Bear city, bear bear city.
I am playing on Marisa's computer while she takes a shower upstairs. We saw that The Exorcism of Emily Rose film on Friday night with a bunch of cell-addicted, musical-chairs-playing teenagers. Yes, I am now old enough to complain about teenagers. Especially when one sits down next to me halfway through the movie WHILE ON HIS CELL, and when I ask him to shut it off, he is first incredulous that I would say this, and then laughs at me. Am I being karmically punished for talking through Congo in 1995 and Coyote Ugly in 2000?
Anyway, the movie is pretty absorbing and interesting for a horror picture, but a lot of it isn't directed or arranged with much finesse; it's not a mess, but it doesn't really flow, either. The combination of horror and courtroom drama isn't particularly skillful; it's just novel (and halfway intelligent, which I appreciate). The oddly high-caliber cast (Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott) is fine but the movie is so plot-driven that they don't have a lot of specificity. Still, much better than most of the horror movies I see.
On Saturday, we went to Playland in Rye, NY and went on many rides which I would not exactly describe as unsafe but dot dot dot. This included a rollercoaster where you're locked into a cage and flying around on your stomach through most of it. Then we made dinner and went back out to see Grizzly Man, the documentary about that guy who gets eaten by bears and a Chris favorite. I am mostly not a documentary person, but this is probably the most interesting one I've seen this year (if only because it's got room for more depth than The Aristocrats, which I also liked "more than I usually like documentaries"). Herzog's narration occasionally explains the movie's themes a bit too explicitly for my taste (stuff that borders on "you might say that this glacier symbolizes Timothy Treadwell's state of mind...") but I like that he gets in there and is a part of the film, though he's not showy about it (this is the only film of his I've seen so this aspect may not be so novel to others). And, unlike March of the Penguins, the astounding footage here actually says something beyond "this footage is astounding." Marisa and I both observed, though, that given how indifferently the bears seem to treat Treadwell, and how much friendlier the foxes seem, maybe he should've just switched to Fox Man and suffered a few nicks and scratches, if that. (There is a joke about the Fox network in there somewhere, but I'm too lazy to find it.)
I've been reading these reports from the Toronto Film Festival, and Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown is apparently garnering "bad buzz," including (especially?) from those who claim to really love most of his other movies (though they probably don't care about Vanilla Sky and are therefore lesscore than I). The main complaint seems to be that it's rehashed and overlong. They're cutting it down for its theatrical release (which I don't think was really the plan until the bad word started spreading), but I must say I'm a little worried for my #1-anticipated movie of the fall. I should stop reading this stuff, though, so I can be disappointed on my own terms.
Tonight I am going to a birthday party and watching my TiFaux'd Simpsons season premiere. Tomorrow I am heading to Madison, NJ, after work, to visit my sister at school! Friday I am heading to Saratoga! Hey, Saratoga affiliates, I found something astounding on the internets: the Malta Drive-in was running a TRIPLE FEATURE this weekend (T2, Red Eye, The Cave). Perhaps it will continue next weekend!
Anyway, the movie is pretty absorbing and interesting for a horror picture, but a lot of it isn't directed or arranged with much finesse; it's not a mess, but it doesn't really flow, either. The combination of horror and courtroom drama isn't particularly skillful; it's just novel (and halfway intelligent, which I appreciate). The oddly high-caliber cast (Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott) is fine but the movie is so plot-driven that they don't have a lot of specificity. Still, much better than most of the horror movies I see.
On Saturday, we went to Playland in Rye, NY and went on many rides which I would not exactly describe as unsafe but dot dot dot. This included a rollercoaster where you're locked into a cage and flying around on your stomach through most of it. Then we made dinner and went back out to see Grizzly Man, the documentary about that guy who gets eaten by bears and a Chris favorite. I am mostly not a documentary person, but this is probably the most interesting one I've seen this year (if only because it's got room for more depth than The Aristocrats, which I also liked "more than I usually like documentaries"). Herzog's narration occasionally explains the movie's themes a bit too explicitly for my taste (stuff that borders on "you might say that this glacier symbolizes Timothy Treadwell's state of mind...") but I like that he gets in there and is a part of the film, though he's not showy about it (this is the only film of his I've seen so this aspect may not be so novel to others). And, unlike March of the Penguins, the astounding footage here actually says something beyond "this footage is astounding." Marisa and I both observed, though, that given how indifferently the bears seem to treat Treadwell, and how much friendlier the foxes seem, maybe he should've just switched to Fox Man and suffered a few nicks and scratches, if that. (There is a joke about the Fox network in there somewhere, but I'm too lazy to find it.)
I've been reading these reports from the Toronto Film Festival, and Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown is apparently garnering "bad buzz," including (especially?) from those who claim to really love most of his other movies (though they probably don't care about Vanilla Sky and are therefore lesscore than I). The main complaint seems to be that it's rehashed and overlong. They're cutting it down for its theatrical release (which I don't think was really the plan until the bad word started spreading), but I must say I'm a little worried for my #1-anticipated movie of the fall. I should stop reading this stuff, though, so I can be disappointed on my own terms.
Tonight I am going to a birthday party and watching my TiFaux'd Simpsons season premiere. Tomorrow I am heading to Madison, NJ, after work, to visit my sister at school! Friday I am heading to Saratoga! Hey, Saratoga affiliates, I found something astounding on the internets: the Malta Drive-in was running a TRIPLE FEATURE this weekend (T2, Red Eye, The Cave). Perhaps it will continue next weekend!