cinema, verite

Cinema, verite

We were going to go out last night (to the Alkalai Flats show) but then worked kicked my ass - and over the stupidest things - and I'm also trying to get over this cold that had me laid out flat all of Thursday. So, going out? In the end, it was the last thing I wanted to do and instead Cory picked up a Zelda's pizza and we watched good/bad TV (Gilmore Girls/The OC/Desperate Housewives).

The last few weeks have gone by in a blur - it seems that all I have done is watched movies, written about movies, sneezed, slept and, occasionally, read.

Some of the movies I watched:

Chinatown: A classic that I'd (shamefully) never seen. Jack Nicholson is still bearable, Faye Dunaway is still hot and you probably need to see it more to appreciate all of the nuances. Entertaining and complex.

The Fast & The Furious: Not too entertaining, not too complex. Lots of fast cars and Vin Diesel and Paul Walker trying to see who can emote the least.

Eight Below: Sled dogs abandoned in the Antarctic and even though Paul Walker's facial expressions seemed to be as frozen as his dogs, I still enjoyed this flick in a Disney film kind of way. In other words, I was really rooting for the dogs despite the film's shortcomings.

Ask the Dust: Robert Towne film (written and directed by) featuring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Nude. Isn't that you really need to know?

Running Scared: Paul Walker finally emotes! Actually, he's pretty decent and has a kind of seething intensity that's believable. But he's still out-acted to pieces by the young Cameron Bright who just about breaks my heart with a performance that's far too good for this warmed-over Pulp Fiction wannabe. Also, I could have watched an entire film that was just about the middle sequence in this film - the one with the crazy Hansel & Gretal-styled parents and their lair of evil.

Cache: "Important" French thriller that was slow (And I like slow films) and meandering but still interesting and, in the end, compelling because at the very least it makes one want to watch and re-watch the ending to try and figure out what's going on. Worth checking out.

Transamerica: This film started out a little too jokey (in that made-for-TV sort of way) for my liking, but thankfully it deepened as the story evolved and, really, Felicity Huffman is very, very good. Very un-Lynette. More Bree, really. Which is kind of funny because her character's name is Bree. Very low-budget film but worth seeing and ultimately worth the time.

Junebug: By far the best movie I've seen in ages - this is a slow, deliberate film that's funny and sad and disturbing and Amy Adam fucking rocks and I'm so glad she got the Oscar nomination because it's been a long time since a film made me cry. And this one did.

Match Point: Creepy Woody Allen film about love and betrayal. It wasn't quite what I was expecting and although the first half is sort of tedious and cliched, it eventually turns into sonething very satisfyingly disturbing.

Next on my to-see list:

Capote
Good Night, and Good Luck
Crash
Hustle & Flow
The Constant Gardener
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Criterion DVD edition!)

Anyhoo - if I were going to recommend just one film it'd be Junebug. Go rent this movie. You may be like my co-worker who hated it and shut it off halfway through. Or you may be like me and immediately want to watch it again. Either way, I don't think you'll end up somewhere in the middle.