Category: (random lists)

Yacht Rock

I hadn’t watched anything over at Channel 101 in a while, not since House of Cosbys. I read yesterday that Bill Cosby is still trying to sue over this, and so I wandered over to the 101 website to see what they were up to.

I strongly – HIGHLY – recommend that you folks check out the show Yacht Rock. There are seven episodes up – I’ve watched 2 so far – and it’s really good. Particularly for fans of 70s music – Bruns, Reynolds. In a way, this reminded me of the feel of Z Channel – the yellow tinges of film being shot in 1978 Marina Del Rey. It’s very funny, it’s original, and if it gets too popular people are going to sue faster than Bill Cosby. It’s the back-story of a particular California music genre: Smooth, ocean-going, yet fightin’ too. After all, anything which features John Oates saying, “You’re a fucking loser,” to Peter Cetera has got to be eorth ten minutes of your time. http://www.channel101.com/shows/show.php?show_id=152

Shame

The old grad school game, reimagined: following Chris’ comment that he almost felt embarrassed that he hadn’t ever seen McCabe and Mrs. Miller, two versions of the Shame game.

1. What ‘great film’ have you not seen (that you seriously regret not having seen)?
Me: Renoir’s Rules of the Game. I even own it, and still haven’t watched it. Pitiful.

2. What ‘great film’ do you shamefully not like/enjoy/appreciate? (NOTE: NOT those films others call great but you despise. Instead, ones you shamefacedly would avoid disparaging unless pushed.)
Me: Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch. I know I should like it, but…. every time I try again, I stop liking the movie after the scorpion fight.

(Another version might be: What ‘mediocre film’ do you secretly love, one you know is NOT good but nonetheless cherish? Jeff, you’re only allowed one answer.)

Strictly Ballroom

Because we’ve become entranced by that dance show on TV–how could they get rid of Lisa Rinna? Jerry Rice sucks!–I decided to (re)watch Strictly Ballroom. Pete swears we watched it before, but I don’t remember it. I think I might have started watching then went to bed. Because it is just that dull. I forced my way to the end this time. There’s too much love story and too much earnestness for it to be a mockumentary, but some scenes just don’t play any other way. In fact, I think the cartoonishness undermines Fran’s transformation. We’re supposed to like her, to root for her, but she’s surrounded by these women in crazy make-up with stupid hairdos–it’s too easy to come out on top. And why would anyone want to be on top of that? The more realistic stuff (the contemporary dance scenes, the Paso Doble “the dance for the man!”) just seems out of place in the garishness of the father’s story.

Savages (1975)

I’d always looked at the DVD sitting there, especially with Michael O’Donoghue’s name on it. So odd. I mean, it’s a Merchant-Ivory film, co-written by O’Donoghue (!), that refers to the said Savages – on the DVD box yet, as “the Mud People.” So it’s intriguing if nothing else.

After the outcries of the indignities in King Kong and stuff about the Noble Natives, I thought this just might be the antidote. For those who don’t know, O’Donoghue was part of National Lampoon as its regulars morphed into SNL and SCTV. He was a main writer on SNL and sometimes performer (Wolverine, Steel Needles in the Eyes), but other than Scrooged, he had precious few screenplays to his credit. Continue reading Savages (1975)

Wholpin DVD

From the McSweeney’s people, who had already launched a rather good monthly magazine that used to be about books and writers called The Believer (It’s not so much about that anymore, and while still good, I no longer get it because I can read about politics, music and films in a dozen other places).

Their latest venture is a quarterly DVD, made up of “shorts.” People continue to make short films even with almost no outlet for them. One would have thought the web would have given more light to this kind of film, but other than the occasional re-cut trailer (Shining, Passion of the Christ) or a photoshopped scene of a jet landing on the 405, it hasn’t really been so. The other possible outlet for this stuff is straight to DVD which again has been tried by various DVD “magazines” with not too much success.

So enter Wholpin from McSweeney’s with an impressive bunch of names on the cover, and actually an impressive bunch of films as well. The variety between the films is impressive; there’s no attempt to create a “theme” thankfully, and the unexpectedness of what you’re getting in each new chapter is really a big part of the fun. Continue reading Wholpin DVD

muscles from brussels

there was a period in the late 80s and early 90s when only one person in our circle of friends in sector 21, noida had a vcr and a flat devoid of parents where we could watch movies, get drunk and behave badly (not always in that order). unfortunately, the vcr and the flat belonged to the biggest and loudest member of the group, who also had appalling taste, and as a result we all became experts in such genres as thai kickboxing movies and also in the careers of such lumniaries as jean-claude van damme. i think it is misplaced nostalgia for these misspent years that drives my continued obsession with van damme–though there is also my general obsession with crap action movies (as documented on this blog). all this as preamble to the admission that i watched nowhere to run on ondemand last night.
Continue reading muscles from brussels

Miyazaki films on TCM

Quick note to say that there’s one Thursday night left of Miyazaki films showing on TCM. They’re co-hosted by Pixar’s John Lassiter, who nearly single-handedly brought Miyazaki’s films to wide distribution in the U.S.

Saw Whisper of the Heart (non-magic, but cute), My Neighbor Totoro, which was excellent, and then ran out of tape on Porco Rosso; something I didn’t think I’d like, but now want to rent quickly. Still, my favorite is Spirited Away.

Of course there’s probably colonial subtext to it that I’ve missed and Arnab will now point out to me, ruining the film forever. Thanks in advance Arnab.

Hustle & Flow

Three parts Hoop Dreams, one part 8 Mile and one part Pretty Woman adds up to one seriously entertaining crunk fairy tale. Set in the fetid streets of Memphis in July, Hustle & Flow takes about 30 minutes to find its groove, but from then on the film is truly irresistible. Terrence Howard is really, really good, but the supporting cast is just as strong (including Isaac Hayes and Ludicris). I’ll leave it to Reynolds to offer a thesis on the film’s politics of race not to mention its representation of black male subjectivity, but I liked this film a lot.

real quickie on The Family Stone

this is not a movie worthy of discussion in a serious, intelligent forum such as this, so i’ll just say that a) we went to see it because there was absolutely nothing in south miami to see except munich, and simon wouldn’t see munich (don’t ask) and b) it is really not that funny for a christmas comedy. but i want to point out that rachel macadams, who was in the totally kick-ass and superbly paced red eye, is great. her comic talent belies her good-girl looks. i also want to register that i’m sick and tired of mothers dying of (breast) cancer. i do realize that fathers’ dying wouldn’t get the same tear-jerking effect (why don’t people love their fathers as much as they do their mothers?), but LET WOMEN LIVE, for goodnessakes! anyway, i spent most of the movie trying to figure out the birth order of the stone siblings and i can honestly say that i think i’ve got it down.