Category: Movies

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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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?

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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