Fun Friday on Thursday

I stopped watching Saturday Night Live YEARS ago.....mostly for the simple reason that it's not funny anymore. But this fake PSA with Peyton Manning had me laughing out loud.

The thumb could be coming back...

The greatest film reviewer since Pauline Kael....Roger Ebert seems to be getting better slowly but surely. He's been out of commission due to cancer for some time now. He's always been a favorite film critic of mine (heck, for writing BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS alone) and I've sorely missed checking his website every Friday for his take on the latest flicks hitting the cineplex.

Ebert: Despite setbacks, I am feeling better every day

From suntimes.com

April 3, 2007

BY ROGER EBERT

As I look at the date, I realize I was named film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times 40 years ago Sunday. I had no idea I was embarking on a lifelong career, but I was, and I can't think of a better one.

Now here I am with another milestone. Nine months ago I was leaving Northwestern Memorial Hospital after surgery for salivary-gland cancer. I was planning to be back in action in a few weeks, but unfortunately, there were complications, and more medical procedures resulted. I was in bed so long that I experienced serious deconditioning that led to a stint at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

I began my rehabilitation there, and I am continuing it, along with an overhaul of my general health, at the Pritikin Center in Florida. Also, because of a tracheostomy, my speaking voice is on hold until my upcoming completion surgery. I am feeling better every day and my wife, Chaz, says we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

During this difficult period it was important for me to write some movie reviews for the Sun-Times, and I was happy to continue my Outguess Ebert Oscar predictions contest. It also was important for me to make contributions to WLS-Channel 7, where I am film critic. At "Ebert & Roeper," with my encouragement, we are using a revolving selection of critics and filmmakers to spar with my partner Richard Roeper, and I tune in to the show, just like you, to be entertained and informed. After the autumn publication of Awake in the Dark and Movie Yearbook 2007, I have yet another new book being published this month: Your Movie Sucks, reviews of movies I hated.

I am happy to say my ninth annual Overlooked Film Festival will be held April 25-29 as scheduled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I'll be there, but friends and colleagues will take over the onstage Q&A duties. I'll watch from the audience. I think of the festival as the first step on my return to action.

This has been a long and unexpected ordeal, made better by many kind and gifted doctors and nurses, led by the incomparable Dr. Harold Pelzer and Dr. Robert Havey, and above all by the selfless and loving care of my wife, Chaz.

I plan to gradually increase my duties in the months to come. I still love writing about the movies. Forty years is not enough.

Fun Friday

A horrible movie, but a great scene. The amazing Don Rickles doing what Don does best.

God's Dupes

An all around fanatastic editorial from the L.A. Times by Sam Harris.......God's Dupes.

Reading the line "There is no question that many people do good things in the name of their faith — but there are better reasons to help the poor, feed the hungry and defend the weak than the belief that an Imaginary Friend wants you to do it." brought an enourmous smile and nod from this non-believer. This is just all around good stuff.

Thanks Sam.

PETE STARK, a California Democrat, appears to be the first congressman in U.S. history to acknowledge that he doesn't believe in God. In a country in which 83% of the population thinks that the Bible is the literal or "inspired" word of the creator of the universe, this took political courage.

Of course, one can imagine that Cicero's handlers in the 1st century BC lost some sleep when he likened the traditional accounts of the Greco-Roman gods to the "dreams of madmen" and to the "insane mythology of Egypt."

Mythology is where all gods go to die, and it seems that Stark has secured a place in American history simply by admitting that a fresh grave should be dug for the God of Abraham — the jealous, genocidal, priggish and self-contradictory tyrant of the Bible and the Koran. Stark is the first of our leaders to display a level of intellectual honesty befitting a consul of ancient Rome. Bravo.

The truth is, there is not a person on Earth who has a good reason to believe that Jesus rose from the dead or that Muhammad spoke to the angel Gabriel in a cave. And yet billions of people claim to be certain about such things. As a result, Iron Age ideas about everything high and low — sex, cosmology, gender equality, immortal souls, the end of the world, the validity of prophecy, etc. — continue to divide our world and subvert our national discourse. Many of these ideas, by their very nature, hobble science, inflame human conflict and squander scarce resources.

Of course, no religion is monolithic. Within every faith one can see people arranged along a spectrum of belief. Picture concentric circles of diminishing reasonableness: At the center, one finds the truest of true believers — the Muslim jihadis, for instance, who not only support suicidal terrorism but who are the first to turn themselves into bombs; or the Dominionist Christians, who openly call for homosexuals and blasphemers to be put to death.

Outside this sphere of maniacs, one finds millions more who share their views but lack their zeal. Beyond them, one encounters pious multitudes who respect the beliefs of their more deranged brethren but who disagree with them on small points of doctrine — of course the world is going to end in glory and Jesus will appear in the sky like a superhero, but we can't be sure it will happen in our lifetime.

Out further still, one meets religious moderates and liberals of diverse hues — people who remain supportive of the basic scheme that has balkanized our world into Christians, Muslims and Jews, but who are less willing to profess certainty about any article of faith. Is Jesus really the son of God? Will we all meet our grannies again in heaven? Moderates and liberals are none too sure.

Those on this spectrum view the people further toward the center as too rigid, dogmatic and hostile to doubt, and they generally view those outside as corrupted by sin, weak-willed or unchurched.

The problem is that wherever one stands on this continuum, one inadvertently shelters those who are more fanatical than oneself from criticism. Ordinary fundamentalist Christians, by maintaining that the Bible is the perfect word of God, inadvertently support the Dominionists — men and women who, by the millions, are quietly working to turn our country into a totalitarian theocracy reminiscent of John Calvin's Geneva. Christian moderates, by their lingering attachment to the unique divinity of Jesus, protect the faith of fundamentalists from public scorn. Christian liberals — who aren't sure what they believe but just love the experience of going to church occasionally — deny the moderates a proper collision with scientific rationality. And in this way centuries have come and gone without an honest word being spoken about God in our society.

People of all faiths — and none — regularly change their lives for the better, for good and bad reasons. And yet such transformations are regularly put forward as evidence in support of a specific religious creed. President Bush has cited his own sobriety as suggestive of the divinity of Jesus. No doubt Christians do get sober from time to time — but Hindus (polytheists) and atheists do as well. How, therefore, can any thinking person imagine that his experience of sobriety lends credence to the idea that a supreme being is watching over our world and that Jesus is his son?

There is no question that many people do good things in the name of their faith — but there are better reasons to help the poor, feed the hungry and defend the weak than the belief that an Imaginary Friend wants you to do it. Compassion is deeper than religion. As is ecstasy. It is time that we acknowledge that human beings can be profoundly ethical — and even spiritual — without pretending to know things they do not know.

Let us hope that Stark's candor inspires others in our government to admit their doubts about God. Indeed, it is time we broke this spell en masse. Every one of the world's "great" religions utterly trivializes the immensity and beauty of the cosmos. Books like the Bible and the Koran get almost every significant fact about us and our world wrong. Every scientific domain — from cosmology to psychology to economics — has superseded and surpassed the wisdom of Scripture.

Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music.

Fun Friday continues.....

The great Calvert DeForest as Larry "Bud" Melman on Letterman. Hot towels for folks in the port authority in New York. RIP Larry.

Fun Friday

Proof that Jesus loves the Pittsburgh Penguins

Orson Welles roasts Dean Martin

Orson during a more sober moment roasting the great Dean Martin. His reading of the lyrics to "That's Amore'" is just plain funny.

Drunken Orson Welles

Oh how the mighty have fallen.....

The first great film of 2007

Either you KNOW David Fincher's movies or you don't. What's surprising about his new film ZODIAC is that it's so different from ALL of his previous works. Gone are the flashy camera moves, digital special effect touches, and dense characterization. Gone!

In his latest Fincher goes for 1970's straight ahead storytelling. He unfolds the tale of San Francisco and the town's panic in the grip of a serial killer who's identity was never discovered.

Pacing the story over nearly 3 hours, Fincher takes the time to look at every angle possible. Starting with the killings themselves, then moving slowly into the newspaper and local media's reaction to the communications the killer sends (along with coded messages) then slowly again morphing the media story into the police investigation and then finally doubling back again to the media and finally to one lone man's obsession with discovering the killer.

The film's pace is flawless. Moving from one aspect of the crimes to another and covering almost 20 years of story Fincher never amps things up and gets falsley dramatic or bogs down. His focus on the group of men who are at first curious and later obsessed and haunted by the killer's identity is never lost.

LOST

Nobody I know is watching LOST anymore. Everyone has either become frustrated with the program for moving too slow and not revealing any of the grand mysteries.

I'm still hooked. There every Wednesday night. Leaning forward looking for clues and ideas relating to the 'grand scheme' of the island and The Others that inhabit it.

Absolutely fantastic ending for last week's episode featuring the "search party" and their quest to bring Jack back home to the "beach camp".

Loved our heroes stumbling upon Jack to believe he's running toward them.....only to find him playing FOOTBALL with weird Tom! Genius! Jack apparently is NOT going to be in a hurry to leave.





Locke gets stranger every episode. I'm thinking along these lines.....ever since his faith in the "button" and the computer was shattered along with the implosion of the Hatch....he has a new mission in mind. That is to STAY on the island. Locke believes that the island is the reason he is walking and therefor he is on a mission to blow up any and all means of rescue and getting off the island.

Seeing that preview of next week with Locke holding Ben at gunpoint!! Holy crap! AND we finally find out how Locke ended up in that wheelchair!! Is it Wed night yet??

Jim Rome

This is just plain funny. I love a good television fight.

The greatest news ever.....

Congressman Holds No God-Belief

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) is first Congress member in history to acknowledge his nontheism

For Immediate Release
Contact: Lori Lipman Brown,
March 12, 2007

There is only one member of Congress who is on record as not holding a god-belief.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), a member of Congress since 1973, acknowledged his nontheism in response to an inquiry by the Secular Coalition for America. Rep. Stark is a senior member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is Chair of the Health Subcommittee.

Although the Constitution prohibits religious tests for public office, the Coalition's research reveals that Rep. Stark is the first open nontheist in the history of the Congress. Recent polls show that Americans without a god-belief are, as a group, more distrusted than any other minority in America. Surveys show that the majority of Americans would not vote for an atheist for president even if he or she were the most qualified for the office.

Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America, attributes these attitudes to the demonization of people who don't believe in God. "The truth is," says Silverman, "the vast majority of us follow the Golden Rule and are as likely to be good citizens, just like Rep. Stark with over 30 years of exemplary public service. The only way to counter the prejudice against nontheists is for more people to publicly identify as nontheists. Rep. Stark shows remarkable courage in being the first member of Congress to do so."

In October, 2006 the Secular Coalition for America, a national lobby representing the interests of atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheists, announced a contest. At the time, few if any elected officials, even at the lowest level, would self-identify as a nontheist. So the Coalition offered $1,000 to the person who could identify the highest level atheist, agnostic, humanist or any other kind of nontheist currently holding elected public office in the United States.

In addition to Rep. Stark only three other elected officials agreed to do so: Terry S. Doran, president of the School Board in Berkeley, Calif.; Nancy Glista on the School Committee in Franklin, Maine; and Michael Cerone, a Town Meeting Member from Arlington, Mass.

Surveys vary in the percentage of atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheists in the U.S, with about 10% (30 million people) a fair middle point. "If the number of nontheists in Congress reflected the percentage of nontheists in the population," Lori Lipman Brown, director of the Secular Coalition, observes, "there would be 53-54 nontheistic Congress members instead of one."

CHILDREN OF MEN

If Alfonso Cuaron's new film CHILDREN OF MEN is any indication of what kind of year 2007 will be in film, we are in for a fantastic voyage indeed.

Ok, so technically released in 2006 (to attempt to latch onto Oscar votes and years end "best of" lists) it has only recently seen a wider release in Ohio area theaters. Do yourself a humongous favor and make it a point to see what it truly a remarkable film on the big screen with a decent sound system, both of which will only enhance the film's many strong points.

A dark look at the near future (the year 2027) where the world's youngest living human has just died, and women have been mysteriously stricken infertile for the past 30 years. A strikingly different 'end of the world' scenario than has previously played out in works like Stephen King's novel THE STAND, Boris Sagal's cartoonish film THE OMEGA MAN, or any number of 'post apocalyptic' films like Jean-Pierre Jeunet's DELICATESSEN.

The setting is England where an obvious police state has been enacted and all foreigners have been (and are being) evacuated. England has thrown up the fences, border patrols, and military to keep the country intact and the world at bay. But bombs are going off, underground rebel groups supporting immigrants rights are attacking from within, and civilization seems to be hanging by a thread.

I say "seems to be" for a good reason. Cuaron has structured his film is such a way that we are literally with the protagonist, Theodore Faron played by Clive Owen, from the opening frames of the film to the end. There is very little that happens on screen that is not directly in Theodore's immediate realm of senses. We SEE the backgrounds of the crumbling England, the lines of refugees, the cages, the police, and the occasional bomb....but always in a passive manner. Theodore's been here, seen all this, and observes it with a kind of apathetic detachment. Images like a abandoned elementary school or a spay painted sign reading "Last One Alive In England Turn Out The Lights" may grip us with morbid fascination, but they pass by as quickly as they came.

The central story of CHILDREN OF MEN, which I won't go into too much detail about for fears of spoiling it's many surprises and plot twists, actually brings to mind Michael Cutiz's CASABLANCA. At it's core is the story is of Theodore, the uninterested businessman drone (with echoes of Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL here), drug into Bogart's world of passports, papers, visas, checkpoints, and espionage. It's what Cuaron does with that simple story that sets CHILDREN OF MEN apart from the rest of the cineplex crowd.

By making the decision to tell the entire story through Theodore's eyes Cuaron creates the entire world that his film is set in so utterly believable and immediate that it resonates like no other look at our 'future' we've seen before or since. We hear tidbits of television and radio chatter that give us bits and pieces to go on as far as what state the world is in. There are asides and pieces of conversations that we/Theodore hear about a possible 'flu pandemic' or 'nuclear strikes' in the world, but none that go as far as explaining exactly how mankind has arrived at this point in time.

It's this vague 'just out of reach' look at the world Cuaron has dropped us in that give the film such an amazing feel. From there we follow Theodore on trains, buses, buildings, farms, checkpoints, and hideouts on his given quest of what could be the key to mankind's future.
Sounds heavy, and it is, but Cuaron infuses the action sequences with an immediacy that was unlike anything I'd seen recently at the cinema. Prolonged "one take" camera setups literally thrust the viewer into Theodore's immediate place and time.

Supporting roles of note include yet another interesting character brought to life by Michael Caine. He's an aging 'buck the system' hippie that has dropped out to his house in the woods to watch the world go down while listening to music and partaking in what hippies partake in. Julianne Moore is solid as Theodore's ex who sets the mechanics of the plot in motion with her 'special request' of Theodore.

CHILDREN OF MEN builds to an ending that is more than a little heavy handedly promises the possibility of brighter tomorrows. But it's the trip there, and the frighteningly timely images and reminders along the way that warn us of the possibilities ahead.

Why?

Why is it that the icons of the Christian Religion are constantly popping up in food, water, trees, potatoes, and toast?

Do deities of the Muslim religion make a practice out of popping up on desert plants or Middle Eastern foodstuff to incite a passion in the faithful? Does Ganesh do this? I never hear of Jews getting excited about an apparition of some Old Testament figure in a kosher meal.

Since these Heroes of Christian Literature aren't' REALLY becoming bored in some mystical spirit world and making that snap decision to rally the troops by popping up in a urinal hockey puck or half-burnt piece of grilled cheese......you know, because that's ridiculous, then it all comes down to the Christians themselves.

What is it about Christians that makes them seek out these images in everyday life? Certainly not an amazing phenomena.....I remember picking out teddy bears and rabbits out of cloud formations as a kid. But then I grew up and realized they were just......clouds.

I'm not specifically picking on Christians........at least their current fascination isn't strapping on explosives and taking out shopping centers. I'm more amused than anything.

Crowds Pray To Frozen Virgin Mary In Store Freezer

POSTED: 11:52 am EST January 15, 2007

UPDATED: 12:15 pm EST January 15, 2007

An ice formation inside a Morton, Texas, grocery store's freezer is prompting tears from people who see it and has apparently answered the prayers of some visitors, according to a Local 6 News report.

Morton Thrifty Foods employee Alma Avalos said when she went to the back she noticed that some drops of water from the ceiling had frozen.As more and more people began to hear about the Virgin Mary, they started traveling in droves to see the ice.Some people cried when they spotted the ice and others said it answered their prayers."I had a lump in my breast and yesterday when I went home it disappeared," a woman said. "I don't have it no more."Others said they believe the ice formation is the real thing."There are some really Catholic people that really cherish her and they really know it's her and stuff like that and they are really amazed," visitor Stephanie Santos said.Workers at Morton Thrifty Foods said they will keep the Virgin Mary in the freezer.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story

Marshall

"We Are Marshall" could have used an editor at the very least (and the most a more experienced and talented director wouldn't have hurt).

After a brisk and serviceable set up the movie then spins it's wheels for almost an hour and a half. Scenes of grief, heaped upon scenes of more grief with the occasional redundant scene of one character after another expressing doubt. And grief.

A story on the rebuilding of the football program would have been interesting in and of itself, but instead we are subjected to long drawn out "should we or shouldn't we" scenarios that seep to be on some kind of loop.

Eventually the movie get out of this downward spiral of reveling in despair in time to feature a couple of football games. Neither of which contain anything in the way of surprise or originality.

It's a shame such an interesting and human tale was stripped of all reality and emotion and saddled with every single known cliche' that exists in the sports film handbook.

Top 10

Top 10 for 2006

1) PAN’S LABRYNTH - Guillermo del Toro’s absolutely captivating and spellbinding mix of fantasy and harsh ugly reality clash together in what is truly the best film of the entire year. A young girl is shipped into the woods with her pregnant mother and ferociously violent stepfather to sit out the final days of a savage war. The girl escapes the increasingly ugly reality she is mired in by discovering a world of fantasy in the woods nearby. What first seems like a possible true to life fantasy slowly becomes apparent to the viewer as an allegory and escape for the young protagonist. Breathtaking visuals and a sinister story completely enraptured me like nothing else this year.

2) BRICK – Small independent film that takes the idea of a Philip Marlowe / Sam Spade Film noir and mixes it brilliantly with a High School caste system murder mystery. Without a doubt the greatest dialogue that crackled off of any screen this past year. Every line had me doing double takes and smiling wide…..not just for the sheer invention of the dialogue, but also for the way the young cast pulls it off stone faced and serious. The story, with it’s echoes of David Lynch’s TWIN PEAKS, is interesting enough, but it’s the off-the-wall dialogue and dark comic asides that kept BRICK humming along as a truly one of a kind film.

3) THE DESCENT – With dozens of sub-level quality horror movie remakes overflowing into the theatres week after week one tends to get completely bored with the genre, but then from England comes something new and somewhat original. THE DESCENT gathers together a cast of interesting and intelligent characters on a spelunking vacation. Points right off the bat for a collection of characters in a horror movie that don’t feature dumb, oversexed, yawn-inducing teenagers. The movie moves from there into somewhat familiar horror movie territory, but it does so with a flair and originality that keeps the viewer locked in. Amazing cinematography and editing add to the flavor of a movie that keeps hope alive for the fledgling horror genre.

4) V FOR VENDETTA – Another genre taking a beating is the comic book scene. Overblown and over hyped, it’s product this past year went from the bad (FANTASTIC FOUR) to the ultimately bland (SUPERMAN RETURNS). The overlooked V FOR VENDETTA featured some crisp dialogue (dig that opening speech by our masked ‘hero’), handsome photography, and a plot that made a hero out of a terrorist. Hard to believe they pulled it off in the year of UNITED 93 and WORLD TRADE CENTER, but they did. Features the sharp action and big explosions that are necessary for the genre, but also slipped in enough political commentary and social satire to have it rise above the heap.

5) LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE – One of two straight up comedies to make my list this year, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE surprised with it’s dead on cast and snappy scenarios that brought it to life. I went in expecting some kind of half baked rip off of the films of Wes Anderson, but was surprised at how real and human the characters onscreen were. Alan Arkin shines as a loving but loopy grandfather, and Steve Carrell continues to impress in everything he does. The film builds to an obvious satire of the all-too-easy to ridicule world of beauty pageants, but once again rises above the expectations with a wicked and hilarious gut punch of a climax.

6) HARD CANDY – I’m a sucker for a movie that had the guts to be something completely different or experimental in tone and style. HARD CANDY is that type of movie. Featuring basically a cast of just two characters, it weaves it’s wicked story of an internet predator and his not-quite-so naïve’ prey into an edge of your seat drama of cat and mouse. I was never quite sure where the story was going, and that was 99% of the fun. So many movies are easy to map out from their opening moments, when one comes along that truly keeps you following along wondering where the road is leading it’s something to behold.

7) A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION – One doesn’t’ need to be a fan of Garrison Keillor’s 30 year long radio program to enjoy Robert Altman’s final film, but it helps. On one hand it’s a look at small town ideals, family, friends, and down-home values, it’s also a very close look at death and The End of things. The characters weave around backstage preparing their LAST radio show after years together while all the while contemplating togetherness, relationships, and ultimately death. If there was ever an absolutely perfect last film for a director and artist that has given us so much, Robert Altman’s PHC is that movie.

8) THE DEPARTED – For his return to the world of Cops and Robbers, Martin Scorcese chose to remake a popular Chinese gangster movie called INFERNAL AFFAIRS. Sticking surprisingly close to the original, Scorcese’s remake gains it’s own respect through his top notch cast. Matt Damon has truly never been better and turns in one of the strongest performances of the year as the undercover gangster as cop. Leonardo DeCaprio matches him scene for scene as his doppelganger, the undercover gangster as cop. The supporting cast of Marin Sheen, Mark Whalberg, and of course Jack Nicholson make the whole thing go down smooth. Even with it’s predictably happier American ending (as opposed to the original’s downbeat epilogue) THE DEPARTED still rings out as a great gangster tale. It also has what is probably the most humorous last shot of any film this past year.

9) BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT THE GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN – Without a doubt the greatest title of any movie this past year, it’s also the hands down FUNNIEST movie of the year. Ignore those saying it’s a fantastic social commentary on America and Americans…..it’s actually just an excuse for the great Sacha Baron Coen to run amok Candid Camera style with his wicked Borat persona. From beginning to end Borat features more genuine laugh out loud moments than any dozed Hollywood comedies.

10 CASINO ROYALE – A huge surprise to myself, having not sat through a James Bond movie since Roger Moore battled Christopher Walken in A VIEW TO A KILL, I was shocked at how original and immediate this film has made the Bond legend. Daniel Craig’s completely and utterly original take on the character infuses the series with a new life and originality not seen in literally decades.

Mann oh mann

MIAMI VICE - Michael Mann is KNOWN for making hard edged ‘cop films’ like HEAT, THIEF, COLLATERAL and MANHUNTER. His latest, MIAMI VICE, is no exception. Dark and edgy with a great ‘undercover cop’ story that takes it’s time to focus on the characters as well as the bursts of action. Makes a perfect double feature with any of the other above mentioned Mann classics. Grade : B+

MONSTER HOUSE - A surprisingly fun animated film focusing on the “scary neighborhood house”, which turns out to actually BE a monster. Very imaginative story with nods to many an 80's classic kid flick. The animation starts out a little on the sketchy side, but by the end becomes a thing of almost 3-D splendor. Grade B

CARS - The latest (and last as far as the original ‘team’ is concerned) from the endlessly talented folks at Pixar. I wasn’t expecting much as I hate Cars, racing, and the like, but was pleasantly surprised to find a very well work story given a fresh coat by the talented voice cast and unbelievably fantastic animation. Grade B

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON - A look at a case of pure creativity. Watching this documentary on the mentally disturbed singer/songwriter Johnston (kind of a poor man’s Brian Wilson if you will) it would seem that he was just born to create. From Super 8 home movies, to paintings, drawings, songs, albums, pictures, recordings......Johnston seems to have just always been a human art output machine. With so MUCH being created, it’s not all up the lofty quality that some critics lather him with, but he does have talent. It’s just all mangled up in that busy beautiful mind of his. Grade B+

One day off means Movie Fun!

Paul Schraeder's CAT PEOPLE - Can't believe this is the same director who wrote TAXI DRIVER and made AFFLICTION. What a mess. Egads. Grade : F

Alan Arkin's LITTLE MURDERS - 1970's New York look at society and what it is slowly becoming with people afraid to communicate with one another and violence growing on the streets. Based on a play, so the movie comes across a little claustrophobic and absurd at times.....but featured some great performances and interesting ideas. Grade : B

Rian Johnson's BRICK - An utterly fantastic little independent film from this year. A murder mystery set in a California high school done completely in the tone and dialogue of a 1940's Humphrey Bogart / Raymond Chandler style book / film. The dialogue just exploded off the screen and the story was engrossing and kept you guessing at all the right times. Grade : A

Brian DePalma's DRESSED TO KILL - DePalma's fun takeoff of Hitchcock's PSYCHO. It follows PSHYCO'S formula....right down to the shower scene, killed off main character, whacky psychiacric explanations, and hey....even cross dressing. So is it worth it, when we already have Hitchcock? Sure. Depalma is in full "showoff" mode here with great silky sliding camerawork, and lots of gratutious sex and violence. And Michael Caine. In a dress.
Grade : B

Robert Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE - More fun with the now late great Altman. Elliot Gould plays Philip Marlowe in the 1970's.....chain smoking and sarcastically reacting to even the strangest of situations swirling around him. Altman fills the frame with rotten cops, Sterling Hayden, dogs, naked lesbians, thugs, drunks, and Marlowe's quest for catfood. As offbeat as they come, but never boring and always amusing. Grade : B+

Film Fun

Guillermo del Toro's PAN'S LABYRINTH (2006) - Absolute genius. A beautiful, dark, violent, and engrossing fantasy film. Like nothing else out there. Grade A+

Park Chan-wook’s LADY VENGENCE (2005) - The conclusion to Chan-wool's "Vengeance Trilogy", this ended up just being a little more of the same. Great visuals, but a limp storyline. Grade C

John Boorman’s POINT BLANK (1967) - Existential as$ kicking starring the cold Lee Marvin. Kind of a cold and distant movie....but Marvin's character's single mindedness of his existence was kind of fun. Grade B

Robert Altman’s CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974) - Loose improvised gambling flick from the man who only knows how to make loose and improvised films. Breezy, light, and fun. For once Altman seems to get all the pieces right......including a nice quiet understated ending. Grade A-

Spike Lee’s SUMMER OF SAM (1999) - A little unfocused. Not quite a movie ABOUT the Son OF Sam as much as it is about the neighborhood and the effect the killings had. But the movie even fails to keep that storyline focused well. Grade C-

Stephen Spielberg’s DUEL (1971) - Checking in on where it all began for a young dude named Spielberg. Fun Movie Of The Week about a small car being hassled by a large dirty truck. Even this early it was obvious there was nobody better with pure story than our boy Steve. Grade B+

Oliver Stone’s U-TURN (1997) - A big loud mess of an Oliver Stone movie. Characters come and go, the camera swoops and cuts, storylines pop up and drop out. Yet some how the whole thing keeps moving. Grade C+

David Gregory’s THE GODFATHERS OF MONDO (2003) - Solid little "talking head" documentary on the birth of the "Mondo" movie and it's creators. The bad reputation of the "mondo" movie is surprisingly undeserved, as this doc shows it's humble beginnings and honest creators. Grade B

Russ Meyer’s UP! (1976) - Like a loony toons cartoon come to life. With nudity. This was surprisingly graphically violent for Russ. Not nearly as slapstick as his earlier films, and therefore, not nearly as fun. Grade C+

Robert Rodriguez’s SIN CITY : THE DIRECTOR’S CUT (2005) - I couldn't tell you what the difference between this and the theatrical cut was. Seem the same to me. Still a fascinating film to look at. Truly, truly, there is NO other movie that looks quite like this. Grade B