Archive for October, 2005

The Weatherman

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 30, 2005
in Chicago, Comedy, Drama, Dysfunctional, Family and New York
. 1 Comment

Saw this one over the weekend in Chicago. I liked it, but nobody with me did. Friedberg said it was like About Schmidt and I’d say that makes sense. This isn’t a cheery, happy movie with a feel-good ending, but I think it’s good nonetheless.

This movie is about a man, Dave, who is the weatherman on a local TV station. He’s divorced from his wife and has two kids, a son and daughter. His dad is also around who is sort of a no-nonsense sort of person and won the Pulitzer prize in his early 30’s. He was also declared a ‘national treasure’ by one of the presidents with whom he regularly played racquetball. Dave’s life is pretty crappy. This isn’t because he lives in the street or has no money or nobody cares about him, etc, etc. This is mainly because of things Dave has done. The whole ’sow what you reap’ thing tends to come true in many situations.

Dave wants to be able to relate to his kids and get back together with his wife, but he seems to do all the wrong things to make this happen. At times it even seems like he’s hardly trying at all, sabotaging his own efforts. After Dave’s father is diagnosed with cancer and it becomes very apparent his kids’ lives are going down the tubes, Dave finally starts to come around and get things together. He starts to appreciate his father a bit more and takes up archery as a way to release some of that stress he’s walking around with all the time.

The people I saw this with said they were all depressed afterwards. I thought the movie had a very satisfactory ending. Dave ended up getting a job in New York and moving. He came to terms with many of the things that were eating him away. Dave was flying back to Chicago every weekend to still spend time with his kids. Things were much better for Dave personally. I think maybe people won’t like this movie because it’s so close to home for some. Some will also get annoyed with many of the subtle product placements. Still some will like it because it’s not happy and cheery and things aren’t resolved in the most awesome-est ways possible.

Dave was played by Nicolas Cage and his father was played by Michael Caine who happens to be one of the best British actors ever (in my opinion). Excellent performances by both. Dave’s wife was played by Hope Davis (American Splendor, Arlington Road), his son by Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy), and his wife’s new husband was played by Michael Rispoli, (Spinner Dunn from Death to Smoochy). Even though this movie is dark, there were still a lot of funny parts to it. I’m going to recommend this one to fans of the more independent films. Hopefully you’ll find some worth in it like I did.

North Country

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 28, 2005
in Based on a true story, Courtroom, Drama, Lawsuit and Minnesota
. 0 Comments

Liz and I saw this one down in Indy. There were only 2 other people in there besides us and it was cold. Even I was a little chilly in there.

I was really hoping this movie would turn out well because it seemed like it had so much potential to be good. I’d have to say that I wasn’t disappointed. I’d rack this one up as another great performance by Charlize Theron. She does good work. Even though I wasn’t a big fan of the movie, Monster, you have to admit she did an amazing job in it. There were also great supporting roles by Frances McDormand, Sean Bean and Woody Harrelson.

The basic plot of this film follows the landmark case against sexual harassment in the work place. Josey is basically a single mother (recently just got out of a physically abusive relationship) who is trying to make it on her own. She ends up moving back in with her parents and getting a job at the steel mine where almost everybody in town works. Her father is definitely not happy about her working there and many of the works treat the women employees horribly. Josey eventually goes to court and the other women band together with her to stand up for their rights.

At one point during a union meeting Josey’s father gets up and says something about what’s going on and it really makes you think. He defines their fellow women employees as wives and mothers which kinda shocks the guys a bit and made me think just a little bit differently about the whole situation. Not that I was in favor of the treatment or anything beforehand. It was sort of like in A Time to Kill when they’re talking about this horrible thing that had happened to a little girl and at the end of the story they say it happened to a black girl. Everyone was so astonished because the whole time they had been imagining a white girl. This may not make much sense, but check it out sometime if you’re in the mood. It deals with race relations.

I’m going to give this movie a thumbs up. We’ll have to wait and see if I get yelled at by the Funlumbus contingent yet again for a movie decision.

House of D

Published
by
Lij
on October 22, 2005
in Comedy, Coming of age and Drama
. 0 Comments

A lot of people seem to really hate House of D, David Duchovny’s writing and directing debut from last year.

I didn’t.

The movie tells the story of Tommy Warshaw (Anton Yelchin and David Duchovny), a 13-year-old boy in New York City in the early 70’s. He’s got a depressed widow for a mom (Tea Leoni, who I love), a mentally handicapped best friend Pappass (Robin Williams), and a job delivering meat for a French butcher shop owner.

The story is told from the adult Tommy’s perspective, as he explains to his French wife the secret of his childhood. He wants to connect with his own 13-year-old boy, and so he decides it’s time to tell his secret.

I’ll admit, House of D is a little over the top on occasion. The last scene between Tommy and his mother is a bit, well, melodramatic. It seems like a device to make us sadder. However, the rest of the story is more authentic. Tommy is on the verge of growing up, leaving behind both his best friend, who will never seem any older than 12, and his mother, who will never recover from the losses in her life.

He takes comfort and advice from an imprisoned woman he only knows as Lady, played by Erykah Badu. They never see one another, but they shout their conversations from the street to the upper level window of the Women’s House of Detention, which once stood in the middle of a busy part of town.

I found the opening monologue a bit wordy and pretentious, but the rest of the film was worth seeing. Tommy’s growing-up story is sad and sweet, and I thought there were a lot of neat elements, like his relationship with another girl, with Pappass, and with his mother.

Before this, the underrated David Duchovny had written and directed only episodes of The X-Files. Obviously, The X-Files was an incredible show, but I wouldn’t say that he directed any of the best episodes. However, anyone who spent so much time with one character (like he did with Mulder) probably has a good idea of how to make a character real and empathetic, and that’s what he did with Tommy and Lady.

I’d say, ignore Rotten Tomatoes and their 11% rating, and go rent House of D.

Broken Flowers

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 16, 2005
in Comedy, Coming of age, Drama and Philosophical
. 0 Comments

Went to a double header at Castleton last weekend. Saw this and Junebug back to back. That, to me, is a great way to spend a Friday night.

This was acclaimed as an even better role for Bill Murray than Lost in Translation. I’d have to agree he did a pretty good job in here. The basic plot is that Bill Murray is a bit of a Don Juan and suddenly gets a mysterious letter. It lacks a return address, readable postmark and signature of sender. This letter informs him he has an 18-19 year old son that might be out looking for him. Don and his neighbor Winston, Jeffrey Wright, decide to do a little detective work to find out just who this person is. So Don figures out who all of his girlfriends were from 20 years back or so and they go to work. Don decides to go visit these women and try to figure out if they’re the one.

Some clues Don is looking for include a typewriter, pink items - especially stationary, and a red ink pen. Unfortunately everyone he visits seems to have one or more of the clues. I think my favorite had to have been when he visited Laura and Lolita. Lolita is a bit of a ‘tart’, but we soon find out she is just closely mimicking her mother. One of the best lines has to be when Don says, “So Lolita…that was some outfit you weren’t wearing earlier.” I won’t explain…you just have to watch.

After returning home, Don starts seeing different young men loosely matching the description of a possible son and starts assuming/fantasizing it might be “him”. We never really find out what happens in the end, but it’s not like you’re left hanging or feeling let down either. This is definitely one of those “artsy” and “independent” films. So if you’re not into them steer clear of this one. I’d say this is worth a watch, but I’d be surprised if it makes it to my top 10 list for the year.

A History of Violence

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 16, 2005
in Action, Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Based on a novel, Crime, Drama, Mob and Thriller
. 0 Comments

I saw this one a while ago with Liz, if you’re one of the regular readers I’m sure you’ve noticed I haven’t been keeping up on here.

I would like to start off by saying I really enjoyed this movie, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Like the title states, there’s some violent things in here. It also isn’t your normal type of action-shoot-em-up kind of violence. There are a couple scenes where people get shot and it actually looks like a real gunshot wound. There are some semi-prolonged close ups/shots of some of this stuff and I’m sure it has to bother some people. There are also a couple sex scenes that are a bit more than the norm. Granted these take place between a married couple, but it’s just intense. I think that’s a good word overall to describe this movie - intense.

Viggo Mortensen does great in this film. A lot of people weren’t very aware of this actor until his debut in the much awaited and acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy. I think the first movie I remember seeing him in was either Crimson Tide or G.I. Jane. It was cool to see him in a role that wasn’t LOTR or military based.

The basic plot of this movie is a small town diner owner gets held up by a couple of gunmen and saves the day. Out of nowhere he pretty much wipes the floor with a couple of professionals. This of course creates a lot of press and media hub-bub which then attracts the attention of some people associated with organized crime from back east. I’m not to go into the whole plot here, but things get interesting.

One thing that kind of caught me off guard here was how the movie ended. It was abrupt and kind of out of nowhere. However, it was appropriate and ended where it should have; I just wasn’t expecting it. Maybe this will be a new trend as I saw the same thing happen in Broken Flowers.

Elizabethtown

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 16, 2005
in Comedy, Drama, Family, Kentucky, Music, Road Trip and Romance
. 2 Comments

Before seeing this movie I had read bits of a couple reviews online and saw people ripping it apart for all they were worth. Nobody seemed to have much good to say about this movie. I really wonder what these people were expecting when they went to this movie. Maybe they wanted to see Orlando Bloom or Kirsten Dunst. Maybe they were expecting to see a classic romantic comedy or maybe they weren’t expecting to go into a chick-flick. Now I personally wouldn’t classify this as one, but when myself, Liz, Sara, Lex, Robby, Heather and Carol went to see this, Robby and I were the only guys in the theater. We walk in looking for the others saving our seats and Robby stops, looks around and says, “Chalupa….we’re the only guys in here.” He then whispered really loud to Sara - “Hey! We’re not gay!” That got some laughs out of a few people.

Anyways…the movie….I’m personally a big fan of Cameron Crowe films. I haven’t seen one I haven’t liked yet and the music is always amazing. Even though a lot of his films do decently well in the theaters, Liz pointed out that they’re kind of independent. They definitely don’t follow the norms for the genres they are. That’s perfectly fine with me and maybe that’s why not everybody loves them right away.

I thought Orlando Bloom did an excellent job in this film. I think people would agree he hasn’t been extremely successful in some of his latest films, but he did great in this one. Maybe he does better away from the time pieces. Kirsten Dunst also did a good job here. She kind of reminded me a bit of Natalie Portman’s character in Garden State. There were also some great supporting roles played by Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Loudon Wainwright III and others.

One of my favorite parts had to be when Drew sat down Samson and showed the video he got from Claire; finally getting the kid to shut up. For some reason everybody just loves seeing something get blown up. Other scenes I really enjoyed were the memorial service and Drew getting caught stealing beer from Chuck and Cindy. It was also nice how the end of the movie flowed so well with everything else. It’s not like it was this hangnail sticking out and being tagged onto the end just to have it.

I’d highly recommend this film, but I know it won’t be loved by everyone.

The Aristocrats

Published
by
Phil Boltz
on October 3, 2005
in Comedy and Documentary
. 1 Comment

Ok kids, you’ve heard about the most vulgar joke ever…and this is the 89 minute tribute to comedic depravity. Originally a vaudeville joke, held over through years of backstage performances in comedy clubs and celebrity hangouts. Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza put together a respectable interview documentary, that included most of the names we can think of in the stand-up world. Still, there was something to be desired in the conclusion…which was similar to the joke itself.

Nearly every oldschool showbiz personality was included. Highlights included George Carlin, Bob Saget, and surprisingly Gilbert Gottfried. Essentially, the routine is a pitch to a talent agent. The act includes incredible depravity including, but not limited to, Incest, Fecophelia, Pedophilia, Bestiality, Murder, and Sodomy performed by a family and their dog. The conclusion of the joke is a question from the agent, “So what do you call the act?” “We call it ‘the aristocrats”. Most performers think of it as a common song, where improvisation and their own ability to disgust can be measured against other talents. The point?…well that’s simply to see how far and absurd things can get before people would simply walk out or start a public stoning.
It’s legitimately funny…and if you aren’t particularly offended by gross depictions of human sexuality, you’ll probably like it. Artistically, it’s an ode to one of the longstanding traditions in comedy…one that is best remembered and worthy of documentation.

The conclusion of the film resembled the joke. The end wasn’t as good as the buildup or the journey to the punchline. It’s a good ride…but not for the faint of heart.

And thus ends my first post and review…
Love,
Phil

Serenity

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 1, 2005
in Action, Adventure, Based on TV Series, Future, Sci-fi, Space, Thriller, War and Western
. 2 Comments

If you’re a fan of the late TV show, Firefly then you’ll love this movie. If you haven’t heard, Joss Whedon, the writer/director, made this one for the fans. I thought it was a great movie but if you haven’t seen the series then there’s a lot of things that just don’t make too much sense. Mostly because you don’t have all the backstories and explanations.

The movie and TV series are based on a couple of old soldiers from a galactic war who fly around with their friends in an old firefly-class ship.  It’s even shaped like a firefly.  The story is heavily Western/cowboy based.  They are essentially outlaws because after the war was over, they ended up being on the wrong side.  As they travel from planet-to-planet picking jobs here and there, they run into their fair share of adventures while trying to keep a low profile and stay off the Alliance’s (the totalitarian government) radar.

Being futuristic, it’s interesting to see a mesh of American and Asian, specifically Chinese, culture.  They also talk about “the Earth that was.”  Nobody actually lives on Earth anymore.  Everybody had to populate new planets as resources became scarce.  Another interesting feature is that even though the story is futuristic, it’s very much realistic.  People wear “normal” clothes and there aren’t unrealistic technologies like tractor beams and laser guns.

If you like the movie or just need more of the story, I’d highly suggest renting/buying the first season of Firefly.

Rating: ★★★★½