Coming Distractions July 28th, 2009

Hair Extensions
Miss March
Angel of Death
An American Affair
Bill's Dirty Shorts
Green Lantern: First Flight
Yella
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
Repulsion (Criterion)
Battlestar Galactica: 4.5th (final) Season
Dollhouse - 1st Season
Eureka - 3rd Season

I was visiting with my good friend the internet the other day when I came across a mention of the new Sion Sono movie, Love Exposure, which is, supposedly, not only about love but also "funny" and "touching." Now I find this really interesting because I only knew Sono from Suicide Club, which I greatly enjoyed for all its strangeness & rolls of flesh. So just yesterday I went back and rented another Sono, Strange Circus, which was very satisfyingly disturbing for my mid-day day-off movie. Now, I'm really excited that we will soon get Hair Extensions, about the hirsute beauty additions attacking the women who use them. Fun for the whole family! I'm really interested to see Sono's take on love, since everything else I've seen of his has been definitely more in the realm of nightmare than of fantasy.

Recently, because of the food shelf, I was reminded of Dumplings, one of the segments from 3 extremes. Anyone seen that one? Also fun for the whole family. Except for the babies. Babies shouldn't be watching horror movies anyway. What kind of terrible parent are you? And, while we're talking about dumplings if you like frozen potstickers (Ling Ling's!) then you should know it's actually really easy and far more delicious (and cheap!) to make your own. Even if you use wonton wrappers instead of potsticker (or gyoza) wrappers. (found recipe here)

The one other movie I watched this week (so, O.K, I watched both movies yesterday. What do you do with your days off other than hang curtains & watch movies & make potstickers, eh?) was Heartburn, based on the roman à clef by Nora Ephron (who wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Julie & Julia). Meryl Streep ^(heart) and Jack Nicholson ^(burn) star as the couple in this thinly-veiled (Streep plays a food writer rather than a screenwriter) account of the author's marriage to Carl Bernstein (one of the reporters to expose Watergate). Also has Stockard Channing, Jeff Daniels, Milos Forman, and Kevin Spacey in a bit role as a friendly criminal. I think the movie's really under-rated and provides a very believable, empathic, mature view of marriage. (This last Sunday's New York Times Book Review, in an article about A Happy Marriage, points out that if a book begins with a marriage, the story certainly has to go downhill from there. And it holds true for movies as well. It's why most movies end with a marriage, right?)

The only thing I have to warn you about is Heartburn's soundtrack. Which is done by Carly Simon. And even after you've noted the incongruous (just plain bad) synth (for any era. you can't forgive '86 everything) you will be shocked (I promise) by the final song. A muzak rocking rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider. Which got stuck in my head for a disturbingly long amount of time. Thanks Carly! Coincidentally, this song is also mentioned in the first segment of This American Life - Remember Me and described as a song that is practically unbearable for most people to listen to in its entirety.

Speaking of forgiveness, can we forgive '80 for McCartney II? I would have said no until this last weekend, because I only made it as far as the 2nd song: Temporary Secretary. (Which I have, I'll admit, I've listened to an absurd number of times.) But then I discovered the 12th song on the album. This is when, for me, McCartney really married his lack of subject matter with this kind of harmonious mundanity that ties us all together. Or that did, when we all had separate machines to check messages on, instead of these crazy new-fangled cellular phones.


What movies have you watched in the last week (or yesterday*, whatever the case may be)?

*I watched one more thing this week(and I'm not counting this video): Bill's Dirty Shorts. I like Bill Plympton. He's funny. (and dirty)