POLARITY 190
this entry brought to you by the streets, "war of the sexes"
THE GOOD
The Squid and the Whale Jeff Daniels, one of the most underrated actors of his generation, deserved an Oscar nomination for his role as Bernard Berkham, a once well-known writer who's success is in a slump and his family is falling apart due to a divorce. The movie's plot essentially follows how it effects all those involved. Dad becomes bitter and ignores his youngest son, the mother (Laura Linney, who doesn't get much here but is charming as always) goes into denial that this is having any effect on her sons, the youngest son begins to go more than a little crazy, and the oldest son grows aggressively resentful towards his mom. Despite having a heavy subject matter and the fact that every character is selfish, nasty, but ultimately lost and confused, Squid and the Whale has an easy-going, nearly whimsical tone, like a slightly more down-to-earth Wes Anderson movie. The effect director Noah Baumbach seems to be going for is, while these people, particularly dad, seem to be bad people, this is, ultimately, how life is, and while it is everything you should not do in a divorce, the movie works so eloquently because the characters are all so human, and different people will relate to different parts because of it.
Coachella this year Three years ago when we first tried to go, Radiohead was performing, as well as a few dozen other bands I wanted to see-- well, hell, day 1 tickets were 75 bucks by themselves, and I'd pay 75 bucks to see just Radiohead. But, seeing as how I've got a three-year-old and all, I couldn't just buy tickets and be done with it. I ndeed to make sure everything was taken care of. And then, a full week before the concert, I got online to buy tickets, and they're sold out! What kind of festival sells out?! The next year when Nine Inch Nails played we had the whole car fiasco so going wasn't even an option. But this year, with Tool headlining, I've already got tickets and a hotel booked. We're only going day 2, but we're going to see Tool and Sleater-Kinney!
The Silent Hill Movie I've been home from watching Silent Hill for a few hours, so you can expect a full review within the next couple days. Despite that I probably shouldn't have gone out to see it, what with being so emotionally invested, I did anyway, and though I did have problems with it, I ended up being pretty satisfied with it as a movie, and mostly satisfied as a fan of the video game. However, Rottentomatoes.com has it rated at a completely devastating 29%, and while I don't expect Roger Ebert to like it (he who has famously once said that movies based on video games will always be shit because video games can't possibly come anywhere near approaching emotional depth), I have absolutely no clue why it would score so lowly. And I wish people would stop writing about it being a video game movie, because while that is true, not only is it the best video game movie to date, it is also nothing like any other video game movie. It's positively infuriating. On the other hand, the user reviews of the movie tend to be extremely high-- 78% at Rottentomatoes, but the majority of those people tend to remark about how awesome it is that it's so frigging gorey, so I barely consider their opinion worthwhile. Still, the movie is good, and not for the gore, but because of how unique it is and how positively deep the plot is.
Animal Crossing: Wild World online Getting to someone else's town, which requires swapping codes (a neccesary evil considering the evil things you could do to someone else's game if you didn't like them) could be easier. And chatting completely sucks. And once you get to their town you pretty much only can do the same things you do in your own town. Somehow, this is the recipe to total awesomeness.
The title to Eagles of Death Metal's new album Their original was called Peace, Love, Death Metal, which was excellent. Their new one is called Death By Sexy, which is just about the best album title ever.
THE BAD
The gay love scene in Brokeback Mountain I consider myself a really mature guy, and I'm very secure in my sexuality. Brokeback Mountain wasn't the kind of movie my wife had to convince me to see-- I actively wanted to watch it. And I ended up loving it even more than I originally thought I would-- expect a Polarity review soon. But yeah, about the gay love scene. I thought I was mature enough to handle a simulated gay sex scene. As expected, while intense, the scene isn't graphic, and I'd figured I'd be fine. And I was. Until Heath Ledger does this one move. With Gyllenhaal bent over, he licks his two first fingers and plunges them off camera in you know where. I'm cool with man flesh hitting man flesh. But lubing up buttholes is where I draw the damned line! To balance things out, both the gorgeous Anne Hathaway and the equally gorgeous Michelle Williams expose their lovely breasts, which made it all okay. Not to be a pig or anything, but I thought the breast exposure deserved a rewind, which is something I never do. Not on a first viewing, anyway.
The smoothie-for-breakfast diet The truth is, I love having 48 ounces of delicious smoothie for breakfast. The problem is that I have to pee six or seven times before lunch.
Matisyahu Maybe Matisyahus is the second coming of reggae music. Maybe he's a frigging genius. I wouldn't know. I can't get past how fucking terrible reggae music is.
Lucy Liu You know, even back during her Charlie's Angels days, I never thought she was all that hot.
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with love from CRS @ 10:38 PM
Monday, April 24, 2006
THE GOOD
The Squid and the Whale Jeff Daniels, one of the most underrated actors of his generation, deserved an Oscar nomination for his role as Bernard Berkham, a once well-known writer who's success is in a slump and his family is falling apart due to a divorce. The movie's plot essentially follows how it effects all those involved. Dad becomes bitter and ignores his youngest son, the mother (Laura Linney, who doesn't get much here but is charming as always) goes into denial that this is having any effect on her sons, the youngest son begins to go more than a little crazy, and the oldest son grows aggressively resentful towards his mom. Despite having a heavy subject matter and the fact that every character is selfish, nasty, but ultimately lost and confused, Squid and the Whale has an easy-going, nearly whimsical tone, like a slightly more down-to-earth Wes Anderson movie. The effect director Noah Baumbach seems to be going for is, while these people, particularly dad, seem to be bad people, this is, ultimately, how life is, and while it is everything you should not do in a divorce, the movie works so eloquently because the characters are all so human, and different people will relate to different parts because of it.
Coachella this year Three years ago when we first tried to go, Radiohead was performing, as well as a few dozen other bands I wanted to see-- well, hell, day 1 tickets were 75 bucks by themselves, and I'd pay 75 bucks to see just Radiohead. But, seeing as how I've got a three-year-old and all, I couldn't just buy tickets and be done with it. I ndeed to make sure everything was taken care of. And then, a full week before the concert, I got online to buy tickets, and they're sold out! What kind of festival sells out?! The next year when Nine Inch Nails played we had the whole car fiasco so going wasn't even an option. But this year, with Tool headlining, I've already got tickets and a hotel booked. We're only going day 2, but we're going to see Tool and Sleater-Kinney!
The Silent Hill Movie I've been home from watching Silent Hill for a few hours, so you can expect a full review within the next couple days. Despite that I probably shouldn't have gone out to see it, what with being so emotionally invested, I did anyway, and though I did have problems with it, I ended up being pretty satisfied with it as a movie, and mostly satisfied as a fan of the video game. However, Rottentomatoes.com has it rated at a completely devastating 29%, and while I don't expect Roger Ebert to like it (he who has famously once said that movies based on video games will always be shit because video games can't possibly come anywhere near approaching emotional depth), I have absolutely no clue why it would score so lowly. And I wish people would stop writing about it being a video game movie, because while that is true, not only is it the best video game movie to date, it is also nothing like any other video game movie. It's positively infuriating. On the other hand, the user reviews of the movie tend to be extremely high-- 78% at Rottentomatoes, but the majority of those people tend to remark about how awesome it is that it's so frigging gorey, so I barely consider their opinion worthwhile. Still, the movie is good, and not for the gore, but because of how unique it is and how positively deep the plot is.
Animal Crossing: Wild World online Getting to someone else's town, which requires swapping codes (a neccesary evil considering the evil things you could do to someone else's game if you didn't like them) could be easier. And chatting completely sucks. And once you get to their town you pretty much only can do the same things you do in your own town. Somehow, this is the recipe to total awesomeness.
The title to Eagles of Death Metal's new album Their original was called Peace, Love, Death Metal, which was excellent. Their new one is called Death By Sexy, which is just about the best album title ever.
THE BAD
The gay love scene in Brokeback Mountain I consider myself a really mature guy, and I'm very secure in my sexuality. Brokeback Mountain wasn't the kind of movie my wife had to convince me to see-- I actively wanted to watch it. And I ended up loving it even more than I originally thought I would-- expect a Polarity review soon. But yeah, about the gay love scene. I thought I was mature enough to handle a simulated gay sex scene. As expected, while intense, the scene isn't graphic, and I'd figured I'd be fine. And I was. Until Heath Ledger does this one move. With Gyllenhaal bent over, he licks his two first fingers and plunges them off camera in you know where. I'm cool with man flesh hitting man flesh. But lubing up buttholes is where I draw the damned line! To balance things out, both the gorgeous Anne Hathaway and the equally gorgeous Michelle Williams expose their lovely breasts, which made it all okay. Not to be a pig or anything, but I thought the breast exposure deserved a rewind, which is something I never do. Not on a first viewing, anyway.
The smoothie-for-breakfast diet The truth is, I love having 48 ounces of delicious smoothie for breakfast. The problem is that I have to pee six or seven times before lunch.
Matisyahu Maybe Matisyahus is the second coming of reggae music. Maybe he's a frigging genius. I wouldn't know. I can't get past how fucking terrible reggae music is.
Lucy Liu You know, even back during her Charlie's Angels days, I never thought she was all that hot.
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