The board said she won't be fired,
but the principal has the right to tell her what is in the best interest of her
students.
* And it's in the best interests of art students that
they think
Michelangelo's David wore Dockers.
* For instance, she can say with authority that the Sistine Chapel ceiling
is PURE PORN!
* For the good of the children, we must make sure they never set foot in a
museum again.
Pepsi paid to make thousands of T-shirts for the University of Florida class of
2006, and only then noticed the Roman numerals on them didn't mean "2006," they
meant "26." Pepsi said they'll pay for replacements, but they don't know what
they'll do with the returns.
* Off-hand, I'm thinking "University of Alabama..."