Category: Movies

Go, The Movie. Have You Seen It?

October 29, 2009
ComedyMoviesMy Life
6 Comments

goI had a tooth pulled yesterday. This has nothing to do with the movie “Go”. Well, a little maybe. After the oral surgery yesterday I thought I might be a little under the weather for a while, so I took today off. Oh, I’m doing ok, thanks.

A friend had given us a copy of the DVD for “Go” quite a while back but we had never found the free time to watch it. Well, I finally watched it today and I wish I had watched it sooner. I really enjoyed it! “Go” is a fast-paced, wild ride of a comedy, edgy and fun and full of surprises. It’s from 1999 and features a great cast, with Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Taye Diggs, Jay Mohr, Scott Wolf, and many more. Everyone does a good job, the script is tight and funny in a darkishly wild way. And I mean that in the best sense.

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Seattle 2009 And Bumbershoot – Part 1

September 25, 2009
AlcoholArtBumbershootCoffeeComedyFoodFriendsMoviesMusicMy LifeSeattle
1 Comment

Space NeedleWhat we did on a summer vacation, the first four days anyway…

We recently went to Seattle for a week, as we have done over Labor Day for the last nine or so years. The big attraction is the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. It’s a three day festival with entertainment on about 15 stages, plus a variety of other stuff going on too. You can find out more at www.bumbershoot.org. Anyway, between that and some side events, most of the week in Seattle is taken up, and in a great way. But we managed to fit in some other fun things too. Here’s what we did…

Tuesday September 1
We caught the plane to Seattle in the morning. A nice quick flight. Then we took the Seattle city bus from the airport to the hotel. Lucky us, the bus stops right across the street from our hotel, The Camlin. It was before check-in time but the hotel stashed our luggage so we could explore the city for a while. We walked a bit and then took the monorail to the Seattle Center area. Ninety seconds of zipping above the traffic, nice concept! We walked through the center, looking at the preparations for the upcomong Bumbershoot Festival, and walked over to Kidd Valley burgers for a lunch of gardenburgers and onion rings dipped in tartar sauce. Next stop was down the street to Easy Street Records, a nice new-and-used music store where we always find things we need want.

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(500) Days Of Summer

July 30, 2009
ComedyMoviesMy Life
2 Comments

(500) Days Of Summer

 I won free passes to see a preview of a new movie called (500) Days Of Summer. I had read a couple pretty positive reviews and was hoping that it would be as good as I was hoping. Well, stevenology, hope no more because it was really, really good. This was one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve seen in a while.

The stars are Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and they are both very good here. The other stars may be the writing and the directing. The lines are a combination of clever, witty, charming, sarcastic, romantic, jaded, warm, and well, you get the idea. It’s just really well-written. And the director is more than willing to be innovative and clever too. It’s visually cool and smart and you’ll find yourself laughing and smiling knowingly at many of the lines. And the way it’s filmed, with innovative techniques, is a pleasure too. It’s a sort of romantic comedy that’s not a conventional romantic comedy.

I was never bored and had no trouble following the sometimes non-linear plot. I’d say if you like smart, modern, innovative, funny, witty, romantic, sad, and happy, then you should like this film. I liked it a lot. A big thumbs up. I saw it for free but it’s well worth full price or more. This will be one of the best movies of the year, I predict.

At the time of this post, it had a stunningly high 88% rating from the awesome Rotten Tomatoes site. The film’s official web site is here. Have you seen this movie? Yes, no, either way, leave me a comment below!

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Small Time Scoop Double Feature

July 19, 2009
ComedyMoviesMy Life

woody_scoopwoody_smallIt was a Friday night video double feature here at the old homestead. I watched two (more or less) recent Woody Allen films. I had seen both before but not for quite a while. And of course, with his films you can watch them many times and still enjoy them.

First up was “Small Time Crooks” (2000, about). He stars in this one with Tracy Ullman (who is great) and Hugh Grant, among others. Watching it again, I liked it more than I remembered. The first part with the plan for a bank robbery was very funny. Then the story leaves that to follow Woody and Tracy on their road to “success”, and it gets even more entertaining. All through the film the Woody and Tracy characters are funny as they grow (or not grow). There’s an overall warmth to this move plus lots of laughs.

Next was Scoop (2006, about), with Woody, Hugh Jackman, and Scarlett Johannson. It was lighter than I remembered, quite a bit. More fluff but still plenty of humor. Not his best but enjoyable. And Scarlett in those glasses is quite something too. It’s escapist fun with some laughs.

So I liked them both, of course, but I like almost everything he does. Neither of these made my top 11 Woody Allen films, but after watching both of them together I’d say to see Small Time Crooks first, if you want a recommendation. It was better than I remembered, Scoop was not quite as good as I remembered. What, you didn’t ask? You were going to. Really.

Have you seen either or both of these? What did YOU think? Leave me a comment.

A Hard Days Night

July 16, 2009
MoviesMusicMy Life

A Hard Days NightTonight I watched The Beatles’ classic film from 1964, “A Hard Days Night”. It’s really hard to believe that it has been 45 years since this film was released. Feel old? Nevermind that, it’s a classic and for good reason. It’s still entertaining after all this time and the Beatles music is timeless and will live forever.

This is the two-DVD version, with a bunch of extras, but I only watched the actual film tonight. I have to say that the restorative process they used  worked great because this film looks fantastic. The crisp and clear black and white is stunning in quality for a film that old. You can hear the dialog and even understand the British accents (almost always). Sure, some of the slang is a little dated but just go with it. The songs, meanwhile, are pop gems from their early days. Nothing deep, they would get to that later, but just catchy as hell.

Of course, the story is, to be generous, very slight. But it’s not about drama, it’s about music and some humor and it succeeds at that. Four madcap moptops in a zany romp, or some such hoohah. Whatever, it was very likable and fun.

Have you watched it recently? Or ever? Let me know what you think, leave me a comment below.

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Or you can buy some Beatles music here.

Whatever Works

July 5, 2009
MoviesMy Life
5 Comments

whatever_worksToday we went to the theater to see the new movie “Whatever Works.” (official site, wikipedia) It’s the latest comedy from writer and director Woody Allen. It stars Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Michael McKean, Ed Begley Jr., and others. Those of you who know me also know that I am a huge Woody Allen fan and that I consider him among the best film directors ever. Not to mention a heck of a writer too. So, I am not exactly objective about his movies. All of his films have at least something to offer, though there are a number of them that are “lesser”. This is not one of them. IMNSHO, this is a VERY funny comedy and I highly recommend it.

Keep in mind that Larry David’s (main) character is a misanthropic, bitter, and mean man, not a likeable character. But we still like watching him even as we are astounded and shocked by the things he says. Evan Rachel Wood plays a young southern beauty pagent winner, with a southern accent and a less-than-stellar IQ.

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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?

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