What I'm Watching...
(t) in movie theater (c) cable or TV (d) dvd or video (p) play (m) concertMay 31st
Old School (c)
Intermittently funny and proudly stupid. Plus it's always a thrill to see Juliette Lewis even if only for a few moments. Too bad it has to get all sentimental and have 'lessons learned' and all that crap considering what it is. And, was it just me or is this movie about one full hour too long?
Roxie Hart (d)
Ginger Rogers is really funny in this. And as a history piece --just one of many artifacts in the evolution of Kander and Ebb's celebrated musical black comedy Chicago, it's worth seeing. (This is not a musical but at least Roxie gets two dance numbers)
May 30th
The Mother (t)
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter,...and Spring (t)
May 28th
Light Raise the Roof (p)
A homeless architect. Stage production at NYT with its heart in the right place but it's mind not entirely focused, it's sad to say.
May 27th
The Fog of War (d) partial viewing
OK. This looked quite excellent and the boyfriend raved. It's just that I'm so depressed about the current war that I didn't want to go there just yet. I'm sure I'll give it another look.
May 24th
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (d)
I want to see The Saddest Music in the World but I'm a little afraid because a little Maddin goes a long way.
Bedrooms and Hallways (d)
Dated polysexual farce with a good cast. Surprised I've never seen this before. Despite the fact that the first film I ever saw him in was Priscilla Queen of the Desert --I will forever associate Hugo Weaving with Agent Smith in the Matrix films so it was awfully strange to see him as a kinky closeted gay man.
May 22nd
A Streetcar Named Desire (p)
The Kennedy Center Production with the divine Patricia Clarkson. So glad I went to this. There are pieces of the play I've never fully understood before that were clear and moving in this one: for instance Stella feels more completely rounded as a character -and Blanche makes more sense and her arc is more clear (i.e. she's not just a crazed faded Southern Belle for the duration) But I'm still pissed the Kennedy Center isn't doing their Williams tribute in repertory because I can't exactly afford a theater vacation every month. With how much of a success their Sondheim repertory blowout was two years back --why so limited this year? I would have been glad to pay to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (w/ Mary Stuart Masterson) and Glass Menagerie (w/ Sally Field) in the same weekend.
May 21st
Orpheus Descending (p)
Because of the Kennedy Center's non-repertory approach we had to make our own Williams festival by heading to Arena Stage's staging of one of the more rarely seen William's pieces.
May 18th
From Justin to Kelly (c)
I need to shut off my cable service. Seriously. Notice whenever I'm watching something hideously bad it's because it's on television.
May 14th
Troy (t)
Troy? Oy! How did David Benioff (the screenwriter) lose some many IQ points in just two years?
May 13th
Leaving Metropolis (d)
One of those films that you would only watch if you were gay. Poor me. There is one sequence, and I kid you not, in which the filmmaker seems to think he's p.t. Anderson and can pull off a weird and lengthy and patience challenging collage of all the principal characters falling apart emotionally, sobbing for minutes on end. Awful.
May 12th
Wonderful Town (p)
Just as fun the second time. Donna Murphy! Oh, how I love thee. More on the Tony nominations here.
May 9th
Mean Girls (t)
Smart, funny, worth a trip.
May 8th
Soldiers Girl (d)
One of those made-for-cable movies that puts several theatrical films to shame. Not sayin' it's perfect but damn you could do a lot worse. How did Showtime make something this good when their shows suck so hard?
The Cranes Are Flying (d)
Gorgeous black and white Palme D'Or winner from Russia. This was made in the 50s and the camerawork makes me weep for how pedestrian many of today's films are.
Caroline, Or Change (p)
Tony Kushner's latest Broadway offering is a must-see. Deceptively simple (only not really simple at all) riveting, adventurous, and capable of inspiring hours of after theater conversation. Frankly, if you love theater you kind of owe it to yourself to see anything Kushner does. He's riding an enormous wave of hype this year as arguably the greatest living playwright and Caroline is another major achievement.
May 7th
Patty Griffin (m)
You won't forget the first time you're exposed to her work. (Mine was at a guitar pull last summer with Patty performing alongside Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, and Dar Williams. The highlight of that concert was the group finale of Griffin's "Mary" -which is quite simply a masterpiece. She's probably best known (though not really known at all) to the general public as the songwriter of the classic Dixie Chicks' track "Top of the World" Oh, Patty! An amazing artist who hates to be pigeonholed as a "folk" singer which is fine since her work ranges from country, blues, rock, and folk and she seems to enjoy swinging in and out of those genres. Her new record is called "Impossible Dream" -get it!
May 6th
Friends -the finale (c)
The only reason I mention this since I don't really record TV is that it was both highly annoying and really satisfying. Like 30 million other Americans there was a day when I used to watch this religiously...so I felt "why not say goodbye." I haven't watched it regularly since Monica and Chandler got together (an event which I found surprisingly offputting and sort of sick and wrong --maybe too incestuous? I dunno.) So, the finale. I was surprised (OK, not really) to learn that nothing has happened. It's the exact same storyline as it was for 10 years. Will Ross and Rachel hook up?That said I did laugh several times--at least they remembered the jokes! (The same cannot, unfortunately, be said for the Sex & The City finale which I'm still annoyed about months later... The final season was so spectacular up until >boom< the very last episode and then they seemed to totally forget the rhythm, the message, and the humor of the show altogether. Bah humbug.)
May 5th
Grave of the Fireflies (d)
Brutal. Just brutal. But also rather amazing. If America could ever figure out how to widen their scope in regards to what they will produce and watch in animation, then 2-D work wouldn't be dying. Like any artform it seems to have unlimited capabilities, it's just a question of whether the right artists are given the right crack at it.Happy Cinco de mayo! I haven't watched anything in a couple of days but I did realize that I forgot to list The Normal Heart (p) which was definitely a theatrical experience to absorb. Great, great stuff. Not a word has been changed so you'd think an early 80s play about the AIDS epidemic would be dated. Nah. More like prophetic and as timeless as ever. The fact that it's not dated says horrible things about our world and great things about Larry Kramer's furious play. If you're in Manhattan -or visiting, don't miss it.
May 2nd
Black Orpheus (d)
I love the myth and this was an imaginative and occassionally hypnotic retelling. (I think it could've withstood some trimming though of the musical sequences --not something you hear me say often as I love musically inclined pictures) I watched it in preparation for a poll for Cinemarati's World Tour which is focusing on past Cannes winners this month. Check out the discussion.
Gypsy 83 (t)
One of those indie labor of love pictures that's actually worth seeing. The story of a Stevie Nicks dreamer and her goth gay best friend on their way to NYC's "Mother" (a club I used to go to so therein was my reason for seeing the film) It shows real promise for all involved. You probably won't be able to find it at a theater near you unless you're one of the lucky ones in a major metropolis. So put it on your Netflix queue why don't you?
Oh and one added note: While I was watching this I felt like "This is sooo Edge of Seventeen in that whatever it lacks in polish it totally makes up for in heart on its sleeve charm. And lo and behold. Turns out its from Todd Stephens, the writer of the first and the writer director of this one. Am I perceptive or what?
Laws of Attraction (t)
Dreadful and disheartening -particularly if you're a Julianne fan.
May 1st
On the Waterfront (d)
"Gripping" would perhaps be the most appropriate word. Hey, that Marlon Brando fella sure can act, can't he?
April 28th
Wicked (p)
One of those shows that doesn't realize how good it actually is so it spends too much time dressing itself up in the desperate attempt to do what it's already doing -keeping you totally entertained. Overkill. Overproduction. Whatever. But the concept is hard to beat, the songs are good. And the leading ladies headed justly to Tony nominations. Idina Menzel is good to great (depending on the scene) and Kristin Chenoweth? simply divine.
April 27th
Facts of Life Reunion (c)
I don't know why I do the things I do. I am unfathomable to me.And how did this sorry state come to be? It began last week when Jennifer Hudson was dumped from American Idol in favor of six other people who are way less interesting and, in at least 4 cases obviously less talented. So why watch that national tragedy anymore? In protest I vowed never to watch again. So, Tuesday night arrives and there's no ritual. So I begin flipping channels...and then... out of the frying pan and into the fire.
April 25th
demonlover (d)
So, I'm a man. I can admit when I'm wrong. And I think I misjudged Connie Nielsen (of Gladiator zzzzzz and Mission to Mars zzzz fame) it's just that previously her performances have prompted fits of narcolepsy in me. But not this one. She was very close to hypnotic while doing seemingly very little. A minimalist performance within a strangely baroque film. Well, it feels baroque. But it isn't really. Hard to describe.I loved Irma Vep which was also directed by Olivier Assayas so I had really been wanting to see this. It didn't disappoint. On the DVD supplements there are interviews with the stars and auteur. I don't speak French but I'm willing to bet that if Quentin Tarantino spoke French he'd sound remarkably like Assayas. Plus they both have major fetish elements in their films: Tarantino's being feet (preferabbly Uma's) and Assayas's being his leading ladies in catsuits.
April 24th
Connie & Carla (t)
Home on the Range (t)
sometimes --early on Saturday mornings when I feel like the whole weekend is mine and I feel particularly safe and comfy in my life I will willingly subject myself to possibly hideous double features. Because if the experience is upsetting, I still have some time to detox and see something else before the workweek begins anew.In this case I suspected that Connie and Carla would be a guilty pleasure and that Home on the Range would be a slog to sit through. I was wrong. Connie and Carla is indeed guilty (of being a bad film) but it aint pleasurable --unless you're a really masochistic Toni Collette fan and enjoy that she has to support the still unfunny Nia Vardalos. More reasons to disdain Connie & Carla are well put here.
Home on the Range wasn't bad. But it did just kind of stubbornly sit in place. It lacked, shall we say, "oomph" Disney's animation team just doesn't seem to have "it" anymore. Where is the magic?
April 16th
Kill Bill, Volume 2 (t)
The Morning After. Turns out I loved "The Bride" more than was healthy. My relationship with "Beatrix" now? Is the honeymoon over? Well, it's not like we broke up or even had a fight. I just sort of... NO. No, I still love her and all. I do. But --maybe we got to close (?) I've had a wandering eye. Now that I know her real name and met her ex-boyfriend and her daughter and all... I'm feeling really --well, maybe I'm just not ready for all of this. You know? But I'm willing to try again. I will definitely try again.
