Coming Distractions September 22nd, 2009

30 Rock - 3rd Season
Observe and Report
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
O'Horten
Battle for Terra
Lymelife
Adam Resurrected
Wild Child
Ugly Betty - 3rd Season
Brotherhood - 3rd Season
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death

Coming Distractions September 15th, 2009

Nightwatching
Trumbo
Grace
Easy Virtue
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Four Dragons
Next Day Air
Stella: Live in Boston
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - 4th Season
Grey's Anatomy - 5th Season

First a note on the new Peter Greenaway movie Nightwatching, which focuses on a conspiracy theory that Rembrandt identified a murderer in his painting: Nightwatch is a common nickname given to this work, though the painting is actually titled The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenhurch, and it may not even be set at night: the misnomer comes from the way the painting blackened over time.

Do you know where your children are?

Now, let's talk about creepy little kids. I enjoy watching them and their evil beady little eyes. Here are some of the first movies that spring to my mind that feature those miniature menaces.


The Bad Seed: don't be fooled by the cute pigtails, Rhoda's the most heartless little girl you'll ever meet. I was always a bit disappointed by the deus ex machina ending, BUT any disappointment was instantly washed away by the post-credits sequence. Truly a bizarre little documentary/unwitting commentary on raising children in the '50's. Watch it til the end, I beg you.




Children of the Corn: Stephen King's mixing of children & religion - a dangerous combination!






The Omen: Honey, did you really have to go and adopt the Antichrist?







Orphan: (coming soon to DVD!) Another regrettable adoption. I hear the ending's the best part.







Joshua: Proving once again that kids don't even need supernatural help to wreak tons of havoc.





The Good Son: Always knew Macauley Culkin was a troublemaker...








The Brood: One of my favorites! David Cronenberg and cloning and terror! When little versions of yourself mutate & turn against you... Also, therapy is a dangerous tool.




Village of the Damned/Children of the Damned: is someone you know tiny, a little too blond, and imbued with supernatural powers?






Don't Look Now: Is that really the ghost of your drowned daughter haunting you in the dark canals of Venice?



And now, as of this week, there is also Grace: Whose baby doesn't prefer to drink a little blood instead of milk?




There are so many! Any more you want to add?

The Office - 5th Season
Parks & Recreation - 1st Season
Bones - 3rd Season
Fringe - 1st Season
Gomorrah
Crank 2
Dance Flick
Valentino: The Last Emperor


Due to the release of the new Valentino movie, I thought I'd do a rundown of other fashion documentaries.


Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton



Unzipped: probably my personal favorite fashion documentary, about Isaac Mizrahi (though he is not my favorite designer.) a lot of fun.


Seamless: also directed by Douglas Keeve (of Unzipped) about a Vogue fashion contest.





Lagerfeld Confidential: Karl is a very eccentric man.


We have a bunch of Project Runway, o' course.


We also have a new movie called Coco Chanel now on DVD, and a different Chanel biopic, this one with Audrey Tautou, is due out sometime in the future.


There are plenty of other fashion related movies, like Gia (one of my guilty pleasures... sometimes, to some small chagrin of mine, I am just fascinated by Angelina Jolie's face...), about the tragic-fate of a real-life supermodel.




Blowup: Antonioni's day-in-the-life film about a fashion photographer that includes at least one sexy romp with 2 young models. The '60's were so scandalous!





Funny Face: the Audrey Hepburn movie that combines fashion and bookstores. Oh my! who could ask for more?


I am sure there are many more, because much as I enjoy pretty things, I only think about fashion tangentially and when, on the rare occasion, I am not already busy whining about needing to do my laundry. Any others spring to your mind?

Coming Distractions September the 1st, 2009

State of Play
Sin Nombre
Che: Part 1
Good Dick
Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle
Bring it On: Fight to the Finish
Gigantic
Sugar
Shaun the Sheep: Little Sheep of Horrors
Rescue Me - 5th Season
Heroes - 3rd Season
Desperate Housewives - 5th Season

I've been watching a lot of classic films lately. Mostly screwball comedies from the late 30's - 50's, like Katharine Hepburn in Adam's Rib and The Philadelphia Story. They're great fun. Katharine Hepburn, to steal a word from Tyra Banks and that little guy on Project Runaway, is fierce. Though she was once called "box-office poison." I love the quick, sharp, stylized dialogue. It's fascinating to see the growing feminism addressed so directly. Or there is the slightly more serious (and mildly claustrophobia-inducing, but still fun to watch,) fare like Judy Holliday in The Marrying Kind. That one's about a married couple on the verge of divorce, forced to reminisce about their life together by their divorce court judge. That one was written by a real live married couple, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin.

Anyway, I mostly want to bring your attention to another movie: Blast of Silence ('61). Written by, directed, and starring Allen Baron as a hitman from Cleveland. It is, certainly, one of the most relentlessly misanthropic films out there. The best part is the narration, which is in the 2nd person. "You are alone. You like it that way." It's full of gems, such as when the voice of Lionel Stander (a black-listed actor, uncredited in the film 'cause it was cheaper that way) tells you're looking at a picture of the kind of guy who has "the kind of face you hate," and who, "thinks he looks like a gentleman if his shoes are tied. You could kill him right now with pleasure." There is also an amazing club band in the film, fronted by a man singing while playing the bongos. You might want to wait to watch it until December though, so you can really empathize with Frank Bono when the voice from the t.v. tells you that you're, "Faceless in the crowd…Lose yourself in the Christmas spirit with the rest of the suckers."

Has anyone seen Surveillance? Is it any good? I heard director Jessica Lynch has picked up some tips (and Bill Pullman) from her father, David, and that it has a good twist ending, but I'm still a little hesitant to try it.

Coming Distractions August 25th, 2009

Adventureland
The Informers
Duplicity
Sunshine Cleaning
Rudo y Cursi
Goodbye Solo

Julia
London to Brighton
House - 5th Season
Life - 2nd Season
Scrubs - 8th Season
Californication - 2nd Season
Lie to Me - 1st Season




Look at all those new releases! Whew. That's a lot.











Today I want you to meet James Ensor, in case you two haven't yet been introduced.

These Snow Globes are very cool, too.

Coming Distractions August 18th, 2009

Tyson
The Tiger's Tail
Surveillance
Last House on the Left
Dexter - 3rd Season
Sons of Anarchy - 1st Season
The Simpsons - 12th Season
Gossip Girl - 2nd Season

I think that you should watch this excellently eerie (yet informational!) British public service announcement.



Then, if you're like me, you might wanna go watch the Red Band Trailer for Legion. Because, if you're like me, you really enjoy some sweet old lady turning crazy vicious. Ah, the happy memories of such films, like some evil old lady vs. sweet young girl in Drag Me to Hell. Or Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby. Perhaps a little Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. Nobody's very old in Mildred Pierce but there's still some good mother/daughter fighting between Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth, which includes a lot of great scenes of slapping drinks out of other people's hands (something I've always not-so-secretly wanted to do! But I don't like cleaning up broken glass...) Or Bette Davis vs. Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? I think I'm just really glad these examples are out there on film so that I finally have some proper role models in my life. Which of your favorite cruel old women am I missing?

Coming Distractions August 11th, 2009

I Love You, Man
The Class
Paris 36
Katyn
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

The Room: the newest contender for Worst Movie Ever. Has been in theaters in L.A. for at least 2 years. Even the IMDB message board for this one is a good read. People feel very strongly about this movie. Though I haven't seen it, I did arrive home to my apartment last night to a small group finishing it in the living room. There was much uproarious laughter and then there was quite a lengthy discussion group. Much to think about. Or nothing to think about? Not recommended that it be watched alone, needs a group atmosphere, apparently. Watch trailer here.

Thank you for the votes for the Seven Daysies!