Category: Movies

Mad Props For A Week In Portland!

July 3, 2009
AlcoholArtBooksFoodFriendsMoviesMusicMy LifeTravelVegetarian
1 Comment

We took a vacation up north in the Portland, Orgeon area. You shoulda been there. Maybe you were. Whatever, we had a great time! Here’s the  play-by-play.

Thursday June 25

And we hit the road running. Well, driving actually. Portland is a ten or eleven hour drive from our NorCal home base. On our way, we stopped in Yreka, right up near the top of California on the I-5, at a small place in a mall, called Linda’s Soup Café.  We had stumbled on this place a few years back when we drove to Seattle and somehow remembered it. Linda’s is not your usual mall food. They even have a vegetarian menu with a whole bunch of items that looked good. Imagine us vegetarians having too many things to choose from!  Anyway, fully refreshed, we headed north again. We stopped in Southern Oregon for gas and remembered the unusual law in Oregon that says you can’t pump your own gas. So we let the man service us and headed north once again. Round about dinnertime we pulled into Portland. Or I should say the suburb of Lake Oswego, where our hotel was. We checked in and unpacked. We got on the internet with our laptops and although the Ethernet connection worked the WiFi didn’t, meaning only one of us could be online at once. That wouldn’t suffice for the whole week, so we had someone from the hotel check it out and they got it working within minutes. Yay! We’ve had Internet problems at hotels a few times, and this was the fastest it ever got fixed. The room was nice too, and the rate was very cheap for a Hilton Garden Inn. In fact, the Hotel situation was great for the whole week. But I’m jumping ahead.

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Bumbershoot Music And Arts Festival

March 5, 2009
ArtBumbershootComedyMoviesMusicMy LifeSeattleTravel
2 Comments

– Update: The new Bumbershoot web site for 2009 is online as of March 6. Check it out. The first group of performers will be announced later this month, so they say, with more to follow…
– Second update: I can die happy now. Bumbershoot itself commented on this post [see below] and on their site! [click here]
It’s about six months until the 2009 Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in Seattle. We go there every year, since 2001. And we already have a room reserved for this year, which will be our ninth Bumbershoot.

One of life’s coolest and most wonderful things, Bumbershoot is three full days of 15-20 stages, outdoor and indoor, full of music, comedy, art, dance, literature, theater, film, vendors, street perfomers, visual arts, exhibits, activities, food, and tons of other arts-related stuff. Some of you already know how much I love this festival. Some of you might have even gone with us! Or might go this year? The festival is over Labor Day weekend (this year September 5-7), when the festival has been held for some 38 or so years. I only wish I had known about it sooner.

You can find out more on their web site, although they haven’t put the 2009 site up yet. But you can sure check out the 2008 site to see how very cool this festival is. For instance, you can see what artists played the festival from 1980-2008. Seriously, check it out. There are also some pictures of our Seattle/Bumbershoot trips from 2007, 2005, and 2004 on the photos page. If you want to be on my Bumbershoot email list, for the occasional scoop about the festival and who might be playing this year, just send me an email here or leave a comment below.

As always, open for commenting…

The Academy Awards AKA The Oscars

February 8, 2009
Movies
6 Comments

I love movies. I don’t see nearly as many as I want to, I always seem to be busy with other things. But I have always loved movies, as far back as I can remember and probably beyond that. So every year I watch the Academy Awards show, even though I may not have seen all (or even most) of the nominated films. And that is certainly true this year. I have seen a few but, hey, it’s my blog so I can write about it if I want to. And you can comment at the bottom. But I digress.

The Oscar show is always overly long and bloated, with some really entertaining moments and some fairly awful moments too. Some of the musical salutes are very good and some are not, the same is true of the canned speeches that the presenters usually use. A good host can make it seem less long and more interesting. I liked Steve Martin and Billy Crystal hosting it, but heck I even liked David Letterman hosting it, so what do I know?

A full list of this year’s movie nominees can be found here. Being a big Woody Allen fan, I was glad to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona nominated for an award. You can watch the trailer for that film below this post. Of course Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight is the favorite of the favorites to win, and it indeed a riveting performance. Anyway, take a look at the list and see what you think. The show is on February 22nd. Why not print out a ballot and play along at home!

Any thoughts about the Oscars?

A Benjamin Button Birthday And More

December 30, 2008
MoviesMy Life
4 Comments

Brad Pitt. Cate Blanchett. Five Golden Globe nominations. So it must be good, right? Well, my birthday was a few days ago, and we went to see the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Here’s the official site and here’s the Rotten Tomatoes page. I liked this movie. It wasn’t perfect but it moved along quickly considering the length, the story was engaging, and the performances were all good. Have you seen this movie? What did you think? I laughed and cried. Did you? Were you struck by lightning seven times?

Before the movie we had a great brunch at Todo Un Poco in nearby Laguna. It was soooo good. Of course Petra had the amazingly good Punjabi Pizza. I had some breakfast enchiladas. Then we both had leftover Punjabi the next day. How sweet is that?!?!!! If you have had it then you know what I am talking about.

After the movie we went to the Sacramento Kings basketball game. They stunk up the place, for sure, and lost by forty-five points. No, that is not a misprint. Enough said about that. P.U.

Ah, but after that it was dinner at 524 Mexican Food. Chili Rellenos. Enchiladas. Negra Modello. And of course Petra had her favorite Papas Tacos (potato tacos). Man, oh man, am I getting hungry! How about you?

Movie Time!

December 29, 2008
ComedyMoviesMy Life

The holiday season and movies. Don’t those two things go together? We rented four movies and bought six more. Don’t panic! The ones we bought were only five dollars each!

Here’s what we rented and watched:

The Dark Knight – Yeah, the Batman movie with Heath Ledger as The Joker. Has any recent film had this much hype? Well, it was a well-financed effort with lots of flash, action, and special effects, as I expected. It was non-stop action and Heath did a creepily great job as The Joker. I liked the movie for the escapist fun that it was. Petra was less enthused. 😉

The Women – A chick flick. In fact, there were no men even in this movie! It was ok, but nothing special.

Smart People – I thought Ellen Page, Dennis Quaid, and the other stars would make this a smart movie, but it wasn’t as good as I thought hoped it might be. So-so, but it had it’s moments.

Little Miss Sunshine – We both enjoyed this one. It was very quirky and entertaining and the performances and writing were good. Plus, it wasn’t like every other movie. This one was fun.

And the ones we bought, real cheap like:

Grace Is Gone

Cassandra’s Dream

The Great Debaters

Mad Money

The Pursuit Of Happyness

Dreamgirls

Do you have any thoughts about any of these? Any complete turkeys? Are they all great? Leave a comment…

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid

December 18, 2008
ComedyMovies

“Steve Martin is Rigby Reardon, a private eye with a nose for crime, who’s hot on the case of a murdered cheesemaker in this hardboiled comedy caper”. OK, well, that’s a start. And that’s what the package says. But I recently re-watched this classic comedy film from 1982. I hadn’t seen it since back then, and that was a long, long time ago. But I remember liking it then and I still liked it now. Granted, there is a little silliness here and there and a few semi-crude one-liners, but overall it is a clever parody of the film noir detective and crime movies of the 40s. In fact, it is intersperced with scenes from those films, seamlessly weaved into the storyline. Jimmy Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Veronica Lake, Betty Davis, and many more classic actors unknowningly lend their talents as their scenes become part of this movie.
Of course Martin hams a little, though not “too” much. And Rachel Ward is fine as the “dame” who hires him. Sure, she has 80s big hair, but she’s still a looker and a worthy addition to this exercise in comedy and editing. And Carl Reiner is around for added comedy effect, both acting and directing. 

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Golden Globes Award Nominations Announced

December 14, 2008
MoviesTV

Golden Globe AwardsThe nominees for this year’s Golden Globes awards were announced the other day, for TV and film. And surprise, surprise, my favorite filmmaker Woody Allen (see: My top 11) was recognized. His recent film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” received four nominations! Not only that, one of my other favorites this year, The Coen Brothers’ “Burn After Reading”, received two nominations.

The full list of nominees is here. I haven’t seen a lot of the film nominees, so I can’t say much more about them. Yet. Of course, you can leave a comment below if you want. A TV drama that I like a lot, “Brothers and Sisters”, received two nominations also.

What do you think about the list of nominees? It makes me want to go see some more movies!

Previous: My post about Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Previous: My post about Burn After Reading

Happy Birthday, Woody Allen!

December 1, 2008
ArtComedyMovies
12 Comments

Happy Birthday to Woody Allen!

Woody is one of America’s greatest filmmakers and humorists. A short overview of his life and career is here on Wikipedia. But that does not do it justice. The man has been making very-good-to-outstanding films since the 60s and continues today. And that is not to even mention his books, plays, or his clarinet playing. He is one of the truly great artists of our time and I honor him by wishing him a wonderful birthday.

The main thing, though? His films. So many deserving, quality films. Here are my “Top 11” Woody Allen films, at least for today, in no particular order:

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Burn After Reading – The Movie

September 28, 2008
ComedyMoviesMy Life

Burn After ReadingIf you have an open mind and enjoy some dark and quirky humor, then you will really like this movie. I really did! The performances are great all around, the script is wild and funny, the pace is quick with lots of twists, and I was laughing out loud and loving this film. Maybe it is not for everyone. But nothing is, right?

Here is the Rotten Tomatoes page, where it currently has a very good 78% rating. And here is the official web site, check it out. This Coen Brothers film is in a league with The Big Lebowski and Fargo, and that means it is really good. If you didn’t like those then you might not like this. But then what the $%^& is wrong with you? 😉  Ha, just kidding…

More info and lots of video trailers to watch are here on the IMDB site, another great movie site. I’m just saying’, go see it if you like something a little out of the ordinary. It was really good! Have you already seen it? Let me know what you thought, leave a comment.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

August 20, 2008
MoviesMy Life
6 Comments

Life is the ultimate work of artTonight we saw the new Woody Allen film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (official site). Woody is not in it but it has his unmistakable imprint in the writing and directing. In other words, it’s a good one. The excellent Rotten Tomatoes site is rating it an 80%, which is pretty high, with the consensus sentence being “A beguiling tragicomedy, Vicky Cristina Barcelona charms with beautiful views of the Spanish city and a marvelously well-matched cast”. You can read plenty of reviews on the RT site.

The Woodman rarely makes a weak film and this one entertains, and more. OK, ok, it is not his absolute best but that is such a high standard. It is 

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Happy Birthday, Steve Martin!

August 14, 2008
ComedyMovies
1 Comment

Happy August 14th Birthday to Mr Steve Martin [wikipedia, read this], actor, comedian, writer, and general funny guy. I’ve laughed at and admired him since the early days of the happy feet, the arrow through the head, the cruel shoes, and the banjo with jokes. His humor, along with his expressions and his timing, made him hilarious.

He’s had a great career, long and varied. He’s been in a slew of films, too many to count now. Some were funny like The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, Roxanne, and Bowfinger. Others were simple formula pictures that he brought up just by his being in them, like Father Of The Bride, Housesitter, and All Of Me. And some were clunkers like Cheaper By The Dozen and Bringing Down The House. But Steve was always worth watching. What was your favorite of his films? Least favorite? Leave a comment and let me know.

And now a few quotes [after the jump]

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Swing Vote – The Movie

August 2, 2008
ComedyMoviesMy Life

Swing VoteI won free tickets to a “sneak preview” of the new movie Swing Vote. Of course, it is playing everywhere now so you can see it too! Well, if you want to that is. I liked it. It’s not great but I thought it was entertaining, and if you like Kevin Costner in comedies then you will like this. It’s a comedy mixed with a little drama too, and some of a political satire thrown in for good measure. You just have to accept the far-fetched story line and then you will probably enjoy it.

The local paper gave it three stars out of four and I guess that sounds about right. Costner is pretty good and there are some funny and clever parts. Not a perfect movie, of course, but it’s a pleasant way to pass a couple hours. With movies, I always check the wonderful Rotten Tomatoes site, and in this case their Swing Vote page. Hmmm, maybe I liked it more than most critics, because the RT page only has a 38 out of 100 rating, but that might have changed by the time you read this.

Have you seen this movie? Do you want to? Let me know in the comments…

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