Filmpinions | Effed by the Wind

kill yr idols

Last night Faye and I watched “Last Days”. I have been threatening to see this film since it premiered at SIFF, but, for various reasons, never got around to it. I didn't expect much from it, considering I have only ever enjoyed ONE Gus Van Sant film. The guy is just not a good filmmaker. Self-importance aside, his dirty-old-man vibe gives me the willies. There are many out-of-work actors who could play Mormon missionaries, but 'Ol Gus had to hire a set of young, supple, yet extremely green twins instead. And I'm sure he hired them with not a HINT of ulterior motive. Gus got lucky with Michael Pitt who is not only young and supple, but can also act.

But crappy filmmaking decisions aside, the thing that really bugged me about the film was brought to light by Faye. “This movie is making me hate Kurt Cobain” she said. And she was right. I don't know how Gus MEANT to portray Kurt, but if he intended to show that this man who was revered as a rock God was nothing more than a fucked up junkie who stumbled into fame, couldn't get clean, neglected his family and friends and then unintentionally blew his head off, then mission accomplished. Sure, Kurt wrote great songs and changed the face of rock and roll, but was it all accidental? It wasn't the fame that got to Kurt. It was his severe depression and his addictive nature. He probably would have ended up the same way without the record contract and he would have been dismissed as another junkie statistic, if his death even registered at all.

It wasn't just the movie that got me re-evaluating my feelings toward a guy I formerly revered. I also recently read “Life on Planet Rock” by Lonn Friend, the ex-RIP magazine editor. In his chapter about Nirvana, Kurt came off as a dick and a headcase. Just because someone can write a good song (or novel or poem) doesn't give them a license to act like selfish children. Kurt seemed to take one look at Lonn Friend, dismiss him as corporate crap, and that was that. Perhaps he was just having an off day. Perhaps he was strung out (because that's a good excuse..) but I've read an awful lot of interviews and books about him and they all suggest the same thing: The guy spent most of his life pushing away the people who wanted to help him and only letting equally fucked up people in. Tell me again why he's such a hero to so many people?

It's a similar revelation I had with “Catcher in the Rye”. In high school, I related to Holden Caulfield because I was a lonely, bitter teenage asshole. As an adult, I still think “Catcher” is a great piece of literature, but now I feel sorry for Holden because he is really the ONLY ONE standing in the way of his happiness. Sure, the world is full of phonies. But there are good people too. Lots of them. And if you just assume that each new person you meet will screw you over, you're going to lead a long (or short) lonely life.

Both Holden and Kurt ended their stories before anyone of influence could tell them to just grow up. Gus Van Sant may have made a long, pretentious, extremely flawed film, but the story he told still had an effect.

August 16, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

The WB Presents Batman

Now, I loved Batman Begins, but when I hear of these recent casting decisions for Nolan's next movie, I can't help but feel like they are suddenly pandering to a teeny bopper market. What's next? Amanda Bines as Catwoman? Chad Michael Murray as The Riddler?

How could they POSSIBLY have come to the decision to cast Heath Ledger as the Joker when Crispin Hellion Glover was up for the part? Even if it was HE who declined, they couldn't think of ANYONE better than Mumbly Cowboy McKnightstale? Hell, even Matthew Lillard would do a better job.

I am, however, happy for Mr. Witherspoon that he has finally been cast in something big and no longer has to lie about “filming a movie in Canada”.

August 1, 2006
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

Meme Break

Another wonderful meme from MarkTapioKines!

1. What movie most represents everything you dislike about Hollywood?
Forest Gump. I only recently came to understand that it’s a re-imagining of Being There, as done by people who didn’t get that movie at all. But before I realized that, I despised this movie. I hated its insulting tone that both simplifies and romanticizes the life of a mentally challenged person. I hated the hype surrounding the special effects technology of splicing newsreel footage with new footage to make the film erroneously more important. I hate that actors ALWAYS win awards for playing retarded characters. The characters who aren’t Tom Hanks aren’t likeable people. I hate the clichéd “humor”. I hate that the dialogue was written by Hallmark and basically the whole damned thing was constructed to pander to the fucking Academy. And I hate that it worked.

2. What's the last city you visited for the very first time?
Sequim, WA.

3. Name a trait, physical or non-physical, that you inherited from your mother:
Physical: Skin as white as the snows of Hoth, chub.
Non-Physical: Packratedness. I’d like to think I have a better handle on it than she does though.

4. Name a trait, physical or non-physical, that you inherited from your father:
Physical: Fine, light hair, babyface.
Non-Physical: Sense of humor, OCD.

5. Name something that you love doing, even though you're not good at it:
Singing.

6. Name something that you hate doing, even though you're good at it:
My current day job.

7. What's the lower form of life: a journalist or a standup comic?
I really like stand-up comedy. There is, obviously, a lot of bad comics out there, but I can’t possibly say that Patton Oswalt is, in any way, a low form of life so I will go with journalist.

8. How do you feel about Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut?
Ridiculous and tedious.

9. Name an item that you keep a large – maybe even unusually large – supply of in your house:
Proactive Solution. I’m in The Club and they keep sending me more bottles before I’ve finished the ones I have. Every once in a while, I tell them to stop altogether and then deplete my supply. And then it starts all over again.

10. How frequently do you have to fill up your car?
N/A.

11. What's your favorite Spielberg movie?
Raiders.

12. What's your favorite Hitchcock movie?
I don’t feel qualified to answer this because I have seen precious few Hitchcock films. (Pathetic, I know). However, I have Strangers on a Train from the library and I will watch it in the next couple of days.

13. What's your favorite REM single?
I’m not a fan of REM at all. That said, I don’t particularly mind “Fall On Me”…And I'm actually not even sure if that's what the song is called!

14. Did you go to a public high school?
No.

15. Have you ever successfully played matchmaker for anybody? (Success need not be measured in the long term.)
I don’t think I can count Faye and Borgia since they purposefully didn’t get together when Elyse and I were trying to get them together. They waited until we had all given up hope. So I suppose not.

16. The average American eats 200 pounds of meat per year. How many pounds of meat – including fish – do you reckon you eat per year?
Less than 1. I can’t say 0 for certain because I reckon that some meat sneaks in there occasionally.

17. If you brought home 50 million after-tax dollars from a lottery win, name three somewhat frivolous things you would spend some of that money on (i.e. not paying off debts or giving money to your friends, family or charities).
-A pinball machine.
-A juke box that plays 45’s (and some 45’s).
-A mini-golf course in my backyard (of the house that I suppose I would first need to buy).

18. If you could remake one movie, which one would you choose?
Since I’m against re-makes on the whole, this is difficult, but going along with Mark’s answer of re-doing a film that shouldn’t have been so disappointing, I’m going to go with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

19. If you had to live either without a television (meaning you also couldn't watch DVDs – no, not even on your computer) or without the Internet, which would you go without?
I suppose television, since if I chose the internet, I would immediately be cut off from so many people and so much information. I would miss my Whedonverse horribly, however.

20. Finally, what's the nicest thing you've ever done for a friend?
I’m not really sure. I guess you’d have to ask them. I try to do nice things for friends whenever possible and help anyone who is in need, but I always assumed that was really what true friendship was all about.

July 25, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Filmpinions, Meme Crazy . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

15 Daisies for $29!

LONG-ASS WEEKEND RECAP

There was a lot of drinking involved. Let’s see if I can remember everything.

FRIDAY
The plan was to meet B and Alex at McCormick’s but, even though we got there a little past 4, it was already full. Ashley, our receptionist, came with us. We walked down 1st for a bit but everything was pretty crowded, so we decided to hop on the bus and head to Tia Lou’s, a nice little Mexican restaurant with a rooftop deck. We got there before we opened so we thought we’d have a quick drink at a snooty place next door. Upon examination of the menu, however, we learned that the average cocktail ran $10-12. No thanks. So instead we pretended to be having trouble deciding as we killed time. After the second time the waitress came back, we decided we would do better waiting outside the door at Tia Lou’s. This whole process only took about 10 minutes, but we still felt kind of bad. Still. $12? How good can your drinks really be?

Tia Lou’s is home of the delicious, bottomless chips and salsa and the $4 happy hour quesadilla, as well as the $6 fuck your shit up margarita. They take a while to bring the bill though. Ashley took her leave of us (perhaps offended by the bad things we were saying about Forest Gump?) and the rest of us headed to the Lava Lounge to meet Sherwood.

Sherwood was killing time before seeing Sonic Youth and was sitting with his show posse. There wasn’t a lot of room at the table for us. No matter, though. We had designs on the shuffleboard table. For the first game, I miraculously beat B. Then, more true to form, Alex beat me (though it was kind of a close game). Then B beat Alex and then me again. The drinks kept coming and the music they were playing (80’s hits) only got better. The euphoria of good music combined with woe too much vodka and tequila is what undoubtedly made me believe it was a good idea to meet Ryan and the Kidd at Ozzie’s.

I never have a good time at Ozzie’s, but for some reason I keep getting convinced that it will be fun. Maybe because everyone ELSE seems to like it so much. But I don’t. I can’t explain it, really, other than to say that the vibe is all wrong. I feel like I’m crashing a frat party. Also, usually someone in my crew ends up pissing off another patron at some point in the evening. Last time I was there, I pissed off the waitress by asking for water when there was CLEARLY a poor-your-own station not 5 feet from where I was sitting. And then I spilled my drink. This time, I was just not having a good time. And I was extremely drunk which always makes ones bad time a hundred times worse. Maybe singing would have made me feel better, but I didn’t want to sing. I just wanted to leave. And eventually, we did, managing to pour ourselves into a cab and astonishingly make it home.

SATURDAY
The way to spend the day after a night of debauchery is, of course, to do nothing. And that’s what I did. B and I lounged around in the sun and read for, well, probably too long, as we got a little burned. But it was a nice day for it.

Then it was off to the Seattle Center to watch the results of the 24 Hour Play competition of which Meep, Dom and Ben were a part. We had some time to kill before the doors opened, so B convinced me that we should ride the little roller coaster they have there. It did look like fun, and I always liked the coasters at King’s Dominion back home. However, the big coasters apparently feel a LOT safer than the little ones. Our little car shook and creaked as it zipped around the sharp turns and near vertical drops on the tracks. A minute later, it was over, and I was only slightly sheepish about fearing for my life.

There were 6 plays that ran a little over 10 minutes each. They had been written, cast and rehearsed within the previous 24 hours. Meep directed one, and Dom and Ben each performed in one. Most of them weren’t terrible for having only been a day old. Meep’s piece was definitely the most solid, if you ask me. Poor Dom was in one of the more poorly scripted ones. Ben was in the best scripted, but weirdly blocked one.

After the show, we headed to Kozak’s where Brian’s birthday inebriation was already in progress. Kozak’s is a bar that seems to get worse every time we go. For a bar that usually has NO clientele, the waitress sure is inattentive. We had to get our drinks from the bar. It is also the home of the worst karaoke sound system and DJ in Seattle. The guy has no charisma, takes forever to find your song (and often gets it wrong), and plays horrible, K-Mart collection funk in between each performance. There’s no stage, just a table on top of a table that we’re meant to stand on. And you can’t hear anything. It makes good singers sound bad and bad singers sound even worse. These things become less of a problem when 5 drunk boys sing “Fat Bottom Girls” (which was dedicated to me and Meep…um…thanks…) at the top of their lungs. However, it makes me very sad that there is karaoke on a SATURDAY so close to where I live and it’s awful.

SUNDAY
The early part of the day was spent playing child’s badminton ($5 at Walgreens!) in B’s back yard. Then we got invited to join some Amazonians at Beer Fest in the Seattle Center. This was perfect, as we had plans to see Superman Returns 3D at the IMAX. Despite the world’s worst music (white-boy funk followed by cheesy, half-assed Scottish bluegrass), the Beer Fest was fun. The events proceeds went to PAWS, so there were dogs everywhere and a little PAWS booth full of kittens. Kittens and beer. Who could ask for a better way to spend a Sunday?

Apparently the IMAX show was sold out, so we rushed to the theatre to pick up our tickets and hopefully not get too shafted on seats. We were in the second row, but it wasn’t as unpleasant as I’d expected it to be.

I liked the movie. I didn’t love it. As everyone is saying, it was basically a rehashing of the plots of Superman: The Movie and Superman II, minus the glorious camp of Terrance Stamp and Gene Hackman. And while that Routh kid is indeed a spot-on Christopher Reeve, and Singer knows how to frame a shot, who really needs it? It didn’t help that the parts they chose to 3D were LLame. Ooh. Young Clark Kent is leaping through the corn field RIGHT AT US. Whatever!

I’m also a little concerned for Kal Penn’s career. I really like that kid and I don’t want to see him become either Bad Indian Stereotype Guy or Career Background Character #2. I think he had one line. And they didn’t even let him sing Wilson Phillips.

MONDAY
Though I had to work, Monday fell within the holiday weekend and shared characteristics with a Friday, so it is included in the recap.

In the evening, I joined B in Ravenna for some more child’s badminton (which is much easier to play in a park then in his back yard). Then Sherwood and crew and the Brunswicks stopped by his house for a little impromptu BBQ action.

After some REALLY good stuff that made us talk about poop and yard sales, the Sherwood crew took their leave, and B and I walked over to the Knarr with the Brunswicks.

At the Knarr, I was reminded why I never play pool. I suuuuuuck. I’m much better suited for being in charge of the juke box (which, apparently is stuck in a 1996 time warp). We finished our games, the Brunswicks headed back to the Hill, and B and I played pinball while we waited for my songs to finish. To our dismay, both South Park and Medieval Madness were possessed by evil, quarter-eating demons. An actual PIECE of the South Park game became dislodged during play and Medieval Madness kept registering tilt at the SLIGHTEST force. I hate those bastards.

TUESDAY
The day began with breakfast followed by a nap. Well rested, B and I then headed to a BBQ at his friend John’s house. There were good people, REALLY good food (must procure some of that olive and fig tapande), and deliciously evil Sangria. We played some more badminton and B challenged a few other people to some games. I’m getting quite good at child’s badminton. Perhaps I should find some children to destroy in a match.

John’s porch had a nice, only slightly obstructed view of the AT&T fireworks which, as I’m sure you local folks know, featured some sweet-ass new fireworks this year. I particularly liked the ones that looked like jellyfish. We could also see the show put on by the poor bastards that are the 4th of JulIvars. I feel kind of bad for them. Their show pales in comparison to the AT&T spectacle. I guess there’s just not that much money in chowder.

And now, a short but inspiring tale of Human Kindness: As we were leaving we realized that B’s car, which was parked facing up a rather steep hill, was stuck in the sand that lined the side of the road. He spinned the wheels for a while to no avail. Just as we began to devise alternative methods for getting home, a neighborly gentleman appeared with two wood planks and the know-how to get us loose. Apparently, this kind of thing happens all the time on that hill. He put the planks under the back wheel; B backed onto them, and was able to then pull forward to freedom. The gentleman advised us that were we to park there again, we would be wise to do so facing down the hill. Nice people like that give me the warm fuzzies.

I will never understand why we don’t have the day AFTER the 4th of July off instead. It’s as much of a drinking holiday as New Years.

NEXT WEEKEND: Meeps birthday and Johnny Depp.

July 5, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Filmpinions . Tags: weekend recap . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

Hard Candy

Dom and I saw the premiere of “Hard Candy” last night at the Cinerama. Dom was on the Lion's Gate guest list because, in case you didn't know, he's a really big deal.

Anyway, I really liked the movie. The script was smart and engaging. The constant close-ups lended themselves to a nice, claustrophobic feel (and luckily, the two leads were pretty, so it was nice to be so well acquainted with their faces). One was left questioning where their sympathies lay. Although, in this case, I think that we weren't really meant to empathize with either character, particularly.

What I don't get is all the hype about the movie being “so messed up”. As we were leaving the theatre, I heard people commenting on how “disturbing” and “unsettling” and “dark” it was. Even the producer introduced the movie by thanking Paul Allen for taking a chance on a movie about which “nothing was safe”. Come ON. I can't help but feel that the people who were so disturbed by this movie generally consider, say, “American Beauty” to be as much cinematic darkness as they can stand. And I'm not even talking about people who don't watch horror movies. There are plenty of dramas out there with a much darker view of the human condition. They clearly have never seen anything by Mike Leigh, Roman Polanski or Werner Herzog to name a few. I realise that those films aren't necessarily mainstream, but from the conversations I overheard last night, a lot of the audience considered themselves movie buffs and shouldn't have been so easily shakable.

Baffling.

April 13, 2006
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

V for Vendetta

The Wachowski Brothers get 4 hacks. The first part of V for Vendetta is an unholy mess. They somehow took a very straightforward graphic novel screwed it up. I don’t know why these things surprise me anymore.

Note to filmmakers who adapt graphic novels: the whole thing is basically STORYBOARDED FOR YOU. You don’t need to change anything. You don’t even need to think. It’s a cut and paste job. See “Sin City” for reference.

With someone like Alan Moore, the story and characters are already beloved. They have a built-in box office. They have every fanboy’s wet dream, Natalie Portman attached. They have the badass Hugo Weaving who all of their pre-existing fans love. They didn’t have to DO anything to the story OR the images.

But they did. They made an exciting and thought-provoking story into a flashy chaotic mess. They took a futuristic cautionary tale, a “what might become” situation, and tried to make it into a “what IS” story. Of course, I’m against the Bush regime as much as the next CapHillian, but this was neither the proper forum, nor proper manner for such things. If you have something to say about the modern political climate, Wachowskis, write your own damned script. And leave the fabricated and unnecessary love story out of it.

And you know what? None of this would bother me so much if it weren’t for the fact that, in the middle, they managed to capture some of the original story beautifully. The depiction of V’s back story, the letters that Evey finds in the prison and the bit with the lady doctor were very faithful and very moving. So I KNOW they COULD have done a good job if they’d wanted to. And that is why they don’t get the full 5 hacks that they probably deserve.

But clearly, they didn’t have enough respect for the fans or the source material. They just wanted to blow shit up. I hope they’re happy in the life they’ve chosen.

March 27, 2006
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

contraband sabbatical

WEEKEND RECAP

FRIDAY

Faye and I needed a break from partying. And besides, a half-Cylon baby was being born on BSG, so we decided to have dinner at Kozak’s followed by a night in. A word to the wise about Kozak’s. I know everything on the menu looks really delicious and that might make you think you should order several different items. You shouldn’t. Each entrée and appetizer is enough food for 2-3 people in and of itself. Just make up your mind to come back many times to try everything on the menu and you’ll be better off.

Since Faye made me watch the “House of Wax” remake (which was a remake in name only) on Thursday, I made her watch “Cursed”. “Cursed” was worse than “House of Wax”. (By the way, Mark, we also watched “Dead Serious” on Thursday.). There were two pretty funny parts in “H o W”. There was nothing funny in “Cursed” except, perhaps, Michael Rosenbaum’s hair.

We finished “Cursed” in time for BSG to start. As Borgia is a relative newcomer to the BSG universe, he had many many questions. You don’t realize how much they DON’T dumb down the script for the audience (as they do on, say, Lost) until you watch it with a virgin. I chose a bottle of wine that, based on the packaging, led me to believe that Cylons might drink it. I know, I’m a dork. It was pretty good wine though, for $8.

I was a little disappointed that the Cylon baby looked totally human (unlike the hybrid baby on V). But maybe it will display some weird characteristics later. Like, maybe when it’s nursing, its spine will glow red. Or maybe it will accidentally hurt some other kid on the playground because it doesn’t know its own strength. Of course, since everything on BSG moves slowly, we won’t get to see this kid grow up. I don’t think the kid will grow up Species fast because it seemed like the gestation period was pretty normal. I’m sure all my speculations are fascinating.

SATURDAY

Having gone to bed pretty early the night before, I woke up bushytailed at 9am. Dom and I set about doing a bit of much needed tidying. Then I met Faye at the bus stop so that we could catch a matinee of “Nightwatch” with Andrew at the Neptune.

Andrew was running late and we were running early so we went into Zanadu to kill time, vowing not to buy ANYTHING. Miraculously, we succeeded in leaving empty handed. It wasn’t easy to say no to the Punisher Valentine’s Day issue. Did I mention I have a crush on the Punisher? I don’t know what it is about the hulking, half-crazy chap with a dubious set of morals, but when he’s written by Garth Ennis, he makes me all tingly. Not so much with the Tom Jayne though.

Anywho, Faye bought $20 worth of snacks for everybody and we settled in to watch “Nightwatch”. There was a Russian couple behind us who was very excited about seeing a Russian movie with English subtitles. I don’t blame them. I think there may have been much lost in the translation, because they laughed heartily at a few moments that came off as only mildly amusing to us Americans. They also laughed at the first appearance of the lead, one Konstantin Khabensky. I assume there is some stigma associated with this actor that made his lead role in a Russian Matrix-style trilogy hilarious. Kinda like Keanu is for us? All I know is that I found the guy kinda hot. I realized later that it’s because he reminded me a bit of Steve Coogan. The movie itself wasn’t that great, but I enjoyed it. Andrew really liked it and Faye hated it. We were like the three bears. I agree with Faye’s complaints about it, but they didn’t bother me as much as they bothered her. We were both extremely annoyed by the liberties they took with the subtitles though. Words turned red, were bolded for emphasis, or disappeared behind furniture. It was very distracting and heavy-handed. I’m not terribly motivated to seek out the other two. But I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time or anything.

After the movie, we planned to eat dinner at Araya, but it was still early. Instead, we wandered down to Bulldog news. It only killed a half an hour. So we decided to go into Flowers and do a round or two of shots. Faye and I started with chocolate cake shots, and Andrew, ever the manly man, got straight tequila. For our second round, Faye and I switched to angel food cake shots (which taste pretty similar to chocolate cake shots, but are lighter in color), and Andrew got another tequila. With a pretty good buzz blaring, we walked to Araya which still doesn’t have a liquor license. Last we heard they were applying for it. The waitress made it sound like a big drama transpired and now it was all hopeless. I knew this was bad news because once you start a buzz, it’s not a good idea to stop drinking, lest the sleepiness overtake you.

As per usual in all vegetarian restaurants, Faye and I freaked out a little bit. We’re not used to having EVERYTHING ON THE MENU at our disposal. We settled on 3 entrées and an appetizer to split. Everything was extremely delicious.

We then rushed to a new bar to salvage some of the buzz. Faye was supposed to meet Borg at Big Time, but I convinced everyone to hit Fin McCool’s first because I wasn’t ready to switch to beer. Continuing the evening’s tradition of drinking sorority girl drinks, Faye and I ordered chocolate martinis. I really liked mine, but it was impossible to drink fast. Andrew switched to coffee because he was driving.

Andrew took his leave of us, and Faye and I headed to Big Time. It was too late, however. We had messed up the process and were both tired. Borgia drove us home and I finished out my evening watching Aeon Flux (the cartoon, not the movie), and helping Dom put together a production book.

SUNDAY

Faye, Dom and I interviewed our new set designer for the movie. Then we watched Dom film a bunch of webisodes for his “production diary”. It’s kind of a cheesy motif. Dom is a “mogulsexual” telling people how to dress like a producer, by wearing functional stuff like hoodies and beards. Faye and I were forced to participate in two of the skits.

Then Faye and I headed back to the hill, leaving Dom to his giant pile of work. I stopped briefly at Faye’s to see if her neighbor was out, allowing us to DDR. No such luck. Instead, I went home and made biscuits and gravy, paid some bills, did some mending, and watched some episodes of “American Gothic”. A mellow end to a very mellow weekend. Oh well. It’s good to have those every once in a while. The weird thing is that I’m still just as exhausted today as I am every Monday.

February 27, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Filmpinions, Hug Your Television, I Made Movies . Tags: weekend recap . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

This is most modern and safe way not to cover with shame

Last night I finally watched one of the movies that Mark lent me. It’s called “Threads” and it’s about the destruction of society after a nuclear war. I must admit that it did test my desensitization level. There were some pretty damned disturbing images in there. There was a sporadic narrator and a lot of text which at first made me feel like I was watching an educational video with a narrative thru-line. However, after the bomb dropped the use of stock footage and the quick splicing of images lent it a certain documentary feel. There was no music, just the screams of human agony and the sound of nuclear winter. It’s not often that a violent movie stays with me, but I have a feeling this one will for a while, despite the cheesy freeze-frame ending. Actually, I’m kind of grateful for the freeze-frame because it ushered me out of the horrible images and back into reality. Obviously, it’s not a happy-fun-time Sunday afternoon movie, but I recommend watching it. The realism in it could turn any war monger into a flower-sniffing pacifist. Thanks for sharing, Mark!

title or description

February 22, 2006
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

X3 Preview

One of the blogs I frequent is this guy's comics blog. He pretty much knows EVERYTHING there is to know about the medium so much of the time I don't know what he's talking about, but I learn a lot. He also makes some pretty funny web comics of his own. Here's one he did using pictures from the upcoming Roger Corman-looking X3:

title or description

If only he were writing the script, I would actually be kind of excited to see the thing.

February 14, 2006
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

beaver!

Some of you may know that “The Beaver Trilogy”, something I stummbled upon when I was attempting to watch everything Crispin Glover has ever been in, is a film that is very dear to my heart. I don't know why I never sought to find any more information about it than what was mentioned on director Trent Harris' website. The film is an at once heartbreaking and uplifting experiment in filmmaking, and it leaves me feeling so complete that I guess I never felt much need to persue the subject further. However, today I stumbled upon this article, written shortly after the film premiered at Sundance in 2001, and it gives me even more warm and fuzzy feelings about the film, the director and the subject matter. Some people have thought that the film exploits a confused, mentally unstable young man. I think this article implies what I've always felt; that it is a tribute to someone who dared to be exactly who he wanted to be in an environment that wasn't supportive of such things.

You go, Groovin' Gary!

If you have never seen this movie and the article peaks your interest, let me know. I'd be happy to lend it to you.

January 6, 2006
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

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