Thoughts on movies

Saw No Country For Old Men (SPOILERS BELOW) last night, and along with Grindhouse, I can't remember liking two films this much in the same year. I'm an admitted Coen bros. junkie, and it's nice to see them return to drama after several years making relatively simple comedy.




It's also nice, though unsettling at first, to experience the departure from the Coen bros. norm that this film was. They abandoned their usually dialogue-heavy style in favor of extremely sparse dialogue, totally in keeping with the sparse landscape. Bravo, boys. Even with quiter films like Barton Fink, the dialogue wasn't THIS tangential to the tension. Here, what few snappy bits of dialogue were generally tossed in to lighten the mood a bit after a particularly harrowing scene, or to demonstrate weakness (Hi Woody).

A couple other thoughts-
I LOVED how they built up Woody Harrelson to be this bad motherfucker, and make you expect him to act all nice and then take the film to a whole new level of crazy, and then POW! 10 minutes later he's dead, and a total wuss about being dead. Awesome.

Loved the ending, that left the viewer as unsatisfied as Tommy Lee Jones. The world ain't formulaic- if it was, Jones would be able to understand the crime he's facing. Basically, the anti-Lord of the Rings approach.

Trailers:
City of Men looks awesome and all, but I gotta give credit the geniuses (perverts) who came up with TEETH.



UPDATE - I like to think that the casting director for Teeth had the easiest job in the world. Just use the Snakes on a Plane approach- by stating the three word premise (man-eating pussy), you could lure anyone you wanted for this film. Also, bravo IMDB for applying these tags. I think that list could be used as a barometer of humanity- and it speaks worlds about mine that I LOVE that list.

I forsee a fun-filled evening double feature of Machete/Teeth in my future.

Additional holiday treats

The Onion seems to have put most of its best writing into the shameless commerce division. Their merch has never been better. Consider the genius that is the fake gift boxes.
Or the beautiful simplicity of this.

A special holiday wish...

From special guest, Steve Martin.

Come On! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance!

Ok, an update to my earlier item about Xmas music. The random Sufjan Xmas song to insert is Come On! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance!

hijack a snowplow
clear out the streets
tell all the neighbors
there's cookies to eat

Now that's writing.

Apatow Powow

I admit, I haven't yet drank the Judd Apatow kool-aid. 40 yr virgin was ok, but didn't come close to the hype. As a result, I pretty much ignored knocked up and superbad.

That said, I got pretty excited immediately upon hearing about Walk Hard, if only because John C. Reilly's chance at a star turn in comedy is LONG overdue. He's the best part of every single movie he's ever been in.

In other Walk Hard news, this.

Photo request

Here you go, as requested, photos will be uploaded soon.

Hank Azaria is the best

Good clip from an interview on the process of creating a new character.
Essentially, all his characters are just slight variations of bad impersonations he does.
Love it.

Song of the moment: Hong Kong

I just discovered Gorillaz' track "Hong Kong". It's off one of those Help! benefit albums, which are almost universally terrible. I actually stumbled upon it while researching Damian Jurado of all people. Anyway, it's beautiful. Give a listen.

Holiday song wish list

Here's some songs that have yet to be made:

We Three Pimps
Jingle Crack Rock
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Alky
Cameltoe and Missiles (a tribute to the brave fighting women of our armed forces)
All I Want For Christmas is a $2 Whore.
Silent Snitch
Frosty the Pervert
I Jacked it to Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Get Behind Me, Santa!*






*Note: Sufjan did it

Happy Holidays for your ears

So I was hoping this post would be about my recent two weeks in Spain. Alas, I have yet to pick up the new hard drive that will allow uploading of teh pics. So that'll have to wait. Instead, I'd like to take a moment to discuss something that resulted upon my return.

Yep, it's December.

I left pre-thanksgiving, and returned on December 2. This means that I was jarred straight into pre-xmas hell on my return, with none of the build up. Holiday shopping PR is already in full on blitzkreig mode. The worst part about holiday shopping season is the fucking music. I have a lifelong hatred of Xmas music, and this hatred is at its most virulent when some company bastardizes the words to some terrible fucking song to hock more shit that no one needs.

With that in mind, here's my top 5 holiday songs, all-time:

Top 5 Xmas Songs

1. Christmas at the Zoo – The Flaming Lips
2. Happy Xmas (War is Over) – John Lennon
3. I’m Fucking Santa – Lady Raptastic
4. Insert random Sufjan holiday song here
5. I don’t know, Silent Night or White Christmas or some shit that I barely tolerate.
∞. Grandma Got Runover By A Reindeer
∞+1. Jingle Bell Rock (yes, the Arcade Fire version too)

Finally, here's my holiday wish list:
1. matchbox lexus with a bigass red ribbon (reigning champion wish from past three years)
2. post-diamond bj with none of the "actual" diamond guilt or debt. (New ad campaign: "Zales. That'll shut her up").
3. Radiohead tickets
4. Portable/waterproof Ipod speakers
5. Sick professional chef's knife kit or a professional saucier or something like that.