CDXLIX - I'm afraid of Americans
For my next and final post i am going to do something that, as far as i can recall, i have not ever done. I am going to write up a movie that i have been specifically requested to watch.
Uh.....i have to go to a seminar tomorrow, i have been shaving my head often lately, today i also shaped my beard a little so that it sort of looked like Jeff Bridges' beard in Iron Man, except longer and not as white.
I now also have a second nephew.....and now back to movies. Here is one that i saw Monday night:
Heima
(directed by Dean DeBolis 2007, State Theater)
A non-fic / rockumentary about Sigur Ros' triumphant return to Iceland after criss crossing the globe for a couple of year. Upon the band's return they staged a series of free and unannounced concerts for their countrymen. This is a filming of that event. Not particularly great, mostly due to shoddy overdubbing and post audio, but the band played in some amazing places (mountain tops and abandoned fish factories) and the view is able to see much of Iceland and it's inhabitants, so that's good. I do like Sigur Ros but am not a super huge fan....so mostly what i got out of this is that America sort of sucks. These concerts were attended by the elderly, infants and every sort of person you could think of, they were a respectful audience, bonfires were started, people communed......i dislike the idea of utopia type and/or hippie crap, but this sort of thing is how i've always wanted to see a show, and it would never ever happen in the states. Everyone is way too uptight, there is too much insurance, too many permits to be obtained, etc, etc
More on not really caring for America:
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
(written and directed by uh....um, well....George A. Romero 2007, DVDrip)
Despite all of this film's intrinsic problems, it's johnny-come-lately youtube generation/ self aware posturing and the fact that Romero isn't all that great of a director, something about this movie appealed to me......perhaps i found a place for it simply because it was Romero's First Zombie film since Dawn of the Dead ('78) to NOT have "smart" zombies. This film more or less "reboots" Romero's zombie chronicles back to day one, but also keeps the time line in 2007. With a sequel already in pre-production i can't say i'm that excited....but i'll be in line anyway.
Now. The big guns:
Jon Adams - H.B.O. mini-series, 7 hour long episodes
(directed by Tom Hooper 2008, HD TiVo'd DVD)
This really wonderful and engrossing series based on David McCullough's book (which means this show is pretty crazy accurate as far as anyone knows) was totally great. John Adams is a common name, so at the risk of sounding condescending the John Adams that this show was about was John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and second President of the United States among many other things!
Ok, let's just look at this cast for a minute: Paul Giamatti as John Adams, Laura Linney as Mrs. Adams, Sarah Polly (speaking of Dawn) as one of their daughters, Danny Huston as Sam Adams, Tom Wilkinson as Ben Franklin, David Morse as Washington, and also Justin Theroux, Stephen Dillane and Rufus Sewell! Geez what a cast. And as with Band of Brothers or The Sopranos, this H.B.O. show's production values were off the charts as well. I very much recommend this if you like history or character actors at all!
Boogiepop Phantom / Bugipoppu fantomu: Bugipoppu wa warawanai - 12 forty minute episodes
(written by Kouhei Kadono and Yasoyuki Nojiri, directed by various 2000, DVD)
I was able to see this show (with C.W.) in about a 20 hour time span thanks to C.S. loaning me the DVDs. This is obviously an anime series and is very dark and noir-ish. A sort of dark......i don't know....actually i thought it borrowed elements of Akira and Evangelion but was completely dissimilar to anything i've seen prior. And i also don't think i understood it at all really.....something about Death personified, electronic currents, urban myths....or something......oh, and of course high school girls in skirts. Good stuff, i recommend it.
and to round out this post - new beginnings at the end of the road:
Gilmore Girls - season one, 21 45 minute episodes plus un-aired pilot
(created by Amy Sherman 2000, DVD)
A shout out to my little sis (who just gave birth) for loaning this to me / getting me hooked on yet another long project. This is basically a step or two down from an H.B.O. style show, meaning a sitcom-esque evolving story of a mother and daughter who live by themselves in New England, making WAY too many pop culture references an episode (every thing from Paul Thomas Anderson to The Jesus and Mary Chain) and are very hip and overly witty and snarky and probably a major part of Juno's blue print. Anyway, i loved it and am really fiending for the second season right now.....oh, and Melissa McCarthy, the girl that was in The Nines, which is the whole reason i became interested in this show at all is very awesome.
Next: THE END!!!
Uh.....i have to go to a seminar tomorrow, i have been shaving my head often lately, today i also shaped my beard a little so that it sort of looked like Jeff Bridges' beard in Iron Man, except longer and not as white.
I now also have a second nephew.....and now back to movies. Here is one that i saw Monday night:
Heima
(directed by Dean DeBolis 2007, State Theater)
A non-fic / rockumentary about Sigur Ros' triumphant return to Iceland after criss crossing the globe for a couple of year. Upon the band's return they staged a series of free and unannounced concerts for their countrymen. This is a filming of that event. Not particularly great, mostly due to shoddy overdubbing and post audio, but the band played in some amazing places (mountain tops and abandoned fish factories) and the view is able to see much of Iceland and it's inhabitants, so that's good. I do like Sigur Ros but am not a super huge fan....so mostly what i got out of this is that America sort of sucks. These concerts were attended by the elderly, infants and every sort of person you could think of, they were a respectful audience, bonfires were started, people communed......i dislike the idea of utopia type and/or hippie crap, but this sort of thing is how i've always wanted to see a show, and it would never ever happen in the states. Everyone is way too uptight, there is too much insurance, too many permits to be obtained, etc, etc
More on not really caring for America:
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
(written and directed by uh....um, well....George A. Romero 2007, DVDrip)
Despite all of this film's intrinsic problems, it's johnny-come-lately youtube generation/ self aware posturing and the fact that Romero isn't all that great of a director, something about this movie appealed to me......perhaps i found a place for it simply because it was Romero's First Zombie film since Dawn of the Dead ('78) to NOT have "smart" zombies. This film more or less "reboots" Romero's zombie chronicles back to day one, but also keeps the time line in 2007. With a sequel already in pre-production i can't say i'm that excited....but i'll be in line anyway.
Now. The big guns:
Jon Adams - H.B.O. mini-series, 7 hour long episodes
(directed by Tom Hooper 2008, HD TiVo'd DVD)
This really wonderful and engrossing series based on David McCullough's book (which means this show is pretty crazy accurate as far as anyone knows) was totally great. John Adams is a common name, so at the risk of sounding condescending the John Adams that this show was about was John Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and second President of the United States among many other things!
Ok, let's just look at this cast for a minute: Paul Giamatti as John Adams, Laura Linney as Mrs. Adams, Sarah Polly (speaking of Dawn) as one of their daughters, Danny Huston as Sam Adams, Tom Wilkinson as Ben Franklin, David Morse as Washington, and also Justin Theroux, Stephen Dillane and Rufus Sewell! Geez what a cast. And as with Band of Brothers or The Sopranos, this H.B.O. show's production values were off the charts as well. I very much recommend this if you like history or character actors at all!
Boogiepop Phantom / Bugipoppu fantomu: Bugipoppu wa warawanai - 12 forty minute episodes
(written by Kouhei Kadono and Yasoyuki Nojiri, directed by various 2000, DVD)
I was able to see this show (with C.W.) in about a 20 hour time span thanks to C.S. loaning me the DVDs. This is obviously an anime series and is very dark and noir-ish. A sort of dark......i don't know....actually i thought it borrowed elements of Akira and Evangelion but was completely dissimilar to anything i've seen prior. And i also don't think i understood it at all really.....something about Death personified, electronic currents, urban myths....or something......oh, and of course high school girls in skirts. Good stuff, i recommend it.
and to round out this post - new beginnings at the end of the road:
Gilmore Girls - season one, 21 45 minute episodes plus un-aired pilot
(created by Amy Sherman 2000, DVD)
A shout out to my little sis (who just gave birth) for loaning this to me / getting me hooked on yet another long project. This is basically a step or two down from an H.B.O. style show, meaning a sitcom-esque evolving story of a mother and daughter who live by themselves in New England, making WAY too many pop culture references an episode (every thing from Paul Thomas Anderson to The Jesus and Mary Chain) and are very hip and overly witty and snarky and probably a major part of Juno's blue print. Anyway, i loved it and am really fiending for the second season right now.....oh, and Melissa McCarthy, the girl that was in The Nines, which is the whole reason i became interested in this show at all is very awesome.
Next: THE END!!!