Category Archives: cinema

Movie Round Up – 3 Mar 09

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Despite having recently watched The TV Set, I went ahead and watched another Hollywood commentary, The Deal.  Whereas the former was about a first-time director, the latter was about a last-time producer. William H. Macy was just about to call it quits permanently (i.e., die) when it struck him he could make one last joke at Hollywood’s expense. Setting out to make a Benjamin Disraeli biopic with a popular action star (LL Cool J) in the lead, we follow his misadventures all the way from the pitch to the premiere. Not as overtly bitter as some movies about The Biz, The Deal is endearing and silly.

The extremely silly Extreme Movie (from Dimension Extreme films) is a string of vignettes about young people trying to and having sex (with the exception of Jamie Kennedy. Can’t he play with kids his own age?). I watched it for Michael Cera and was not disappointed by his sketch. It was a little rushed, but they barely had any time or a budget. I think my second favorite was Andy Milonakis’ unconventional love story (at least he’s got biology as an excuse).  A lot of the people who made this film are in my age group, and yet I really felt I was too old to be watching it.

A Few Day in September is an espionage thriller starring Juliette Binoche and a handful of American actors which takes place in the several days prior to the World Trade Center attacks. I was a bit hesitant despite the star power (Nick Nolte, John Turturro) thinking that perhaps this film had “something to say”. However, I love espionage and I love Juliette Binoche, so I expected I would probably enjoy watching, but I really didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I thought it might be similar to a Bourne film, less fantastical but just as tense and action-packed. It was not. It really was more of a character study of those who were planning to attend a fateful meeting on the night of the 10th. Had I known prior to watching that this is actually a French film, none of this would have been so surprising.

SIFF Movie Marathon, Pt. 2

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Well, we have just over a month left for getting sponsors, and I’m stuck at 52%.  I suppose I should just keep bugging my family. Most have not replied, not even to tell me to leave them alone, so maybe there’s still a chance.

I really, really want to be able to go all twenty-four hours. Plain old silliness, I know, but that’s who I am.

Aside: it snowed again last night. This morning the sea gulls are fighting with each other. (sounds like some sort of code)

King of Ping Pong is one of the films I was able to see at SIFF 2008.

SIFF Marathon, Pt. 1

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This week I decided to do something a bit out of character for me. I’ve entered a marathon for charity. No, not a running/jogging/walking marathon. It’s actually a sit-on-my-ass-and-do-nothing marathon. The only running will be to the restroom and Icee machine between films. (Actually, the King Cat Theater probably does not have an Icee machine. Bummer.)

As some people know, films are one of the few things I’m fairly passionate about. That’s why I have a 4-at-a-time Netflix plan as well as a Netflix player. And that’s also why I am a member of SIFF – Seattle International Film Festival. They run the largest film festival in North America (or maybe just the US, I don’t know) and provide me and others the opportunity to see a lot of films we otherwise wouldn’t. They are a non-profit organization that depends a lot on volunteerism and donations.

Anyway, back to the marathon. SIFF is attempting to raise money for a new headquarters in Seattle Center. A perfect location, if you ask me. Seattle Center can be the center of culture in this fair city. We already have the ballet, a couple live theatres, Teatro Zinzanni across the street, the grounds for Bumbershoot . . . It seems only fitting that SIFF be in the middle of all of that. Plus, the SIFF theatre is located in Seattle Center already. With the money raised from this event, they will build their home in the former Alki Room.

The way the marathon works is that each “runner” must raise at least $1000 in order to attend the marathon – 24 hours of film at the King Cat Theatre. This is where the “out of character” part comes in. I do not talk to strangers.  I barely talk to people that I know. And yet, somehow I have to convince enough people to throw in a few bucks in my name so that I can sit in a chair and stare at a wall for a day.

I know that people will think that movies are not “charity”, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Our culture, our society depends on the arts to get us through, to take us to the next era. When times are tough, we need cinema and other media to lighten our hearts and lighten the load. And in the future, just like the past, people may not read history books, but they’ll study the art we leave behind, and they’ll know who we were, who we are. Film is part of our immortality. And however frivolous it may seem, I truly believe I’m supporting a good cause. I only hope I can convince enough people, in my oh-so-antisocial way, to agree with me.

As of today I’m a third of the way to my goal. Fingers crossed I’ll make it to my goal, and beyond.

Alien 3 – The Real Story

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Netflix has made available, for a limited time, the first three Alien movies on Instant Watching. So, this weekend I decided to have a little marathon. I’d seen the first two, and it was nice to see them again. The only difficult part was watching the chest-bursting scene in Alien – I could not stop seeing it with a little top hat and cane. It was also nice to see Veronica Cartwright. I didn’t realize she was in the first movie, and I know her best for her time on “The X-Files”. This was my first time watching the third film, and I didn’t much care for it. I did like the medic, and was sad to see him go without a fight, but the whole movie was just a bit…. off. Afterwards, I spent way too much time on IMDb finding out what other people thought. But now, I have come up with my own idea of what should have happened. I’m sure plenty of people have had the same or similar idea.

Instead of crash landing on the prison planet, Ripley, Hicks, and Newt find their way back to a Company outpost, where they get to be a family for a while. Ripley probably teaches at flight school, but otherwise their lives are quite normal. Meanwhile, a quiet rebellion is stirring against the Company. It is a general uprising, with their treatment of the Aliens only a small issue among many. Naturally, Ripley’s family is kept in the loop, but she and Hicks try their best to stay out of it. By themselves, however, they often ponder the origins of the Alien – was it their ship that crashlanded on LV-whatever, or were they stowaways? (My theory is that they were outgrowing their home planet and were sent out to colonize other worlds. If the humans had time to research, they would have found on the Hadley’s Hope computers record of a transmission sent by the Aliens to their home planet saying all was well.) Ten years pass and evidence is found of another infestation on another planetoid in the system. Up till now there was only speculation that the Aliens had made it anywhere else. This causes Ripley and Hicks to spring into action, as they are the only humans who’ve come face to face with the Aliens. They leave Newt behind to complete her higher education, but find and abduct Bishop to run off with the rebellion to eliminate the new crop. Fighting ensues. There is a victor. Humans? Aliens? We’ll never know.

Movie Spotlight: Film Geek

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Yesterday I watched the 2005 indie flick Film Geek, and I can’t get it out of my head. Not that it was some grand masterpiece of pure cinematic genius, but it was actually much better than I expected. It’s a low-budget film set and made in Portland, OR (some was shot in Vancouver, WA) about a guy who knows almost everything about film and very little about anything else. He has virtually no social skills and gets fired from his video store clerk job because he annoys the customers. This leads him on a sort of journey of self-discovery, as well as different sites around town. Portland is just as much a character in this film as any of the people.

What surprised me is how well this movie was put together and the quality of the acting. With such a sensational lead character, a small-time film like this can really go over the top, and be in serious need of an editor. But this film was very effective. I watched it on Netflix instant watching, and I will probably watch it again someday.

SIFF Day 14: This is the End

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Wednesday was my final film for SIFF 2008. Italian film The Girl by the Lake is a modern day murder mystery set in and around Udine, a town northeast of Venice, close to the Austrian and Slovenian borders. This means nothing, really, except great scenery. It’s a classic whodunnit, with a myterious victim, a town where everyone knows everyone’s business, and a curmudgeonly inspector. Aside from the woman next to me who reeked of pot, this film was a very nice end to my festival.

SIFF Day 13: War is Hell

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Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame is a new film by Hana Makhmalbaf, the youngest of a family of Iranian filmmakers. She directed the film, which was written by her mother, when she was 18 or 19. The film is set in the foothills of Afghanistan where the giant statues of Buddha were destroyed by the Taliban. It is about a very young girl’s attempt one day to go to school and all the obstacles she faces in doing so. It can be frustrating at times. For example, she tries to sell some eggs in the market in order to buy a notebook for school. The sequence is inordinately long – perhaps on purpose it takes a little bit longer than what is necessary to make the point. For a large part of the movie, the little girl is hounded by the boys as they play their game emulating the adults, the Taliban. This is no slick production, but considering most of the actors are very young children it is not a bad effort.