At The Movies Or At Home, Raisinets.
Because no one demanded it, here's some thoughts on some recent movies I've seen:
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL: Okay, I expected this to be really terrible (based on some things I'd heard), but I thought it was just sorta disappointing instead. If anyone but the writing/directing team behind GHOST WORLD had made it, I think it might have fared better--it does have some funny insights into the art-school types, and a few funny characters--but everything falls apart in the lame third act. This happens partly because of the unnecessary serial killer subplot, but also because the protagonist goes out of his way to do some incredibly stupid stuff near the end, with predictable results. Strangely enough, the four-page strip by Dan Clowes (who adapted it into the film's screenplay solo) is waaaay funnier and more insightful...and almost none of that material is used in the movie, for some reason.
THE DESCENT: I'm pretty jaded when it comes to horror films nowadays--I love 'em, but I never seem to see any that are any damn good anymore (I'm about the only person I know who didn't care for this year's remake of THE HILLS HAVE EYES, but I was drunk at the time I saw it so I think it warrants another look on DVD). My favourite genre has let me down so much that I think I honestly thought I was never going to see another decent horror flick made in my lifetime. Thankfully, the 2005 British release THE DESCENT has changed all that. In it, a group of female spelunkers get lost in an uncharted system of caves, and are attacked by a race of crazy subterranean batmen. This is the scariest, most claustrophobic, generally terrifying movie since...I don't know, ALIEN? John Carpenter's THE THING? Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but this one is the real deal nonetheless. Let's have a big round of applause for no CGI, huh? Also for a smart, suspenseful script that's already white-knuckle scary before the monsters even show up. I only saw this 'cause Scott ordered the Region 2 DVD from across the pond, but it's getting an August theatrical release from Lion's Gate (with a slightly different ending...boo!). Do NOT miss this one if you're a fan of the genre. Also, do NOT get this movie confused with THE CAVE, a similarly-themed U.S. movie that came out this year and is, by all accounts, rubbish.
X3: THE LAST STAND: Permit me to make a few insanely geeky comparisons here: this isn't RETURN OF THE JEDI or GODFATHER III disappointing, and it's not RETURN OF THE KING or NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 good either. If the second X-MEN film is the series' WRATH OF KHAN (and, believe me, it really is--right down to the narration that bookends the movie), then this one is THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. That is, it finishes off some plot points from the previous movie in adequate fashion, and is generally a fun watch, but I more or less forgot it as soon as it was over. It's super-short at 97 minutes or so, and it really races through a lot of stuff; as a result, one major character dies offscreen, and another one loses their powers permanently almost as an afterthought. Still, there are some fun fight scenes and nerdy easter eggs for the comic fans, and the climactic duke-em-out between the good and bad mutants is really cool for a while (although it did start to wear me out after a bit).
AWESOME: I FUCKIN' SHOT THAT: This is a concert film of a 2004 Beastie Boys show at Madison Square Gardens, where the Boys handed out fifty camcorders to random audience members. Afterwards, director Nathaniel Hornblower (the alter ego of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch) edited the footage together, and the results are...mostly, really cool. I mean, we really don't need to follow some guy while he takes a whiz, or another dude while he buys a beer, although if you hand out fifty cameras to strangers you really have to expect some stuff like that. For the first five minutes, I thought my brain would collapse from a combination of motion sickness and a sudden onset of ADD, but eventually things settled down. The footage is cut differently for each track, with some neat results (like the picture itself thrumming with the booming bass of "Paul Revere", and some crazy colour treatment and weird photographic effects on several other numbers). Overall, it captured the feeling of a live show astonishingly well--I felt like a tool 'cause I got caught up in the mood and nearly applauded at the end of two or three songs. Thankfully, my roommate Kari said she almost did too, although she may have just felt sorry for me after I admitted my foolishness. Anyway, good year for concert films, with this and DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY (I missed the Neil Young film, but I hear it was great).
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL: Okay, I expected this to be really terrible (based on some things I'd heard), but I thought it was just sorta disappointing instead. If anyone but the writing/directing team behind GHOST WORLD had made it, I think it might have fared better--it does have some funny insights into the art-school types, and a few funny characters--but everything falls apart in the lame third act. This happens partly because of the unnecessary serial killer subplot, but also because the protagonist goes out of his way to do some incredibly stupid stuff near the end, with predictable results. Strangely enough, the four-page strip by Dan Clowes (who adapted it into the film's screenplay solo) is waaaay funnier and more insightful...and almost none of that material is used in the movie, for some reason.
THE DESCENT: I'm pretty jaded when it comes to horror films nowadays--I love 'em, but I never seem to see any that are any damn good anymore (I'm about the only person I know who didn't care for this year's remake of THE HILLS HAVE EYES, but I was drunk at the time I saw it so I think it warrants another look on DVD). My favourite genre has let me down so much that I think I honestly thought I was never going to see another decent horror flick made in my lifetime. Thankfully, the 2005 British release THE DESCENT has changed all that. In it, a group of female spelunkers get lost in an uncharted system of caves, and are attacked by a race of crazy subterranean batmen. This is the scariest, most claustrophobic, generally terrifying movie since...I don't know, ALIEN? John Carpenter's THE THING? Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but this one is the real deal nonetheless. Let's have a big round of applause for no CGI, huh? Also for a smart, suspenseful script that's already white-knuckle scary before the monsters even show up. I only saw this 'cause Scott ordered the Region 2 DVD from across the pond, but it's getting an August theatrical release from Lion's Gate (with a slightly different ending...boo!). Do NOT miss this one if you're a fan of the genre. Also, do NOT get this movie confused with THE CAVE, a similarly-themed U.S. movie that came out this year and is, by all accounts, rubbish.
X3: THE LAST STAND: Permit me to make a few insanely geeky comparisons here: this isn't RETURN OF THE JEDI or GODFATHER III disappointing, and it's not RETURN OF THE KING or NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 good either. If the second X-MEN film is the series' WRATH OF KHAN (and, believe me, it really is--right down to the narration that bookends the movie), then this one is THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. That is, it finishes off some plot points from the previous movie in adequate fashion, and is generally a fun watch, but I more or less forgot it as soon as it was over. It's super-short at 97 minutes or so, and it really races through a lot of stuff; as a result, one major character dies offscreen, and another one loses their powers permanently almost as an afterthought. Still, there are some fun fight scenes and nerdy easter eggs for the comic fans, and the climactic duke-em-out between the good and bad mutants is really cool for a while (although it did start to wear me out after a bit).
AWESOME: I FUCKIN' SHOT THAT: This is a concert film of a 2004 Beastie Boys show at Madison Square Gardens, where the Boys handed out fifty camcorders to random audience members. Afterwards, director Nathaniel Hornblower (the alter ego of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch) edited the footage together, and the results are...mostly, really cool. I mean, we really don't need to follow some guy while he takes a whiz, or another dude while he buys a beer, although if you hand out fifty cameras to strangers you really have to expect some stuff like that. For the first five minutes, I thought my brain would collapse from a combination of motion sickness and a sudden onset of ADD, but eventually things settled down. The footage is cut differently for each track, with some neat results (like the picture itself thrumming with the booming bass of "Paul Revere", and some crazy colour treatment and weird photographic effects on several other numbers). Overall, it captured the feeling of a live show astonishingly well--I felt like a tool 'cause I got caught up in the mood and nearly applauded at the end of two or three songs. Thankfully, my roommate Kari said she almost did too, although she may have just felt sorry for me after I admitted my foolishness. Anyway, good year for concert films, with this and DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY (I missed the Neil Young film, but I hear it was great).