Here is the trailer for the 2010 film Youth in Revolt which will star- Michael Cera, Steve Buscemi, Jean Smart, Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Zach Galifianakis and various others.

Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) is a sex-obsessed 16-year-old who, while on vacation in a trailer park, meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), an intellectual. The only thing standing in his way are Sheenis poetry-writing ex-boyfriend Trent.

Me senté anoche a observar qué había en televisión estaba dispuesto a que si no había nada más me dispondría a seguir mi lista y hacer la entrada sobre una de las muchas pelis que tengo pendiente.

Bueno, había un par de series, otro par de pelis y Goodfellas de Scorsese. Sabía que la peli era larga y que estaba un poco cansado pero transcurridos unos diez minutos, ya estaba cautivado por la historia.

Ya había dicho de Scorsese que no es sólo como describe las vidas y costumbres de los italianos mayormente en Nueva York, el hombre es un verdadero cuentero, cada pedacito tiene algo interesante, cada chiste tiene su magia. ¿Cuántos actores son naturales en la peli? ¿Cuántos verdaderamente sabían actuar? Todos se interpretan a si mismos y muchos hoy día se encuentran encasillados en ese primer papel que hicieron para el maestro. La lista es larga y uno se pone a revisarla y casi todos los encuentra uno de nuevo actuando igualito en The Sopranos.

La peli es fascinante, lo que más me agrada y recuerdo haberlo escrito en algún lado por ahí hace quince años es que los italianos si que saben comer y cocinar. Me pasó con The Sopranos, me pasó con Anthony Bordain cuando visitó Nueva Jersey italiana y me pasó con Goodfellas en 1990. Alguna vez con un amigo de universidad grabamos la peli y anotamos cuidadosamente las recetas de Pauly y Jimmy en la cárcel, diligentemente nos acomodamos en alguna de nuestras casas con ingredientes de excelente calidad, repetimos la receta al pie de la letra, recuerdo que la única excepción fue que en vez de latas de tomate en realidad buscamos como hacer la salsa con tomates frescos, lo que nos iba a tomar tres o cuatro horas más. No importó. Rebanamos el ajo con bisturíes X-Actos y delicadamente los sofreímos en acetite de oliva medianamente caliente. Tal cómo Liotta y su personaje lo describían el ajo simplemente se deshacía en el aceite, la carne absorbía esa emulsión y al servirse con una porción de pasta, pan y vino tinto ya no eramos estudiantes de una universidad pública, eramos sicilianos encarcelados, eramos la estrellas de rock que cocinaban y comían con todos los lujos del caso.

Pero a quién engañabamos eso nos había costado semanas y semanas de almuerzos. Pero había valido la pena. Por una vez en la vida estabamos probando los manjares que Scorsese alguna vez nos había confiado.

Hoy más que revisar las cámaras de Michael Ballhaus, la excelente actuación de Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, Lorraine Bracco, más alla de comentar los títulos de Saul Bass, la edición de Schoonmaker o la música organizada por Christopher Brooks. Hoy más que nada, recomiendo en las clásicas pelis de Scorsese ponerle atención a las recetas de las comidas y tratar de rehacerlas lo más parecido posible. Usar ingredientes frescos y de buena calidad. El resultado cada vez que se repitan las escenas la sensación va a ser erótica, va a ser inigualable. Las descriptivas escenas de Scorsese y una boca cebando esos misteriosos sabores del Mediterráneo.

Sinusoidalnie zmieniał się mój nastrój po ostatnich spotkaniach z muzyką, polską i zagraniczną. Radość moja tym jest większa, że rodzimi artyści wyszli z tej “potyczki” z podniesionym czołem, dumnie i wysoko dzierżąc tarczę. Zaczęło się od długich godzin z pierwszą solową płytą Huberta “Spiętego” Dobaczewskiego “Antyszanty”. Nie wiem, jak innym, ale mi zajęło trochę zanim zacząłem przysłuchiwać się tej produkcji nie mając z tyłu głowy pytania “a kiedy będzie coś w stylu Lao Che”?. Bo z muzyki twórców trzech kapitalnych płyt jest na “Antyszantach” tylko głos Spiętego. Artysta zastosował inną, bardziej minimalistyczną formułę, podpiera się głównie gitarą, bębnami, które jakby wybijały na galerze rytm wiosłującym skazańcom. Jest prosta elektronika, którą niejeden już przyrównywał do Kraftwerk, zaś ja bym dodał tutaj nową falę z początków lat 80. Skoro w tytule jest słowo szanty, to nie mogło zabraknąć drumli. Jest też banjo, chyba dla większości łączące się z country. Aranżacje są naprawdę skromne, ale ta muzyka działa mocno w połączeniu ze słownymi igraszkami Spiętego. Rockers Publishing w zapowiedziach pisał o mocno erotycznym charakterze tekstów. I faktycznie dosadnego śpiewania o paniach i panach (marynarzach i majtkach) jest sporo. Są dziecięce zdrobnienia, wyliczanki, które pozornie nie mogą wywołać innego traktowania płyty, jak zwyczajne jaja, wygłupy. Ale jeśli dokładnie wczytać się w słowa Spiętego, w to słów cięcie i gięcie, te zbitki, neologizmy, jeśli wbić się głębiej, okaże się, iż artysta nie do końca traktuje całości jako beztroskiej zabawy. Spięty zawsze miał coś do przekazania z Lao Che, ma również jako solista. Płyta trudna do sklasyfikowania, ale jak wiadomo, ja za szufladkowaniem nie przepadam. Niech stanie na tym, że to muzyka alternatywna, niekomercyjna, z dość dosadnym, frywolnym przekazem, pod powierzchnią którego jest i sporo celnych spostrzeżeń.

Drugi punkt dla Polski wywalczyła gdańska Proghma-C i debiutancką płytą “Bar-do Travel”. Ściemniać nie będę, album wciągnął mnie bardzo. Na tyle, że postanowiłem poszperać dość intensywnie w poszukiwaniu genezy tytułu i paru tytułów z krążka. Wiedzę wzbogaciłem. Wiem, że “bardo” to stan przejściowy w tybetańskim mistycyzmie i to była cenna nauka przed zabraniem się do komponowania finalnej wersji recenzji. Bo mistyki w tej muzyce jest sporo. Także hipnotyczności, momentami transowości. Trudno uciec od skojarzeń z Meshuggah, wokalista manierą chwilami przypomina Maynarda Jamesa Keenana. Elektronika i niektóre partie gitarowe wychodzą z progresywnego grania. W skojarzeniach nie ma niczego złego. Proghma-C potrafiła ze swoich inspiracji zbudować coś swojego, zostawiła na płycie swój ślad. Za wcześniej mówić, że mają swój styl, ale z pewnością wiedzą, w którą stronę zmierzają. A cover “Army Of Me” Björk nagrali naprawdę imponujący. Godzina świetnej muzyki, mocnej, ciężkiej, ale mającej przestrzeń, jakąś tajemniczość, nie przytłaczającej dla samego przytłaczania. Proghma-C nie z tych, co będą silić się na bycie najcięższymi, najbardziej pokręconymi, itp. Emocje, które chcą wyrazić, oblekają we właściwe dźwięki. I pewnie z tego powodu blisko godzina spędzona z “Bar-do Travel” mija tak miło i bezboleśnie. Głęboko się panom kłaniam i czekam na to, co będzie dalej, licząc mocno, iż będzie jeszcze lepiej, jeszcze bardziej interesująco.

Honor zagranicy znakomicie obronili weterani z Cheap Trick. Tajemnicą nie jest, że do melodyjnego rocka i hard rocka mam słabość, aczkolwiek Amerykanie nigdy nie należeli do grona moich wielkich ulubieńców. Jednak ich mocno beatlesowski, chwytliwy rock, hard rock, rock and roll może rozpogodzić nastrój każdego przytłoczonego faktem, że w listopadzie wcześniej robi się ciemno, a słońca jest jak na lekarstwo. Płyta “The Latest” zaraża radością, oczywiście jest na niej mnóstwo pięknych harmonii, ukłonów w stronę glam rocka, uwielbianych przez Cheap Trick The Beatles, rockandrollowy kopniak, a nawet ognistość żywcem wzięta z melodyjnego punk rocka. W USA Cheap Trick to legenda, u nas zespół znany raczej niewielkiemu gronu pasjonatów AOR-u, czyli rocka zorientowanego na dorosłych. Nazwa durna i nie wiem, kto za nią stoi. Co za kretynizm! Rock właśnie jest przede wszystkim dla niedorosłych, dla wiecznie zbuntowanych, młodych duchem. Dorosłość raczej odbiera człowiekowi rockandrollowość, przynosząc w jej miejsce rozleniwienie, skapcanienie, przeczulenie na punkcie współrzędnych pilota w domowym zaciszu. Dobra, nie będę się pastwił nad jakimś szufladkarzem od Wujka Sama. Czasu i palców szkoda. Wielkie dzięki Adamowi Śliwakowskiemu z krakowskiego Metal Shopu, że po udostępnieniu mi płyty ze trzy razy pytał, czy słuchałem. W końcu zrobiło mi się głupio, posłuchałem i będę miał powód, aby złożyć mu serdecznie dzięki za dobry wybór. Są jednak w sklepach muzycznych ludzie, którzy znają się na rzeczy. Nie ma jednak ich za wielu. Adam to wyjątek, a Metal Shopowi stuknie za jakiś czas 20 lat. Oj, będzie się działo J

Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats, to poboczny projekt perkusisty Red Hot Chili Peppers. Projekt instrumentalny z udziałem czterech muzyków, którzy są już na tym etapie wtajemniczenia w sztukę, że jeśli mają czas, to bawią się instrumentami, nie myśląc, czy skala tej zabawy przekroczy granicę sali, w której mają próby. Tak, nie każdy może sobie na coś takiego pozwolić, a u nas to pewnie mniej niż promil. Ale Chad, Ed Roth, Jeff Kollman i Kevin Chown mogą. Powszechnie znany jest tutaj tylko Smith, ale reszta to nie byle jacy muzycy. Może nie jest to pierwsza liga pod względem znajomości przez fanów, lecz Ed, Jeff i Kevin dossier mają całkiem spore. A w co się bawią? Bawią się w funky, soul, fusion, delikatnego jazzu. Bawią się dobrze, bo pod koniec paru kompozycji słychać zabawne uwagi słowne, typu “Oj, wylałem sobie piwo”. Jest też koncertowy cover kompozycji Billy’ego Cobhama, słychać, że zarejestrowany w jakimś małym kalifornijskim klubiku. Panowie kochają to, co robią, mają z tego wyczuwalną na kilometr radochę, a ich ego nie są na tyle duże, aby zżymali się na to, iż ogląda ich 250 osób, a nie 50 tys. To nie jest płyta, która zapisze się na lata w świadomości fanów. Na pewno chętnie zaopatrzą się w nią ci, którzy lubią takie granie instrumentalne, w którym nie ma wyścigów, kto zagra szybsze i bardziej efektowne solo. Kwartet przyjął pewne reguły muzycznej zabawy i trzyma się ich. Chciałbym zobaczyć ich na żywo, bo pewnie granice zabawy wtedy się poszerzają, ale mam mało wiary w to, że ktoś odważyłby się ich do nas zaprosić. A jeszcze niewielu stać na to, aby fruwać sobie na koncerty do Japonii…

Katatonia niestety obniża loty. Zmęczyła mnie i znudziła płyta “Night Is The New Day”. Napisanie, że nie ma w tej muzyce życia nie byłoby trafne, bo Szwedzi raczej operują paletą, na której są głównie mroczne barwy, a ze śmiercią i okołośmierciowymi tematami zawsze im było do twarzy. Niefajność “Night Is The New Day” to brak tego czegoś, co powoduje, że chce się do materiału wracać. Coś, co chyba po raz ostatni pojawiło się na “Viva Emptiness” i wcześniejszych albumach. Można wylewać żale, płakać do mikrofonu, ale jeśli nie ma w tym jakiegoś haczyka, magicznego ognika, iskry bożej, szatańskiego liźnięcia, to wiele z albumu się nie wyniesie. Mikael Akerfeldt może sobie pisać hymny pochwalne na stickerze z okładki, jego prawo. Ale z radością bym się dowiedział, jak jego zdaniem “Night Is The New Day” wypada na przykład z “Last Fair Deal Go Down”?

Rob Halford niedawno określił się chrześcijańskim heavymetalowcem. Naprawdę, powiedział to w wywiadzie radiowym. Nie chcę na siłę kwestionować prawdziwości jego słów, ale jak ma się wydać album inspirowany świątecznymi piosenkami, zimą, bożonarodzeniowym zamieszaniem, a do tego zna się ten biznes od podszewki, to… Nie mam nic przeciwko takim płytom nagrywanym przez metalowców. Przeciwnie, nie jeden raz setnie się przy takowych projektach uśmiałem. Po raz pierwszy chyba z 25 lat temu, gdy w formie kasetowej zagościła u mnie świąteczna kompilacja z udziałem czołowych wtedy niemieckich kapel metalowych. Do dziś pamiętam wersję “White Christmas” Binga Crosby’ego, w której gardło darła niesamowicie Sabina Classen z Holy Moses. Rok temu weselej zrobiło mi się przy “We Wish You A Metal Xmas…”. Po “Winter Songs” nie jest mi za bardzo do śmiechu, bo to płyta nudnawa i przesadnie poważna, nadęta jak balon braci Montgolfier albo Jose Mourinho. Ratuje ją parę weselszych, luzackich, rockandrollowych momentów i otwierający całość “Get Into The Spirit”. Gdybym celebrował Wigilię, chętnie widziałbym przy stole Roba Halforda, ale wolałbym, aby zamiast piosenek z trzeciej płyty zaśpiewał mi na przykład “Resurrection”, “The One You Love To Hate”, czy jakiś kawałek Judasów. Byle nie z “Nostradamusa” J

Czym byłoby życie bez przerw na odpoczynek? W ostatnich dniach bardziej filmowy niż książkowy i niekoniecznie związany z nowościami. Adam Ś. nie tylko na muzyce się zna, lecz czasami rekomenduje niezłe filmy. Polecił mi dwa sensacyjne amerykańskie obrazy – “Władza pieniędzy” (Even Money) i “Błękitny proszek” (Powder Blue). Obydwa łączy osoba Foresta “Klapnięte Oczko” Whitakera. Pierwszy, to opowieść o uzależnieniach dwóch osób od hazardu i kłopotach, które z tego wynikają dla złotej rączki Clyde’a Snowa (Whitaker) i pisarki Carolyn Carver (bardzo dobra Kim Basinger). Kłopoty, ich sprawianie, jest tu domeną niejakiego Victora (Tim Roth, i wszystko jasne ), za którym stoi tajemniczy Ivan. Końcówka dość łatwa do przewidzenia, ale ogląda się naprawdę miło.

Podobnie jak “Powder Blue”. Nie tylko ze względu na Jessicę Biel, która jako tancerka erotyczna musi podziałać na wyobraźnię każdego mężczyzny (swoją drogą nieźle się do tej roli przygotowała; ciekawe, kto był konsultantem merytorycznym), ale nieźle wypada też w dramatycznych scenach, kiedy rozbierać i wyginać się nie trzeba. Bo Rose-Johnny (Biel) ma synka w śpiączce i wierzy głęboko, że odzyska on zdrowie, dlatego tańczy ile się da, także w prywatnych pokojach, za co dostaje się więcej pieniędzy, ale też znacznie więcej trzeba z siebie dać. Patricka Swayze (R.I.P) można zobaczyć w ciekawej epizodycznej roli właściciela klubu, wrednego skurwiela, który wykorzystuje swoje pracownice jak się da. Jest ograny wątek dziewczyny nie znającej ojca (znakomity Ray Liotta), który po latach się odnajduje, jest nieśmiały młodzian, szukający miłości, na co dzień zajmujący się makijażem dla umarłych i mający kłopoty finansowe, jest pastor (Whitaker), który chce zapłacić za zastrzelenie go, między innymi przygodnie poznanemu transwestycie (swoją drogą przedstawienie pastorowi cennika usług jest zabawne). Co ważne, przynajmniej dla mnie, nie ma tu hollywoodzkiego happy endu, nie wszyscy żyją długo i szczęśliwie.

Quando abbiamo cominciato a scrivere di cinema, ormai nel lontano 2003 (!), pubblicai un inutile (bellissimo) sondaggio. A parità di condizioni, in un piovoso pomeriggio domenicale, potendo scegliere un solo e un solo film, su cosa vi buttereste: simpatica e frivola Comedy o testoteronico e maschio Action? All’epoca – e sotto sotto ancora oggi – la mia personale scelta cadeva inevitabilmente sull’Action. La motivazione, tolto il gusto personale, è semplice: all’epoca la commedia, pur se realizzata con impegno e dedizione, non aveva a mio avviso nulla da dire di nuovo. Si era rimasti impantanati in un modello che potremmo definire “Se scappi ti rincorro, previa autorizzazione, per poi litigare con te in modo buffo per poi infine sposarti ecc…” L’Action al contrario, anche nella sua forma più bassa, aveva una vitalità e una possibilità di innovazione del linguaggio ben più eccitante. Poi le cose sono (in parte) cambiate. Se mai come oggi il cinema de muscoli ci sembra in ottima salute, in questi anni la commedia è cambiata. E se dovessimo fare un nome per identificare un responsabile, diremmo Judd Apatow. Grazie a lui, e a una lunghissima serie di nomi tra attori e sceneggiatori, il genere ha saputo rinnovarsi e trovare una nuova spinta. Tutto il Frat Pack, più gente come Greg Mottola, Adam Mckay, Nicholas Stoeller, John Hamburg, Jonah Hill sono riusciti nel difficile compito di regalare una seconda giovinezza al genere. Oggi però, data astrale 2009 quasi 2010, ancora una volta, la commedia è in stato di empasse.

Tutto sembra ancora una volta essersi crisitallizato attorno a due o tre filoni che danno insindacabili segni di stanchezza. Da una parte dei trentenni cazzoni impossibilitati a crescere e con ridicoli problemi di cuore. Dall’altra una commedia fracassona che comincia spesso a sfociare in una facile trivialità. Will Ferrell ha apparentemente finito gli sport da dileggiare e s’è rifugiato in una stupida commediola amarcord come Land Of The Lost. Judd Apatow ha fatto Funny People che ha lasciato l’amaro in bocca a molti. Year One non è piaciuto nemmeno al regista di Year One. Adventurland non è Superbad. L’unico che sta uscendo a testa alta da questo enorme calderone di titoli e nomi è l’outsider Jody Hill. Anzi, con solo due film e una miniserie telvisiva all’attivo, può già essere considerato a tutti gli effetti un autore personale e unico, in grado di portare avanti una sua precisa poetica.

Ex istruttore e cintura nera di Taekwondo, nel 2006 esordisce con il lungo metraggio The Foot Fist Way (salvato da un probabile oblio proprio da Ferrell & McKay). Una sorta di mockumentary autobiografico su Fred Simmons, un istruttore di provincia di arti marziali. Insieme all’amico Ben Best, Hill scrive uno dei personaggi più squallidi e tristi mai visti su grande schermo. Fred Simmons è un perdente arrogante, cattivo e ignorante. Convinto di possedere un dono, di essere unico, fa di tutto per primeggiare sugli altri anche quando questo gli risulta impossibile. La frase “debole coi forti e forte coi deboli” per lui vale solo a metà: come non esita a porsi di fronte a bambini sovrappeso con tutta la sua forza, allo stesso tempo e com la stessa cieca convinzione si scaglia anche con chi è nettamente sopra le sue possibilità. Non solo dal punta di vista fisico, ma anche sentimentale, mentale e psicologico. Chi è contro di lui o semplicemente non lo riconosce come un faro illuminante di saggezza e forza, è dalla parte del torto e deve essere umiliato. E, anche se colleziona un fallimento dopo l’altro, Simmons continua a seguire il suo “percorso”, quello che ogni eroe ha scritta nel proprio destino. Per Fred Simmons il destino però ha in servo una cena al ristorante di pesce in uno shopping mall con una moglie che lo tradisce e lo detesta. Non la salvezza dell’umanità.

Passiamo a Kenny Powers il protagonista della miniserie di Hill Eastbound & Down, prodotta sempre da Ferrell & McKay. Ex giocatore professionista di baseball, Powers – dopo aver assaporato uno scarso quarto d’ora di popolarità grazie a una singola palla fortunata – getta la sua carriera alle ortiche. Volendo vivere larger than life, ma non avendo nessun tipo di talento sportivo o qualità umana, finisce vittima dei suoi vizi. Sfatto nel fisico, ma allo stesso tempo convinto del suo incredibile valore come uomo e come sportivo, finisce suo malgrado per diventare istruttore di ginnastica nel suo vecchio liceo. Abbandonato da chiunque, con debiti e cause in corso, vive a scrocco a caso del fratello. Non perde occasione però per far sapere a tutti che l’uomo che era un tempo, sta per tornare. Anche in questo caso, la sua ferrea convinzione di essere al di sopra di chiunque lo circondi, lo portano ad umiliarsi in continuazione, inseguendo un sogno che è evidentemente irrealizzabile: tornare ad essere stimato da tutti. La sensazione però di essere vicino al baratro è più vivida qui che in Fredd Simmons. Kenny Powers, dopo aver maltrattato un vecchio, dopo essersi presentato in ecstasy a una ballo scolastica per un bambino disabile, dopo aver pippato nel retro di un bar di periferia, piange in camera da letto di suo nipote. Incapace di avere normali rapporti con le persone, vive seguendo i suoi consigli registrati su un audiobook di quando era al top. Sembra quasi sforzarsi nel deludere e abbandonare anche i pochi che tentano di entrare in contatto con lui. Quello che lo muove, anche qui, è un disegno più alto che nessuno oltre a lui – in quanto “normale” – può vedere. E un finale così triste per una serie comica, non s’era mai visto.

Il passo successivo – e la totale messa a fuoco del cinema di Jody Hill – è Observe & Report. Il primo cambiamento è l’abbandono del protagonista dei due lavori precedenti. Danny McBride, perfetta rappresentazione fisica dei personaggi di Hill (e fondamentalmente a secco di personaggi positivi…) viene sostituito dal volto rasserenante di Seth Rogen, un nome che in America è garanzia di vendibilità del prodotto. Cambia poi anche la confezione: se già Eastbound & Down – pur nei limiti del televisivo – era un passo avanti rispetto alla rozzaggine di The Foot Fist Way (ma comunque un prodotto televisivo), qui siamo dalla parti Grande Cinema. La fotografia del grande Tim Orr, il montaggio di Zene Baker, una colonna sonora straordoinaria e un cast incredibile (oltre a Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Anna Faris, Michael Pena e un cameo per McBride) rendono Observe And Report un film dal punto di vista formale inattaccabile. I ralentì antieroici e le sequenze interrote a metà, accennate nei lavori precedenti, qui diventano un marchio di fabbrica. E in più si spinge ancora più forte l’accelleratore sui meccanismi comici già rodati. Questa volta il protagonista è Ronnie Barnhardt, capo della sicurezza in un grande shopping mall. Una guarda giurata che, come Vito Catozzo, all’epoca del Drive In, ha visto troppi film con Clint o Charles. Tutti suoi personaggi sono così, perché il loro punto di riferimento è il Cinema. Simmons ha visto troppe volte Best Of the Best. Powers ha nel cervello tutte le rise and fall che abbiamo visto nella nostra vita su grande schermo. E Barnhardt non ha fatto altro che vedere polizieschi e film action. Anche se inizialmente possono avere qualche problema, prima o più la storia farà il suo corso e inevitabilmente avranno la meglio. Questa convinzione non fa altro che rendere ancora più eroici il loro fallimenti. Quante volte ci è stato fatto vedere che prima di tornare in vetta bisogna veramente toccare il fondo? È un meccanismo di appropriazione e distruzione di certi topoi di un cinema popolare, riconoscibile da tutti. Dopo l’arrivo di Jody Hill è impossibile guardare a sequenze come quella del monologo del compianto Patrick Swayze ne Il Duro del Roadhouse senza riconoscere la stessa cieca e insopportabile ignoranza.

I usually review new films on this blog, but I passed on a chance to see “Pirate Radio” this weekend, and with good reason: “Almost Famous” was barely tolerable, so the idea of “Almost Famous on a Boat” seemed a bit too precious. Whether or not it was that is irrelevant; even moviegoers in its native England stayed away in droves. If a film on such a small budget with such a big cast and such good music can’t make a profit, beware. Besides, I find rock movies in general a bit too hard to swallow as legitimate entertainment.

Anyway, I decided to lay out my first impression of the 2007 American cut of Guy Ritchie’s post-Snatch film “Revolver.” To be delicate, I’ll borrow a phrase from Richard Hammond: “Ambitious but Rubbish.” To be not-so-delicate: It made our heads hurt, and after what seemed like four hours we had to turn it off before they repeated the “formula” for the umpteenth time.

To paraphrase Ian Malcolm, Guy Ritchie seems bent on wielding the concepts and ideas of Kabbalah like a kid who’s found his dad’s gun. It’s fine to borrow religious concepts; Pi did a fine job of it; in only 84 minutes it was able to at least appear profound and mystique-y and dredge up questions. Revolver has no such success, because it doesn’t care if the audience is confused, and seems to relish their confusion Also, the film itself seems to be as confused as we are, so shows us Turkish going through a windshield backwards really slowly. I also don’t see why Guy Ritchie had to make a third film about professional criminals, especially one that was far worse than the other two.

And why did Jason Statham have to narrate this film as well? The whole time it sounded like Snatch with all the good bits removed and replaced with seemingly infinite number of scenes featuring Ray Liotta in various states of undress trying too hard to express his anger and frustration to his unflappable lieutenant, followed by a seemingly infinite number of scenes of Andre 3000 (dressed as…Andre 3000) apparently reading cue cards in monotone, punctuated by variations of “Shut the Fuck up” from Vincent Pastore. Again and again, Turkish tries to get an explanation out of these guys, and hits a wall. So do we. Interest is rapidly lost.

Yeah, there’s a white masculine pillar, feminine black pillar, and the Turkish green pillar in the middle, and chess has 32 pieces, ooooooooooo, so mystical. Too bad it all feels cheap and irrelevant and futile amongst all the horrible acting, longwinded musical interludes, and lack of direction. It feels, empty; hollow; a bunch of overly-styled nothing.

Maybe i just need to give it another watch, as is typical of Ritchie films, but to be frank, I and everyone watching wished we had stopped it a bit sooner, since there was still a half-hour of the stuff left to watch and we were already turned off of it. A rewatch sound like and even bigger waste of time.

I have no doubt Sherlock Holmes will be better (if for no other reason than Downey Jr.,) But after two very good and very watchable crime capers and one absolute stinker, my confidence in Guy Ritchie was definitely shaken. And he was with Madonna, who just looks wierd nowadays. Not so easy on the eyes anymore.

So yeah, I played Russian Roulette with “Revolver” and lost, badly. We had to watch “La Jetee” afterwards just to get the bad taste out of our mouths. Now that’s a movie…and only 28 minutes long.

  A little over a month ago the entertainment community collectively went “Huh?”  when it was announced that James Franco would be appearing a 2 month long story arc on of all things a Soap Opera.  “This must be a joke” and “It is for research” were thrown about fairly often as possible reasons why JF would have chosen to leave his ivory tower in Hollywood and walk amongst the commoners.  Because when you get right down to it that is how the industry chooses to view Daytime, as commoners.  Someone not worthy of their respect.  Someone to laugh at and mock.  Daytime is so low on the totem pole that some people are even quiet about the fact that they watch them at all because of the laughter that it might illict.  Granted not everybody has been negative in their response to the news, for the most part it has been a range from startling disbelief to a kind of way to go JF.  But still it got me to thinking why doesn’t Daytime earn more respect?

  Some say that soaps are just one long story that keeps replaying itself over and over again.  They say that each story line gets more outlandish than the one before.  Remember the Possesed by the Devil story on Days of Our Lives?  Or perhaps Dixie coming back from the dead for perhaps the millionth time on All My Children?  Plus we aren’t even going to get into the Who’s the daddy? story arcs or the myriad of romantic entaglements that are the crux of the daytime world.  So I guess I can see their point, to an extent.  Because honestly what makes Soaps any different from Primetime or even the very top of the Ivory Tower, Movies?  Can the naysayers honestly tell me that Primetime doesn’t have outlandish storylines?  Can they honestly say that shows like Grey’s Anatomy or Gossip Girl are more respectable for their romatic entanglements than say The Bold & The Beautiful?  Or shows like Fringe and The X-Files are more grounded in reality than say no longer on the air, Passions?  Or why The Sopranos deserves more respect than General Hospital?  The truth is they can’t say any of that because the only differences Primetime and Daytime have are the amount of money the networks are willing to spend on them and and one runs one night a week and gets up to a 3 month hiatus and the other is on 5 days a week and has no hiatus.  And no being blacked out for two weeks, holidays, and weekends do not count. 

   Or it could possibly be the fact that only second rate actors are on Daytime, while all the “real” actors are on Primtime?  Oh wait a minute that can’t be true because Daytime is proud to be one of the few venues that has churned out some of the best actors of the past couple of generations.  What other venue can honestly say that?   But despite that fact Daytime is still considered to be either the place where younger actors get their feet wet or older actors go when they have no other options.  Because as we all know Primetime has no bad actors.  Hey I know how about anyone who feels that Daytime is the blackhole for talent I dare you to go up to Betty White and tell her she doesn’t have any other options or tell Bradford Anderson that GH will be his last stop.  Oh wait a minute I have an even better dare for you.  I dare you to go up to Jennifer Aniston and tell her that the man who plays Victor Kiriakis on DOOL is a bad actor.  Go ahead we will wait because I am sure those of us who are fans of Daytime and those of us who work tirelessly to bring it to fruition could use a good laugh at your judgemental expense.

You know what nevermind Daytime doesn’t need your respect nor do we want it.

Filmed back in 2003 and has been sitting on the shelf ever since, “Slow Burn” is a sizzling crime drama that stars Ray Liotta as Ford Cole, an aspiring district attorney who has big political plans.

He wants more than anything to bring down the notorious gangster Danny Noonan and become mayor. His ideas grind to a screaming halt when one of his deputies, Nora Timmer (Jolene Blalock) confesses to killing a man (Mekhi Phifer) in what she claims was self defense. Funny, since the man’s body now lays in her bed.

Cole puts his faith in Timmer and begins to follow all leads. Just when Cole starts to understand everything, a stranger (LL Cool J) enters the precinct and starts to paint completely different picture of who Nora Timmer actually is.

The clock begins to tick and Cole has just hours to find out who Nora Timmer is, who is pulling the strings and how all this links back to the elusive Danny Noonan.

Writer-director Wayne Beach has constructed a rather interesting maze of mistaken identities, elusive strangers and blurring the racial barrier.

Probably Beach’s greatest claim to fame is that he wrote the Wesley Snipes pictures “Murder at 1600” and “The Art of War”. Both of those pictures showed signs of becoming something more than they were but it was probably the direction that really did them in.

In “Slow Burn”, Beach decided to make his directorial debut and try to overcome what has plagued him in the past. Sometimes you just have to do it yourself.

Beach succeeds to mixed results. His film feels like a much weaker version of “The Usual Suspects” as his elusive Danny Noonan becomes sort of a Keyser Soze kind of character.

Ray Liotta delivers a strong performance but haven’t we seen him play this role countless times. I really liked the performances of LL Cool J and Mekhi Phifer who seem to be the most genuine of the whole film. I even liked some of the smaller roles played by Taye Diggs and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Probably the weakest of the whole cast is Jolene Blalock, who just seems to tread water in a role that should be enigmatic, luscious and convincing. She is the centre-piece of this whole entire film and she is just plain dull.

They needed a stronger actress to play this woman who walks the fine line between black and white both in race and her allegiance. This film would have been utter magic if an Angelina Jolie or someone of her caliber played this role. With an amazing performance from the central woman you could have had a “Basic Instinct” meets “The Usual Suspects” sort of film.

As I watched this film I mainly saw what could have been not what was there. And now that I think about it that is exactly what I was doing with everyone of Beach’s other films. One day Beach is going to get it and it will be magnificent. Keep trying, buddy!

3.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

Note: Also see my review quote on the Slow Burn DVD, out now!

The worst part about Hollywood is when a movie assembles a great cast but manages to turn all that gold into a giant pile of poop. Even more confusing is when that movie clearly has a ridiculous premise to begin with, thus begging the question of how all those great cast members ended up signing on to a clearly absurd project?

Are there some magic string-pullers out there in California who are just so amazing at pitching ideas they convinced the cast of Mars Attacks that it would be a great movie? “It’s Tim Burton! Just say yes!”

I wonder these things mainly because I am an unabashed Steve Carell fan, adore Tina Fey, and think the concept of them being married is pretty much the most obvious, genius idea ever. I mean, come on! Steve Carell! Married to Tina Fey!

This is the basic premise to the upcoming film Date Night, which has just put out a trailer this week. From the looks of it, I fear the worst but hope for the best.

What’s so promising? Here’s the supporting cast: Mila Kunis, James Franco, Mark Whalberg, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, Ray Liotta, Olivia Munn, Common and Samantha Bee.

Less promising? The director is Shawn Levy, who gave the world Night at the Museum. If that wasn’t scary enough in terms of precedence for movies-with-good-casts-that-blew, the trailer for Date Night totally gives me some Spy Kids vibes. Maybe it’s just the typography, or cheesy espionage family humour. But it’s not really family humour. I don’t think.

I really hope this movie is not awful.

Trailer after the jump.

As far as I know, this film may never see the light of day in North America. That could be a blessing.

Guy Ritchie burst on the scene as the director of “Snatch” which was such a great little film that practically redefined the whole “Euro-gangster” film genre. Since then Ritchie married Madonna, wrote and directed his wife in the 2002 utter disaster “Swept Away”.

“Revolver” was supposed to be his return to greatness. It has a dynamic cast led by Jason Statham and Ray Liotta. So what happened?

The story opens as gambler Jake Green (Jason Statham) is released from prison. Green has a troubled past that is linked to a dark underworld headed by casino mogul Dorothy Macha (Ray Liotta). Green’s claim to fame is that he is very lucky that is until he is diagnosed with only 3 days to live.

As a sort of redemption for his troubled life, Green teams up with some two lone sharks to start giving away the fortune he has accumulated during his career. Green doesn’t exactly understand how that will help him but his luck seems to point him that way.

The film gets more convoluted and complicated from there as Macha and Green continue to butt heads. The film seems to explore redemption, darkness in our spirit, mortality and luck. What it doesn’t do is hold our interest.

The film is so confusing and dialogue heavy that I had a hard time deciphering the significance of each character and the message the film was trying to convey.

There were some scenes and isolated characters that I liked but for the most part I wanted to cry in my hands. Ritchie has always been good at developing smaller characters with extremely interesting names. In every one of his films there were always smaller supporting characters I adored even if the film wasn’t that great. “Revolver” definitely follows in that tradition.

“Revolver” never had a chance to be grand or great because it lacked a distinct vision. There are so many elements of millions of ideas but no direct way to convey the any of the ideas even if they were brilliant or ill-conceived. In other words, it’s an utter mess.

1.5 out of 5

So Says the Soothsayer.

As I Was Going Up The Stair, I Met A Man Who Wasn't There...

now its movie time again, mengapa saya mengambil film identity sebagai example dari sebuah film yang berplot Twist, mungkin menurut anda banyak sekali film yang berplot twist lebih spektakuler, dimana ada SAW series, masih ada karya karya M.Night Shyamalan seperti THE SIXTH SENSE, dan mungkin ada karya Christopher Nolan yaitu THE PRESTIGE, mungkin itu tadi adalah beberapa film yang mempunyai plot twist gila di endingnya.

tapi disini saya hanya akan memaparkan secara sederhana apakah itu “twist ending”??? mungkin penjelasan dari mbah wikipedia bisa membantu : “A twist ending or surprise ending is an unexpected conclusion or climax to a work of fiction, and which often contains irony or causes the audience to reevaluate the narrative or characters. A twist ending is the conclusive form of plot twists.” mungkin dalam bahasa indonesianya adalah seperti ini : sebuah twist ending atau ending yang mempunyai kejutan adalah sebuah kesimpulan yang tak terduga atau sebuah klimaks untuk sebuah karya fiksi yang sering mengandung ironi atau menyebabkan penonton untuk mengevaluasi kembali cerita atau karakter. Sebuah twist ending adalah bentuk konklusif plot twists.

identity adalah sebuah cerita sederhana dimana dalam film itu dijelaskan bahwa gara gara suatu kecelakaan ada beberapa orang yang harus menunggu di motel daerah terpencil dikarenakan jalan menuju kota banyak terhalang dikarenakan suatu badai, tidak lama kemudian semua penghuni motel tersebut mati satu persatu oleh seseorang yang identitasnya tidak diketahui sama sekali, hingga pada akhirnya menuju suatu kesimpulan gila di ending film bahwa karakter karakter dalam insiden motel tersebut adalah suatu karakter rekaan seorang pembunuh yang mempunyai penyakit yang dinamakan multiple personality disorder, dan tujuan akhir film adalah mencari dimanakah karakter jahat yang si pembunuh ciptakan???

film yang dibintangi john cusack, ray liotta, alfred molina ini adalah suatu film yang mempunyai plot twist sederhana, haha, mengapa tidak mungkin anda sepanjang film akan bertanya tanya siapa pelaku dari pembunuhan gila yang terjadi di motel ini, tapi nampaknya tebakan anda akan salah, karena saya pun tidak menduganya di bagian akhir film ini, hahaha… itulah twist ending, sebuah plot yang mengajak kita untuk mengevaluasi lagi cerita dari awal, siapakah yang membunuh siapa yang terbunuh, siapa pelakunya, berdasarkan clue clue yang kita lihat, tapi in the end, si director membalikan semuanya hingga kita sangat tidak menduganya! briliant, dan mungkin jika anda belum menonton identity anda harus menontonnya walaupun tergolong sebuah film lama.

mungkin untuk sebuah referensi twist plot apalagi yang banyak kita temui di film film dan apakah jenisnya, mungkin anda bisa langsung menuju TKPnya disini, enjoy, thanks for reading.

Observe and Report (2009)
1.5/5

There is a scene in this movie where a police officer hides in a closet while Detective Harrison (played by Ray Liotta) breaks the news to Ronnie Barnhardt (played by Seth Rogen) that he cannot be a police officer because he failed his psych exam.  Detective Harrison hates Ronnie Barnhardt and wants the opportunity to share this information so he can enjoy his suffering.  Half-way through breaking the news the police officer hiding in the closet walks out and says “I thought this was going to be funny, but it’s actually kind of sad.”

This scene matched my feeling for the movie.  There were a few parts I found funny but overall the movie was just kind of sad.  It felt mean-spirited and condescending.  The movie felt like a bully.  Instead of presenting humorous quirks about characters, characters were presented as inferior.  Maybe I wasn’t really in the mood for a comedy.  I found myself feeling bad for the butt of the jokes instead of laughing along.  If your a Seth Rogen fan, rent one of his other movies (they are better.)  Not a fan?  This movie won’t help.

Much of LA becomes consumed with the buying and selling of features this week as 8000 gather at the American Film Market which kicks off W 11/4 and runs through W 11/11 concurrently with AFI Fest. Ground zero is the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel where 400 distributors are getting ready to rumble.  As the distributors are there to sell, the first half of AFM belongs mostly to the buyers.  You need a full market badge ($895) for access to the upper floors during this time, but its free to linger to the lobby and lounge by the pool putting together target lists which many do in prep for half badge face time ($345) starting Su 11/8.  Day badges $275.  To see the market in action check out these videos from Film Specific’s Stacey Parks, UpsideDownTV’s Johnny Neurotic and Variety’s Michael Jones.

Here is the list of IFTA members where you can dig deep for contact information, slate and budgets. You can also pick up free in the Loews lobby the AFM directory in the bumper copies of Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen International and The Business of Film.

On the Variety & THR list of AFM targets are Akin Gump ($600mm for 60 films), Endgame (3-5@$10-40mm), Exclusive Media ($100mm for 2-3 films), Incentive Filmed Entertainment ($100mm for 10@$15mm each), Liddell (3-4 films@$5-20mm each), Magnet Media (Jeanette Buerling & Magie Monteith), Natural Selection ($100mm for 20 films@ $5mm+ each), Overnight Prods (3@$10-40mm), Sheppard Mullin ($65mm), Social Capital (2-3@$2-20mm each), Stroock Stroock ($5-100mm), Tic Tock (2-3 films@$10mm each), WestEnd Films (Maya Amsellem & Eve Schoukroun), Winchester Capital (3-4 films@$10-40mm each), plus those in bold above.

Some are speaking at the AFM seminars:

F 11/6 9-12:30
AFM Finance Conference
with Media Rights Capital, Hyde Park Entertainment, NatGeo..
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire
2008 Videos

F 11/6 4-5:30
FILMART/HK Co-Production Partners
with Screen International, Distribution Workshop, Imagi Studios
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean
2008 Videos

Sa 11/7 9-12:30
Pitch Me!
Producers for Bee Season, Capote, Nurse Betty
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire

Sa 11/7 9:15-5:30
Distribution U
9:15 Breakfast/Introductions
10:15 Fans, Friends, Followers – Scott Kirsner
11:15, Break
11:30, New World of Distribution I – Peter Broderick
12:30, Lunch with Adam Chapnick, Distribber.com, Thomas Mai, Festival Darlings, Jon Reiss, Thinking Outside of the Box (Office), Adrian Belic, Beyond the Call, Genghis Blues, Justine Jacob, Ready Set Bag
2, New World of Distribution II – Peter Broderick
3, Case Studies/Anvil!, Good Dick
4, Booksigning/Thinking Outside the Box (Office)
4:15-5:30, Pitch Workshop
USC, Davidson Conference Center, 3415 South Figueroa

Sa 11/7 2-5:30
Produce and Sell Your Film with Dov S-S Simens
Topics include: Theatrical Deal Memo Points, 7 Major Revenue Sources, Profit Participation Scenarios, Cable/TV/DVD Licenses, Publicity & Festivals, On-Demand vs PPV, Global Revenues, Foreign Sales, Private Placements, Investor Offerings, Gross vs Net, Split Rights & 50-50 Deals, Production-Distribution Agreements, plus Producer’s Workbook/Directory
Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire

Su 11/8 11-12:30
Changing Indie Distribution Strategies
Ted Mundorff, Landmark Theatres, Jon Reiss, Think Outside the Box (Office)…
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Su 11/8 2-3:30
DIY Distribution Playbook
with Adam Chapnick, Distribber.com, Matt Tyrnauer, Valentino, Sacha Gervasi, Anvil!, Scott Hamilton Kennedy, The Garden, Lisa Smithline, Trouble The Waters
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean
2008 Videos

Su 11/8 4-5:30
SAG/A Filmmaker’s Resource
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 11-12:30pm
WGA/Writing for the Genre World
Mick Garris, Larry Cohen, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White, Stephen Susco
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 2-3:30
DGA/Online Piracy
Brad Beutlich, DtecNet, Darcy Antonellis, Warner, Jonathan Dayton, Little Miss Sunshine, Andrew Horton, Mark Monitor, Alann McNeil, Deluxe’s Web Watch
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

M 11/9 4-5:30
PGA/Package and Finance Indies Oversees
Aurora Productions, Akin Gump, Endgame Entertainment, The Film Department, Paradigm
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 11-12:30
Indie Marketing with Ondi Timoner, We Live In Public…
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 2-3:30
WIF/New Hollywood Movie Studio & Social Networking
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Tu 11/10 4-5:30
ASC/Film or Digital
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

Sa 11/7 – Tu 11/10 9:30-5
Favorite Film Pitch
Le Merigot, 1740 Ocean

For newbies, there are AFM first-timers guides on working the market at:
IFTA , FilmSpecific, and IndieGoGo.

As for AFM Hotels, many were booked by 10/2 but feel free to try:
- Georgian, 1415 Ocean 90401 ($242-384) 310-395-9945
- Ocean View Hotel, 1447 Ocean 90401 ($224-272) 310-458-4888
- Hotel California, 1670 Ocean 90401 ($260,299+) 310-393-2363
- Hotel Shangrila, 1301 Ocean 90401 ($319-489) 310-394-2791
- Le Merigot Marriott, 1740 Ocean 90401 ($365+) 310-395-9700
- Viceroy, 1819 Ocean 90401 ($348+) 310-260-7500
- Fairmont Miramar, 101 Wilshire 90401 ($324+) 310-576-7777
- Hotel Casa del Mar, 1910 Ocean 90405 ($459+) 310-581-5533
- Sheraton Delfina, 530 Pico 90405 ($267-320) 310-399-9344
- Doubletree, 1707 4th 90401 ($270-$282) 310-395-3332
- Holiday Inn, 120 Colorado 90401 ($248-258) 310-451-0676
- Hotel Carmel, 201 Broadway 90401 ($175-232) 310-451-2469
- Ambrose, 1255 20th Street 90404 ($192-227) 310-315-1555
- Best Western, 1920 Santa Monica Blvd 90404 ($170) 310-829-9100
- Shutters, One Pico 90405 ($575+) 310-458-0030
- Huntley, 1111 Second, 90403 ($350) 310-394-5454
*There is a shuttle for the AFM hotels, parking lots and screenings.

Film Catalogue/445 screenings, 73 premieres including:
- American Sunset (Global Universal) – Corey Haim, Frank Molina
- Blue Seduction (Global Universal Pictures) – Estella Warren*
- Bobby Fischer Live (Amadeus)
- Chloe (StudioCanal, budget $10-25mm) – Julianne Moore
- Dorian Gray (Ealing Studios, budget $10-25mm) – Colin Firth
- From Time to Time (Ealing Studios, budget $5-10m) – Maggie Smith
- Get Low (K5) – Bill Murray
- Glorious 39 (The Works International) – Julie Christie
- Harry Brown (HanWay) – Michael Caine
- Hawaii A Voice For Sovereignty (ITN)
- Junkyard Dog (Epic) – Vivica Fox**
- Kill Speed (Epic) – Nick Carter, Tom Arnold**
- Life During Wartime (Fortissimo) – Ally Sheedy & Paul Reubens
- Love & Other Impossible Pursuits (Essential Ent) – Natalie Portman
- Mama I Want to Sing! (Vision Films) – Ciara & Billy Zane
- Mao’s Last Dancer (Celluloid Dreams) – Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Cheng
- Rounds (Global Universal) – Billy Drago, Mark Attenza
- Saint John of Las Vegas (E1) – Sarah Silverman & Steve Buscemi
- Snowmen (MPower) – Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd
- Stay Cool (American Cinema) – Wynona Ryder, Hilary Duff
- The Making of Plus One (New Films) film market wheeling and dealing
- The Meaning of the 21st Century (WWFilmEnt, bud $3-5m) – Michael Douglas
- The Next Three Days (Mandate Intl) – Russell Crowe
*no screening, ** got picked up by Independent Feature Films

And more:
- AFI Fest - free tx to screenings, red carpet events, details here
- IBM/USC Imagine The World in 2050 invite-only event
- TromaDance Film Festival press conference
- 8th Samurai screening at the Consul General of Japan

Events that recap AFM:
- 12/1 Distribution U, San Francisco
- 12/8 DMW/Variety’s Future of Film, Sheraton Delfina

Crossing Over is a powerful story. A bit convoluted at times, but there is plenty here to appreciate.

My rating

Am I an American or am I a human being? What is more important, my nationality or my species? It seems to me that I can change my nationality at any time, but I will always be human no matter what I do. This is a real sensitive subject and I am sympathetic to both sides. On the one hand you have people who want to come to this country to better themselves or to provide opportunities for their families or to get away from the oppression of their government. The Declaration of Independence states, “…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” I’d like to point out that this document mentions “all men” meaning everyone. It does not say just Americans.

How quickly we forget that this country was built by immigrants. Our rail road systems were built by the Chinese. Our biggest bank was started by an Italian. In fact there is not one person in this country that does not come from somewhere else. Of course, I understand the need for immigration laws. There must be laws or there will be chaos. I don’t think that anyone disagrees with that. I think the real problem is how we deal with these laws, how we apply them. They don’t seem to be fair and I don’t believe that they are very humane either.

Crossing Over is about the current laws we have in this country when dealing with illegal immigrants. This is a powerful film that tries to show the inhumane side of these laws, the loop holes, the corruption and the complete disregard of humanity. The film is not a fun movie to watch, but it is an important one. I think that everyone should be aware of what is happening, especially when it comes to how we treat aliens whether they are legal or not.

Crossing Over can be compared to Crash where there are a hundred different characters all with their individual stories and eventually it all ties in the end. Crossing Over tries to do that, though not as successfully. While the message in this film was very sound and very important, the film aspect is a little weak. We get to see some strong performances, but there is too much going on and sometimes the film loses the audience. There were so many stories being told, I only followed one or two and I dismissed the others. Perhaps that was the whole brilliance of this movie now that I think about it.

The movie starts out with a factory raid where Harrison Ford’s character has a young Mexican girl deported. There is the story of an Australian actress who is trying to get naturalized but after all her legal efforts she is forced to take other avenues that eventually get her into deep trouble. There is the Jew from the UK with a similar story. There is the Korean and Iranian family who are all just about to get naturalized but life happens and interrupts the process. Then finally the most heart breaking story of them all, a young Middle Eastern girl who attracts the attention of the FBI because of a high school paper she wrote about the 9/11 attacks. Because of this she is targeted as a terrorist and her family is torn apart.

This was so terrible to watch, because I know things like this happen all the time in this country. They happened after Pearl Harbor and we learned nothing from it. This is America, Land of the Free, where we are free to express our feelings and emotions without fear of retaliation from our government. Bullshit! It makes me so angry that instead of binding together as a nation, instead we become so paranoid and so mistrustful of others that we make laws that limit our own freedom and for what?

In this story this young girl spoke freely about her feelings on the subject of 9/11. They were strong feelings, but she should have the right to express herself. She wasn’t a terrorist and neither was her family. However, they were treated as such and the outcome fell short of being humane. If she wasn’t a terrorist then, I wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes one after. Sometimes I am really disappointed in our country.

The movie isn’t as preachy as my review. It is just showing you the misery that we are causing to these people, legal or not. Is it just, is it fair, and is it right? This movie shows you what’s going on, it leaves it up to you to decide if it is. I agree that we should do something, but maybe we’re just not approaching this from the right angle. I don’t care if it’s for the betterment of the country or not, but it is never right to break a loving family apart.

Revolver

Ray Liotta runs around in his pants and it makes about as much sense as pissing on an angry Dog.

Do not watch this movie on an empty stomach. I assure you, you will be very hungry.

Drama of a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn boy initiated into a neighborhood mob in his youth, and the struggles he encounters with the gang through the next 25 years.

I first saw this movie about 2 years ago and didn’t think much about it, until now I have just been amazed by this film.

This is surely one of the great films from the gangster film genre. Director Matin Scorsese fully shows this unromantic view on the gangsters lifestyle. He shows what the gangsters do is steal, kill, and don’t associate with many others outside of the circle, which in all shows how these character interact with one-another. The best thing about Scorsese is that he takes these theatrics looks and make moral stands. What Scorsese is mostly showing and telling that these people are scum, and this is so crushing in a beautiful and artful way.

The little things in this film are great as well. Such as the ending parts where Liotta’s character soon becomes high on drugs and its filmed in a completely different way and style than earlier before. More great things about this film is also the scenes where its just that single camera shot and you follow all around a party that these mob characters have and you meet all the people and you look at all the colorful personality’s but you soon realize their all the same. The narration from Liotta is great and I like how it shows how he is sort of an outsider and it shows his insight on the world that he lives in with these gangsters. Another cool feature is how through this film we see how they evolve over the years and how different they look.

The best part of this film are the performances by all. To be truly honest there isn’t one single bad performance in this film. Joe Pesci totally steals the show with his energetic and lovable personality, but shows that the easiest things can tick him off. The most under looked performance is from Lorraine Braco who plays the wife of Liotta who is very important and shows how even wives who stay at home and spend the money from the husbands are still effected of the mob life as well. Probably one of the first mob movies with a female being a part of the mafia and is not just a supporting act.

This movie did cause a couple of problems for me. I wish there was more of De Niro’s character cause he proved he can act but he wasn’t such a big name character in this movie and I would’ve liked to see more of him. Also, Paul Sorvino’s character should’ve been shown more and shown in a way that would’ve been more effective way and show his relationship with Liotta and the rest but we only get little snippets of him and it would been more effective to show him. Also though this movie through and through is great it still does not have a very effective ending at all. I think in a film like this with so many twist and turns that a better ending would’ve showed up in this movie but it didn’t.

Everything about this movie is just fantastic:acting, music, dialouge, camera work, and especially the directing. Though with a little bit of character involvement errors and a not so fantastic ending, I still believe this movie is a great American classic for all to see.

9.5/10=Full Price!!!

Michael Cera est bon, très bon même. Et Youth In Revolt vaut le détour surtout pour la performance schizophrène de l’acteur. Le film de Miguel Arteta, qui commence comme un teen movie de facture classique, se transforme petit à petit en une comédie francophile totalement décalée. Le concept : pour séduire la jolie Sheeni, le maladroit Nick (rôle récurrent pour Cera) s’imagine un double rebelle dénommé François Dillinger.

Entre la poésie nihiliste du petit-ami de Sheeni (“Die. Die. Die.”), les répliques qui font mouche (“J’aimerais te chatouiller le nombril… de l’intérieur.”) et une scène d’hallu hilarante, le film séduit par son originalité et se laisse suivre avec grand plaisir. Le langage soutenu utilisé par ces simples ados et ces attitudes d’un autre âge contribue également à installer cette ambiance particulière.

Les séquences animées du film sont aussi bien vues et dépaysantes. Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi et Zach Galifianakis, en revanche, ne sont pas vraiment mis en valeur, tant Cera occupe l’espace. Et pour une fois, on entrevoit tout le potentiel du garçon qui serait aussi à l’aise dans d’autres registres au vu du regard fêlé qu’il adopte durant une bonne partie du film.

Allez, on se repasse la bande-annonce en attendant une date de sortie française et on se matte une nouvelle fois la meilleure scène de Michael Cera tous films confondus, extraite de Supergrave.

Michael Cera donne de la voix dans Supergrave

If the whole job thing doesn’t work out, as well as my Bonnie & Clyde-esque capers, my next career path will probably be to join the mob.  And I’ll tell you why.

Two reasons: Italian food and booze.  As evident in Goodfellas (#94), the two commodities are never scarce when you’re a gangster.  Everyone is well fed and much imbibed with drink.  So what’s not to love?

Well actually… a lot, and Ray Liotta’s character Henry Hill finds out the hard way.  As a child, Henry dreams of becoming a gangster.  So he does what ANY kid from Brooklyn does if he wants to hit the mob fast track: join the corrupt Italian front company across the street.  They’re everywhere, right?

Working for mob boss Paul Cicero, Henry meets all the top Brooklyn gangsters, baddest among those are Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci).  Jimmy is a smooth talking big spender, but plays his cards close to his chest.  Tommy on the other hand has a bit of an anger problem.  If you talk smack on the guy, chances are he’ll kill you.  Or at least stomp on you a few times and stuff you in his trunk.

Life is good for Henry.  He’s settled down with a nice girl, had a few kids, and receives a constant stream of income from his airport heist business.  But that starts to change when Jimmy shoots one too many friends of “the family.”  Oh, and Henry takes on multiple mistresses, which doesn’t make his wife very happy and she threatens to shoot him.  Then there’s the fact that he’s started dealing/taking dope and his friends are getting “whacked” left and right, which leaves Henry always watching his back because he’s a paranoid mess.

Whew.  He might get his meals and drinks for free, but at what a cost.

I’ve wanted to see this movie for a long time.  Martin Scorsese ranks up there as one of my favorite directors.  The fact I hadn’t seen this film until now should really be a crime.  Scorsese paces the narrative so that you can’t seem to pull yourself away.  Match that with visuals that shift with the story and you’ve got yourself a film worthy of a place in the top 100.

The ending of this film was ruined for me.  Not because I have some malicious friend who likes to spoil movies for me.  All thanks to Netflix, the ending was apparent before I even put the disc in the player.  It’s not like the film has a M. Night Shyamalan-esque twist or anything, but you’d like to at least be surprised when you reach the credits.  Netflix on the other hand likes to pass off in its summaries crucial pieces of the resolution as minor plot points.  Here’s the Netflix synopsis of Goodfellas:

Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro chew plenty of scenery, but the focus of this gripping Martin Scorsese opus is real-world mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), a gangster who dreamed of making it big but landed in the Witness Protection Program.

This whole Witness Protection Program thing is only introduced in the last five minutes of the film.  Last five minutes.  If you were a writer of descriptions at Netflix, don’t you think it would be a good idea to not give away any information that occurs in these final frames?  Having this information made me ponder all kinds of things as I was watching.  ”When is he going to enter the Witness Protection Program?”  ”I wonder what happens that lands him in the Witness Protection Program.”  ”Two hours have passed.  Why isn’t he in the Witness Protection Program yet?”

So maybe the mob isn’t a very good choice of employment.  But I potentially see a future in writing Netflix summaries.  At least I’d do better than the broad writing them now.

5 out of 5 Brett Heads

I seriously had way too many ideas for the title of this post, that I had to just go with the titles of the movies. So, yeah; OBSERVE AND REPORT and ADVENTURELAND. Both movies are comedies that really go down different roads to that almost take them out of that one genre of movie. OBSERVE AND REPORT, gets so dark and brutal that I almost feel like it goes into horror; and ADVENTURELAND ventures into pretty heavy dramatic territory with it’s themes and character relationships. But, I spent a great deal of time laughing at both, and feel they’re fully worth seeing, so that leads us to me writing about them (and not very well, I see). The kind of funny connection between these two movies, is 2007’s SUPERBAD – which is also a great comedy – written and directed by Greg Mottola, and featured Seth Rogen in a police uniform. Don’t worry, you’ll get the connection in a few minutes.

So, OBSERVE AND REPORT is the story of Ronnie Barnhardt, the head of security in the mall that the majority of the movie takes place. He’s a disturbed man, like “taking medication” disturbed (not that there’s anything wrong with that) who takes his position a little too seriously (not that unusual) and is just a little too obsessive about things he comes into contact with; namely Brandi, the make-up counter girl (played by Anna Faris), or becoming a police officer like his nemesis in the movie, Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta). For the first part, Ronnie gets his in with Brandi after she’s been flashed by a guy who has been running around the mall’s parking lot flashing people. This seems like it’s going to be the crux of the movie, this is also when we’re introduced to Detective Harrison, who Ronnie sees as invading his turf and just not knowing how to do his job.

After another plot thread develops where someone is breaking into stores and robbing them, after hours in the mall, Ronnie decides he wants to try and become a police officer. He goes into an office, gets the applications, gives a couple runs through an obstacle course (amazingly, tearing people to the side and running the course pretty well – considering we’re talking about pre-slimmed down Seth Rogen here), and going on a ‘Ride-along’ with Detective Harrison. Harrison takes Ronnie to the worst part of town – a street corner called the crossroads, and tells Ronnie to take a walk around. When he gets out of the car, Harrison takes off; only to then have Ronnie be approached by some kids offering him crack and the kid’s father (played in a cameo role by Danny McBride) come up and threaten Ronnie. Ronnie incapacitates – and from a line of dialogue, kills – McBride’s character and about five other guys.

During this time Ronnie’s feeling pretty good about himself. So, he manages to finagle a date with Brandi – who seemingly forgets and shows up in a car full of guys dropping her off at her place – and they go out, get lots of drinks, share Ronnie’s medication, and wind up in an awkward and much-discussed situation. Needless to say this is as far as their relationship ever gets.

Ronnie has some subordinates in his security guard detail. A pair of Asian twins played by John and Matt Yuan, jerry-curled, Latino Dennis (an unrecognizable Michael Pena), and new recruit Charles played by Jesse Plemons. For the role of Ronnie, Seth Rogen seemed to have actually put on a few pounds, shaved his trademark messy “jew-fro” and turned down the cute and cuddly for the more threatening and psychotic. There was a joke his character made in THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN about Steve Carell’s character being a serial killer. Well, Ronnie fits that mold to a “T”, in this movie. his mother (Celia Weston) is always drunk, encourages Ronnie before his date with the story of her and Ronnie’s father’s first date (she says something like, “I knew he was special and that I was going to fuck him.” To which Ronnie says he hopes that’ll happen for him. (Whether he means the someone special thing, or just having sex, who knows; and I would doubt that he’d be as thoughtful to consider the former.)

The movie takes some very dark turns, which is kind of the stock in trade that writer/director Jody Hill, seems to enjoy. There’s a moment that seems to be a nod to the South Korean movie OLDBOY, the fight I already mentioned with the drug dealers, but there’s another one with a pack of skateboarding kids that just gets brutal, and then there’s the more explicit moments. Whether it’s the questionable date rape scene (is it, isn’t it? I’m not arguing either way.), and the streaker, who in the climax to the movie we get to see running through the halls of the mall, in full glory, and then the way that chase ends really kind of sucks all the air out of the theater (although, you’re going to now be watching this at home, I’d think). But, as dark as it gets, there’s a lot of humor too. Aziz Ansari has a couple of scenes, as a kiosk employee selling those skin creams that come from like the Dead Sea or something. (He gets probably one of my favorite lines in the movie, and it refers to Chik-Fil-A.) There’s also a whole other sub-plot with a cinnamon-shop with a girl that’s got a cast on her leg, Nell (played by Collette Wolfe) and is constantly hounded by her manager, played by Patton Oswalt.

Overall, it’s a great, and funny movie. Just expect there to be some moments that might cause you to pause and reconsider what you’re seeing. But, I have to imagine that it’s a more fulfilling experience than the previous mall cop movie, about that guy Paul Blart. (No I haven’t seen it, yes I’m blindly casting aspersions at it. Don’t make me go all Ronnie Barnhardt on you!)

ADVENTURELAND, the not quite latest movie starring Jesse Eisenberg (see ZOMBIELAND – not a sequel, but both take place in a themepark, only one has zombies – for that honor), Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Reynolds. Much like OBSERVE AND REPORT, this is a movie that was marketed on the back of it’s sister movies SUPERBAD, and other Judd Apatow-related movies, but in reality it ventures off that side-splittingly funny track and heads down some pretty serious subject matter – along with also having some really funny stuff in it.

Jesse Eisenberg plays James Brennan, a kid who just graduated from high school and is supposed to be heading off to Europe for the summer before heading to Columbia in the fall. When his parents, tell him that James’ father is being transferred to Pittsburgh (my home town, woot!), and basaically down-sized in his company; he has to give up his hopes for Europe and find a job to pay his own way into college. James has no skills to speak of and isn’t “even qualified for manual labor” as he says in one scene. So, he goes with a job offered via a friend, named Frigo, at Adventureland – the local theme park. It’s here he meets the people in charge, married couple Bobby (Bill Hader, rocking a monster mustache) and Paulette (Kristen Wiig, being hilarious by not really doing much at all). They assign James to work Games, where he meets and befriends Joel (played by Martin Starr, who is probably more famous as the bearded friend of Seth Rogen’s in KNOCKED UP), and is also introduced to Em, who is played by Kristen Stewart – in a role quite the opposite of her now more notorious character Bella in the TWILIGHT series. Opposite, in that Em is far more developed, mature and an actual woman who makes mistakes and is fallible without being a caricature.

The movie follows these people through their summer of 1987, working at the theme park, their nights afterward partying and drinking and having (or trying to have) sex. As with any movie set during the summer when kids are away from their parents, Adventureland has it’s own idyllic idols that each sex admires, envies or just lusts after. For the girls it’s the park’s maintenance man Connell (Ryan Reynolds), who is married but is known to have wandering eyes, and an available room in his mom’s basement. For the guys it’s Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), a young girl who seemingly likes to act like she’s mature and sexually open, but really just likes to taunt the boys with her looks and Madonna-lite dance moves. Needless to say, James winds up falling for Em, and we get some hijinks related to his awkwardness in trying to woo her. (Like the swimming scene that leads to him being pointed out for having an erection – this also..ahem..comes up again later.) Then there’s the added complication of both of our young lovers being chosen by the “desirable ones”, for their own little escapades.

The major reason why this movie works is Jesse Eisenberg. He’s believable as the bumbling geek, who tries to be cool, but also doesn’t mind being different. He looks authentic in his nervousness and bumbling way of delivering lines, and doesn’t seem as goofy as certain other actors that get compared to Eisenberg a lot. But, the supporting cast also helps. Stewart, in this movie shows us again why she’s one of the best young actors right now, with the role of Em, and all the reasons that I’ve stated on why this character is appealing, engaging and in the end sympathetic. But, it’s mostly in the rest of the cast that the humor really comes from. Starr is brilliant as the iconoclastic, intellectual – who in one scene is told by a girl she can’t see him because he’s jewish, to which he responds, “but I’m an atheist, maybe more of a pragmatic nihilist I guess or an existential pagan if you will…” So, that’s the kind of high-level humor to expect from Martin Starr – and it works. Hader and Wiig, co-stars on the current run of SNL, work fantastic together. There’s a scene from the trailer – that I’m sure will be in the one posted below – where Hader is announcing the horse race game, and we see Paulette mouthing the same words that Bobby is yelling out. Then she says, “this is how we met”.

Overall, though it’s a strong contender for picking up where the recently departed John Hughes left off. It’s full of real people, with problems, wants and needs, and the characters learning their way in the world instead of it just seeming scripted and telling us the same story we’ve seen a million times. So, do yourself a favor and go see it. It’s one of those movies – like 500 DAYS OF SUMMER and THE BROTHERS BLOOM – that makes 2009 a great year for small, romantic movies that tread on a slightly different path.

And I feel like I’d be remiss in not mentioning that this movie was shot in Pittsburgh – as I did mention, actually – but that the theme park that stands in for Adventureland, is Pittsburgh’s own local theme park called Kennywood. And this movie really makes me want to go. And you should all come here and enjoy that too.