I don't think it passed the Bechdel Test.
I concur heavily on the Sweet Juniper front:
The wild things aren't nearly wild enough. They are scary, sure, but only because they act like bitter, angry, divorcing parents. I was particularly disturbed when my daughter turned to me and said, "Why are all the girls in this movie so mean?" [...] But even worse than not being very wild, the wild things are a total buzzkill. They are joyless.
The new Coen brothers film looks like it just might redeem the hours I wasted watching Burn After Reading!
(thx for the heads up,Seal)
Most of you have probably already seen the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are, I think I sent it around a month or so, but just in case, this will totally make your day. Can't. Wait.
Saw Milk tonight. A powerful reminder of why activism matters. Of how far we've come, and how far we've got to go. Highly recommended.
"And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias and the Richmond, Minnesotas who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant in television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us'es, the us'es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone."
OK people.
I don't really get out to see movies a whole lot because I have to be REALLY into it to shell out almost $10 for a flick. Also, the local place has a bad habit of shuffling the good ones (I'm Not There) in and out super-fast before I get a free night to go.
But. There's some summer MUST SEEs on my list right now.
Wall-E: going next week! ecological parable with humor and heart and cute robots, I am so there.
The X-Files: takin' me back to middle school OH JOY.
I Served the King of England: hard for me to imagine as a movie. But boy was that a good book.
Big! Machines! Dancing! 'Nuff said.
(via i blame the sea)
Dear Skylight Theater,
Since when does a movie show for only one week? Without any website or marquee information to note this? While other movies show for weeks and weeks?
I have now missed I'm Not There AND Persepolis because you only showed them for one week. How was I supposed to know you'd only show them for one short week, with only limited showtimes, when clunkers like Vantage Point just hang around forever?
Skylight, you gotta tell me these things so that I know to drop everything and get my ass to the theater, because y'all, I really wanted to see I'm Not There.
Were there no better movies this year other than 3 about violent and/or corrupt white men and 2 involving teenage girls making questionable personal decisions?
I mean, I know that the Oscars are pretty absurd to begin with, and I rarely agree with their choices, but.. jeez. (And yes, I know those 3 about violent and/or corrupt white men are supposed to be stellar and remarkable and blah blah blah and I'm sure I'll end up seeing them at some point)
Sidenote: Juno wasn't all bad. No, it didn't deserve nearly the level of acclaim it's received, and yes, it was flip at all the wrong moments, but hey - Juno's got at least a bit of personality to her (unlike what's-her-name in Knocked Up), and in the latter half of the movie you see a few cracks in her hip facade. And her stepmom was great. Should the film have gotten deeper and more honestly involved in what it really would be like being preggo and huge in high school? Yeah. Should it have given more consideration and time to her abortion-or-not decision? Yeah.
Things the film got right:
The charged dynamic between Juno and the married but emotionally stunted Mark.
Giving Juno sexual agency and (mostly) not demonizing her for it.
Bleeker. Dude was adorable. Not particularly realistic, but adorable. You can't be a single girl who still remembers high school and not wish you'd had a Bleeker back in the day.
Still, I've gotta go with Katha Pollitt here:
Juno herself is a prickly, winsome, complex and original person: she wears work shirts, plays the guitar and has a luminous intelligence and a pixielike nonsexy beauty, and that is a way young girls are almost never portrayed in films. Still, and maybe this is why I remained dry-eyed, I couldn't get over my sense that, hard as the movie worked to be a story about particular individuals, not a sermon, it was basically saying that for a high school junior to go through pregnancy and childbirth to give a baby to an infertile couple is both noble and cool, of a piece with loving indie rock and scorning cheerleaders; it's fetal fingernails versus boysenberry condoms.
(Yes, I'm planning to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days if it gets out to Oregon)
UPDATE: my brother sent me a quote from a review of Juno that he found and it's SO TRUE: "Too much of it is like a subpar episode of Freaks and Geeks, padded out to 92 minutes with pseudo-witty dialogue." I mean, really. You want the best of the best of what it's really like to be in high school? Freaks and Geeks, man. Freaks and Geeks.
People! It's a documentary! About Amos Kennedy! Premieres in May 2008!
Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. is my favorite printmaker. I wish he had more of his posters online. I wish I could buy them for all of my friends. I wish I could get back down to Alabama to visit his print shop again.
An Amos quote, from another clip from the documentary: "Self-determination can only occur through the cooperation of all people. You cannot be free unless you depend on other people."
I know that all of Wes Anderson's movies are kind of the same but I still love the hell out of every single one. They work for me. AND THERE IS A NEW ONE COMING SOON. How did I not know about this sooner? It comes out in just two months!
Watch the trailer, y'all.
(via Kottke)
So, uh, Blades of Glory - actually worth your time. I don't usually go for stupid comedy, but this one does it pretty hilariously. "Throw me some chicken!"
Forget Facebook and Myspace. What would I do without YouTube?
(Some friends who've been entertaining me lately)
Has anyone seen this Michael Franti flick?
It's called I Know I'm Not Alone.
Michael Franti always makes me happy and hopeful and full of love, so I kinda wanna see it. It's playing in Boise on Sunday at The Flicks.
Also - so this morning I wrote The Flicks, which is one of Boise's independent theatres (maybe the only one? not sure) asking to get on their mailing list and whether they might be showing Old Joy anytime soon. Not an hour later, I get a reply - from the owner - who says she's watching the screener tonight and that it looks fantastic, so maybe they will get it!
Goodbye, YouTube. You will be missed.
Jane: What are you reading?
Nick (on mescaline): The story of Babar... I'd forgotten how beautiful it was.
Watched Metropolitan tonight. Highly recommended!