Saturday, December 31, 2005
Romeo+Juliet
Why was I afraid to watch this movie? Perhaps I was not ready. In any case, I love it.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Plunkett and Macleane
Attractive drivel.
Truly Madly Deeply
Juliet Stevenson acts her brains out to curious effect. Not as much Alan Rickman as one might hope for. Not not enough Alan Rickman at all.
Nausicaa
I saw this originally ages ago in the depths of the VHS era. I love it.
Princess Mononoke
Originally saw it on the big screen in the American version. It seems better acted in Japanese.
Bad Santa
Bad Santa is not a classic. Amusing if you are in the mood for pointless and crude. Farewell, John Ritter.
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie
SBSP: The Movie is not as delightful as the show. The fourth wall segments were especially weak in spite of reminding me of Seafair piracy. "I rode the Hasselhoff!"
A Piraka Explores a Strange Cavern
Friday, December 23, 2005
Piraka Smile
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Contempt
Great big compositions. Photography unlikely to be dated. But I was checking my watch.
Planes in trouble become staple of US cable TV
Not again! People! Media is not a verb!
"We live such a mediated existence anyway, it's refreshing to experience an event unmediated, especially if you don't have to leave your house,' McBride said."
"We live such a mediated existence anyway, it's refreshing to experience an event unmediated, especially if you don't have to leave your house,' McBride said."
The Ladykillers
Not as hilarious as I remembered. Reasonably hilarious. All the characters , with the exception of "Missus Lopsided" and "Professor Marcus" come off much in the dinner theater mold. Very good dinner theater but they don't quite click. Alec Guinness isn't immune from this directorial effect but soldiers through to good results. Katie Johnson, however, seems to exist in a separate directorial realm of utter plausibility.
The Lavender Hill Mob
Great stuff. Even the bittiest of bit players in this are good.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Zamor Balls
Piraka Skull
There is a word for giant-jawism but I can't remember it.
Piraka on the Right
They are big compared to the original figures.
Piraka Have Arrived
The most striking feature of the figure is a rubbery spine and face that branches out onto the upper arms. These rubber appendages are visciously and variously spined. The face wraps snugly around its hideous jaw and light-up brain.
The faces are very cartoony in comparison to the previous toys in the line. I am reminded of the characters from Small Soldiers.
The green marbles are hollow plastic spheres called zamor in the Bionicle nomenclature. They are ammo for a clever shooter (in the right hand).
The smaller figure on the left is one of the original Bionicle characters. The toys have become progressively larger and more articulated.
The faces are very cartoony in comparison to the previous toys in the line. I am reminded of the characters from Small Soldiers.
The green marbles are hollow plastic spheres called zamor in the Bionicle nomenclature. They are ammo for a clever shooter (in the right hand).
The smaller figure on the left is one of the original Bionicle characters. The toys have become progressively larger and more articulated.
Judge rules against Pa. biology curriculum
This is good news but the job isn't done until the Bush hegemony is tossed on the trash heap of history. (Who used that phrase first?)
hegemony_
hegemony_
Viggo Viggo Viggo!
Viggo Mortensen is clarifying some of his recent political commentary in an interview with Progressive magazine. The actor recently came under fire after criticizing some of President George W. Bush's policies. So, what did Mortensen have to say for himself?
"I'm not anti-Bush; I'm anti-Bush behavior," said the History of Violence star. "In other words, I'm against cheating, greed, cruelty, racism, imperialism, religious fundamentalism, treason and the seemingly limitless capacity for hypocrisy shown by Bush and his administration." Good Lord -- we're actually swooning."
hegemony_
"I'm not anti-Bush; I'm anti-Bush behavior," said the History of Violence star. "In other words, I'm against cheating, greed, cruelty, racism, imperialism, religious fundamentalism, treason and the seemingly limitless capacity for hypocrisy shown by Bush and his administration." Good Lord -- we're actually swooning."
hegemony_
Monday, December 19, 2005
Bush vows domestic surveillance to continue
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Curse of the Were Rabbit
The onslaught of visual puns will create healthy DVD sales, I gauge. Not as sweet as the previous W&G outings but a little smarter. Shrek 2 had a similar sight-gag density.
Music supervised by Hans Zimmer. Harumph!
Music supervised by Hans Zimmer. Harumph!
Lava Lamp Operational Oddity
The metal spiraled torus that may function as a heat dissipator is askew.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Virginia Slim - The Hours is a depressive closet case. By David Edelstein
The Hours
I wasn't as annoyed by Philip Glass's score as was David Edelstein, but I agree that it does not serve the movie well. Others have rhapsodized on Kidman's rhinoprosthesis which is indeed an amazing thing. However, compare the ineffective age makeup on Julianne Moore.
This movie could also be called Virginia and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Destructive Suicide Meme.
I wasn't as annoyed by Philip Glass's score as was David Edelstein, but I agree that it does not serve the movie well. Others have rhapsodized on Kidman's rhinoprosthesis which is indeed an amazing thing. However, compare the ineffective age makeup on Julianne Moore.
This movie could also be called Virginia and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Destructive Suicide Meme.
Why? Oh, why?
There is no justice in this world. How else to explain the crack that has rendered this DVD of The Ladykillers (the good one with Alec Guinness not the 2005 remake that has already been forgotten) from Netflix unplayable? O, woe!
Throne of Blood
The last ime I saw this was in the theater, probably the Egyptian. On DVD, the effect is not as great, although it certainly is gripping.
Faithful Webcam to the Rescue!
My trusty webcam came to the rescue when my better digital camera ran out of battery. This picture is completely awful, but the scene was striking: heavy frost on everything in sight with the full moon not far above the roofs of the houses across the street. The sky was a deep watery uninterrupted blue. None of that is visible but perhaps this snapshot can serve as a reminder of the scene.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Let it Snow!
Flakes!
Fwd: Google Alert - bionicle
As weird (and fab!) as the show being discussed may be, it can not be weirder than the state inside the reviewer's head that concatenated 'tranny' and 'Bionicle.'
Although there is the unsubtle dominatrix aspect of " Roodaka."
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Google Alerts
Date: Dec 14, 2005 1:23 PM
Subject: Google Alert - bionicle
To:
Although there is the unsubtle dominatrix aspect of " Roodaka."
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Google Alerts
Date: Dec 14, 2005 1:23 PM
Subject: Google Alert - bionicle
To:
Google Alert for: bionicle
Going Dutch
San Francisco Bay Guardian - San Francisco,CA,USA
... She looked like a tranny-Bionicle supermodel, or what you'd get if half of Paris Hilton's face suddenly peeled away to reveal the glowering cyborg within. ...
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
CoolSmartPhone.com - Space Cadets - The Reality of The Reality Show
Aiee! Head 'splode! Now I don't know whether I should be indignant.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Goofs for Catch Me If You Can (2002)
I spotted a few anachronisms in Catch Me If You Can, but the good people of the internet are way ahead of me.:
The front-loading washers in the Coin Laundry, were not introduced in that style until the mid-'80s. They are Wascomat W74 Front Loading washing machines and the square door handle and rotary temperature control knob was a design change made in the '80s.
Mercy! Is there such a thing as Laundromat-spotting?
The front-loading washers in the Coin Laundry, were not introduced in that style until the mid-'80s. They are Wascomat W74 Front Loading washing machines and the square door handle and rotary temperature control knob was a design change made in the '80s.
Mercy! Is there such a thing as Laundromat-spotting?
Catch Me If You Can
Watchable. Glib. But it has no movie magic. All the pieces in the right place, but there is no life in the body.
Living Well: Years of boosting kids' self-esteem may have backfired
This meaningless phrase stopped me cold: "fully mediated culture". Judging by the context, Gloria DeGaetano meant something like "media-centered culture". The PI would have done us all a favor by rendering this phrase, barely passable in a casual conversation, into standard English.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Rashomon
Movie magic! The rain was tinted with ink to show up on film. Nothing is as it seems ...
Dr. Seuss's The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
What's all the hub-bub? The costumes and set design are certainly striking, but just about every performance is 268° off-kilter. The deadpan kid was amusing at first and then became progressively more creepy. The hero-dad, although a talented fellow no doubt, is also a charisma-free zone. Even the redoubtable Hans Conreid who should have been perfectly at home in Dr Suess's universes seemed befuddled most of the time. A curio, nothing more or less.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Kahab Seeks the Blue Spider in the Office.
Snow! It's rare in Seattle, all right?
Monday, December 05, 2005
Hotel Rwanda
Not a feel-good story, but you knew that already. Fine performances all around. The script was not especially good drama but the subject matter makes that moot. Comparisons to Schindler's List are inevitable. Hotel Rwanda not nearly as good a drama as Schindler's List but that works in its favor, removing a few layers of artifice and letting it be more immediate. To that end, the musical score, sparse but distracting, could be dispensed with.
re: Hotel Rwanda
Whale Rider
Even better than I thought it would be. Performances were great. the role of the understanding grandmother/confidante is a hoary chestnut but Vicky Naughton's extreme charisma overcame that small hurdle.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Kind Hearts and Coronets
I forgot how much Dennis Price is on screen. It's all very droll. A lot of the British sterotypes on display are all but extinct now.
