Late Night

I watch a lot of films or movies or whatever I happen to stumble across on Netflix or Amazon prime. It really just depends on the mood that I am in I suppose. There are times when I watch episode after episode of different television programs, sometimes they are documentaries or travel shows and sometimes they are cooking shows but the cooking shows tend to not be watched as often as the travel ones. It really just depends on what I have going on inside my brain.

This Is it - Kenny Loggins

Sometimes I wake up at 2:30 in the morning with a nasty case of heartburn and realize that sleep is going to be a fleeting thing. So I lay there in the dark for awhile. The thoughts come and go. They touch down in my brain like one of those water bugs and skitter away. I do not try to actively grab them. They land and leave again. Some leave more of a mark then others do but I am never sure what it is that is going to stick and leave it's mark. I just never know.

Whenever I Call You "Friend" - Kenny Loggins

Today I spent a lot of time. Some might say too much time. Thinking about film and music that exists within the films. I love music and I love when a film and a song can tie together so beautifully that you forget that you are watching a movie and you are just involved in the experience of the scene. Now some people call the video montage cheating in a film. But as far as I am concerned film is a visual medium and it is not an easy thing to pick a song that actually works in a montage. As I was pondering this today it occurred to me that a lot of the montages that I like are from films that were inspirational in the nature of the montage. It may be that this thought crossed my mind because I just watched both the original and the remake of "Footloose" this week. But, the thing is. I like these songs and these scenes but it isn't in an ironic way. I just plain like them.

Footloose - Kenny Loggins

I like the way everything fits together. In the case of Footloose and Kenny Loggins it is the final dance sequence that just works. It is supremely silly. I mean this is a prom filled with kids who have lived in a town for 5 to 6 years where there was no dancing. But, that does not stop them. When Ren storms back in and yells 'Let's dance!" and the magical glitter fills the air, these kids start to break it down and you start to believe that you can dance as well. You are transported for a moment out of yourself and you can really feel the power of the dance and fun that these kids are having. That is why I love film and the experience that amazing film can bring you. Sometimes it is just a scene. It is not the whole film. Footloose is a good example of that because really the film as a whole is not a very good one. But oh there are moments when it is transcendent.

Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins

There are bad montages in films as well there is no doubt about that. It can often be as simple as picking the wrong song or even the correct song but the actual scene itself just doesn't work or doesn't make any sense at all. One of my favorite slow motion montage scenes is in 'The Royal Tenenbaums' when Margo steps off of the green line bus to pick up Richie. The song is by Nico and it is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen.

These Days - Nico

It may be for me the whole impact of the film itself and I do believe that Wes Anderson is a master when it comes to doing this. He operates at a totally different level when it comes to doing this. There are no other directors that even come close to what he can achieve in just a few moments of film. I could fill several pages worth just about that. So good.

Top Gun Volleyball Scene

Now this would be a scene that just doesn't work. It is both unintentionally comic and in someways unintentionally homo-erotic, not that there is anything wrong with that. The whole film Top Gun is filled with bad montage sequences that are either action filled or romantic. It is pretty pathetic all things considered. In fact some might be willing to argue that this movie wrecked the whole idea of a montage. But I may be making to much of it. Though, can you blame me? I am a blogger and that is what bloggers do. I just choose to do it about music and film as opposed to politics or things that can really make me crazy.

Footloose - Dance scene warehouse

You go Ren, dance that anger out of you.

Hot Rod Dance Scene

Hmm a spoof or an homage? Either way, Hot Rod is an awesome film and you should watch it.

Thanks for listening to my ramble folks. I sometimes think of myself as spewing out a lot of mumbo jumbo but a very nice girl told me that no mumbo jumbo comes out of my mouth. I thought that was a nice thing to say. So I am going to choose to remember that and keep doing what I do. Have a good Sunday folks.

Cemetery Junction

I am just now finishing a film that I discovered on Netflix streaming. It was written and directed by the talented duo Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant the team behind the rightfully celebrated BBC's 'The Office'. I am stunned that I had never heard of this film before and am wondering why it didn't get released in the USA. I LOVE THIS FILM.

Often, when I really like a film, there is a sense of sadness when it ends because much like a good book I do not want it to be over. This is that film for me.

I really do not know what to say about it. I think it has nearly a perfect soundtrack and for me when the film and the music work together it is almost a transcendent experience for me. I really do not have much more to say then I would love it if you tracked this film down and watched it. I do not think you will regret it. 

It's All In The Details

Well, this was an interesting film. It is a dark, I will say double dark, comedy but not as dark as 1998's Very Bad Things. It also isn't as funny. I am not sure what too say about the film because overall the performances were all very good in the film. The lead was played by Tobey Maguire and the supporting cast was made up of Elizabeth Banks, Ray Liotta and Laura Linney. All very, very solid along with the rest of the cast that had smaller roles.

But while the performances were good and the film looked good on a technical level. The story didn't hold my attention. I basically checked out halfway through and I had to fight falling asleep. It really started to drag in the 2nd act and I felt that it never regained it's steam. The story itself had lots to say about what goes on underneath the surface of a person and the surface of a relationship. Those are good questions to ask and they are good topics for a film. The closest film I can think of that asks those questions is David Lynch's Blue Velvet. Now I know that it isn't at all fair of me to compare this film to Blue Velvet and I am not going to do that, other then to note the similarity of the overall issues that they share in terms of subject matter.

Tobey Maguire's character seems to be trying to do the right thing in life but things just seem to be getting worse and worse and spiraling out of his control. If we/he ever even had control to begin with. but that is a conversation left for another time and another film. This is a film that will leave you thinking and pondering the implications of the choices that the characters make. But it for sure is not a film for everyone and if you like your films to end all neat and tidy then this is not the film for you. It ends messy and with some unanswered questions....much like life does.

Much like the film left me, I can't tell you if I enjoyed it or not or even if I would recommend it too anyone except those who really want to see every Elizabeth Banks or Ray Liotta film. If you are a Tobey Maguire fan from the Spiderman films you would be wise to skip this one. It is rated R but basically that seems to be for language and a little bit of violence. There is no nudity though there is sexual activity and it is playing right now at Salem Cinema. 

Thrown for a Loop by the Master

I went to see a couple of films in the last few days. On Sunday I went up to Bridgeport in Lake Oswego and watched the Paul Thomas Anderson film, "The Master". I am not really sure what to say about that, other then that it was an interesting experience.

The film itself is beautifully crafted and visually amazing. The story on the other hand is kind of aimless and pretty twisted. It is loosely the story of a lost and sad man who has no focus or direction in life. He has a serious drinking and anger problem and then one day he meets basically an L Ron Hubbard type of character. There are some definite similarities between the group that The Master runs and Scientology. But that really isn't the point and the story doesn't really focus on that as much as the relationship between the Jaquin Phoenix character and The Master who is played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. I really think that both of these men will be nominated for best actor Oscars and honestly I think Phillip Seymour deserves to win. He just does an amazing job. I realize that this film in not for everyone but I liked this film and it deserves to be seen even if it is a little hard to watch at times. I think sometimes the best films are a little hard to watch and that is what makes them great because they invoke feelings and cause you to think about its effect on you.

Then last night I went to my usual Tuesday night $5 movie house Cinebarre and watched the "Looper". The science fiction film starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

 The bottom line, and it is hard to find a bottom line in a science fiction time travel film, I really, really enjoyed it. The future world that it is set in I found fascinating and very interesting. It wasn't set so far into the future that it was inaccessible for the viewer and because of that it wasn't dependent on a ton of special effects or computer blue screen effects. In fact, that aspect of it made me interested enough in things to want to find out about the world and the future in which the film is set. Why things were that way and what caused them. I like a film that doesn't feel the need to explain every little thing to me and in this case as one of the characters in the film said...we get into that and then we start diagramming things on the table with straws. It is enough to know the basics of the story. I am sure there are probably some logic gaps and things that the cine-phile might find annoying but I really found this too be an enjoyable film. The action sequences are well done and in such a way that the violence has an impact. That is something that I wish more directors did. In cinema, often less is more. I am being a little vague as too plot because it will be more fun for you if you are a little surprised by things. I say if you are looking for some science fiction and some action then go see this film. I think you will enjoy it.

Film Friday

I did not see any movies this week. I was otherwise occupied. I apologize for this.

So instead I give you this article from 2009 about the film SLC PUNKS.

I just watched SLC Punk I had forgotten what an interesting movie that it is. If you like punk music the soundtrack alone is worth listening to. But that really is not the most interesting aspect of the movie. It is really an existential exploration of what the punk movement meant to people in the 1980's. Or more accurately what punk meant to one man.

I would put it into the same category as Fight Club because it really is asking what a person is supposed to do as they move from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. It is really a question of how do you stay authentic within a scene like that when to be authentic is to not move forward in life. As the characters in the film grow older they begin to split apart and cracks start to form in their friendships as the real world starts to intrude on the adolescent existence.

A girl in the movie finally asks the main character why he is trying so hard to look a certain way. She says wouldn't it be more rebellious to just leave your hair alone and not spend all your time trying to find punky clothes to wear. She had realized that the whole scene was dying and had become basically one big Halloween party where everyone was beginning to look exactly the same. That is the problem with any group movement when people have to start wearing a uniform to be what they think is an individual.

That is the sad nature of the punk scene today. I see these kids roaming around the town looking exactly like the punks did when I was in highschool. Nothing has changed. The world hasn't been destroyed. The system of capitalism hasn't fallen apart. Corporate Amerika hasn't eaten itself (though it might in the future) . There is no scene, nothing is original anymore it is only a variant on what has gone before. It isn't about selling out or even buying in.

It is just about doing what you want to do and not being worried about whatever particular scene you want to fit into.

GOOD DAY!!

Film Friday

So I went to see "The Hangover II" this week. Now for me it was not really a choice. I love Zach Galifianakis and I really enjoyed the first film. That being said I am not sure that I will be on board for the third. But I am not here to talk about the problems with sequels. I have rattled on about that before.

I wanted to talk about the music in the movie. I am always amazed when I see a film and the music that they chose for it is so effective. I do not know if I am just more affected by it then others but most of the time I just love a good music montage. I know most people feel like it is lazy directing to use one but there are times that it can work so effectively and often with songs that you wouldn't think would even work in the movie that they are being used in. I am also a big fan of music parody as well. That is if they are done intelligently with some cleverness. But in films when the music is correctly tied with the scene it can be breathtaking and tear jerking. Here are some of my favorites in no particular order of preference.



I love when this cuts into the slow motion. One of the few films that I actually like Gwenneth Paltrow in.



This just makes me hurt. I really think Wes Anderson is a genius when it comes to his use of music in film. "The Royal Tenenbaums is amazing because of that.



Back before Jack Black became a caricature of himself. I love "High Fidelity"



The visuals are just amazing in this one. The movie goes on a little long but there are some amazing scenes in it.



Amazing, amazing scene. Not much I can say about how effective this is.



So many great scenes set to music in "Almost Famous". I think this maybe Camron Crowes best film.



This scene makes me want to love Kate Hudson. It just works.

There are many, many scenes that I could have shown you. I may have to do this again. You guys have a good weekend and see a movie.

Stealing or a Tribute

I just read an interesting article here about the 'Simpsons' and 'Family Guy' talking about joke stealing. Here it is. I believe it is safe for work. But then again my opinion on that may be a little off since my HR person is wearing pajamas and drinking a cup of coffee at his desk right now. In fact I am not sure he is even wearing shoes. (What do we pay that guy for anyway?)

But, back to the topic at hand. I have railed in the past about television and movies and novels and people stealing from each other. At this point I will turn and look pointedly at James Cameron. But I have used a stick on that dead horse before so I will not rehash the old argument.

I guess it makes me wonder is there anything new out or is everything that is being in the creative entertainment industry a rip off or an homage to something that came before? Is it better or at least more tolerable if the person doing the ripping off acknowledges it as such or calls it a tribute? I know that as far as I am concerned it becomes more tolerable when they do. I feel like nothing upsets me more when a director or writer is touted as some sort of creative genius and then when you see the material it is just patently obvious that they have stolen the idea. When they are will to at least acknowledge the idea that they were at the very least "inspired" by something but wanted to put their own spin on it I am usually able to find some redeeming quality in it.

What makes me call for and most of the time enforce a Lance wide boycott of a product or a individual is when they continue to steal ideas over and over again and are encouraged by the masses to do so because the masses go to their movies and make them rich. I can feel myself ramping up to a Sheen like level so I am going to dial it back down. What do you guys think?


IS THERE NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN?

Dec 27th, 2010

I hope all of you are recovering from your Christmas festivities. I went to bed about 11 or so last night which is early for me and I woke up at about 3:30 am. I am not sure what that means but I am not overly thrilled about it that is for sure. So I am writing this at about 5 am after playing several games of Football Manager 11 followed up by a losing effort in League of Legends. I saw basically two movies this weekend. Well more like 1 and a half. I went on Christmas day to see "The Kings Speech" with my parents and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. There were a couple of things that it did for me. It highlighted an area of history that I have always been a little bit interested in as well as showing me some new aspects of what was going on that I had not learned about in school. So if you are looking for a relatively cerebral film that tells a good story I would highly recommend it.

The other film that I only watched part of was "Inception" now I realize that is was kind of the hot film from last year. There were several stories written about it and many of the webcomics and blogs I read wrote about it. There was a big twist at the end that was supposed to be surprising and it dealt with what is really reality and how do we perceive it. I think maybe the idea that if I feel it is reality then it is reality even if in truth I am in a tube being fed paste kind of like "The Matrix" or if your actually intelligent or well read Plato's The Cave. But enough of my snarkiness. So after about 20 minutes or so of Leonardo DiCaprio fiddling around in peoples dreams along with some things in real life which I suspect were actually Leonardos dreams. (Spoiler) I realized that I just did not care about this story. It has been told and retold and retold better and in a far more interesting manner then this film.

I think that both reality and the nature of Free Will are big deals and important questions for those of us who care about that kind of thing to process but it is not done well in this film and it doesn't need to be redone by another ham-handed director. In this case the only good thing being that it wasn't a film directed by M. Night Shamaladingdong because he is a hack of the highest order. I believe that I will say that again just because it makes me feel good. M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN IS A HACK OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!!! Ahh that feels nice. Say it with me. I feel better and I think you will also.

A different sort of film that I would highly recommend is "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" it is pure escapism but oh so much fun. I love that you basically take a seat and then are along for the ride and if, like me, you have grown up playing video games or reading comic books then you will enjoy it even more. Check it out. You will not be sorry and if you are then it is possible that we may not be able to be friends. I am sorry but that is just the way it is. There are some things that are to much for me to get past. So you think real long and hard before you give me your two cents concerning this film. Because if you do not like it my wrath will come down upon you like Thor's hammer with the wrath and fury of two suns colliding!!!!

COUNT ON THAT!!!!!

Thursday (Film as Life)

I am going to try to do some writing late on Wednesday night since I do not feel all that sleepy. I am not sure why. I did go to bed very early one night this week and I think I may have filled up my reserves due to that. But what I wanted to write about was a movie that I finished watching today. You see I go out in to the garage everyday after work and I sit there for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. No, I am not meditating, what I do is take care of my two Ferrets. I get them out of their cage and clean it and feed them and play with them for a little bit. What I also do is sit and relax and often if I am not reading I will watch a movie on my laptop from my vast collection of DVD's. So I thought why not use this as an opportunity to let my readers know what kind of films I like and why I like them.

This week I have watched just one film and that was Cameron Crowes Almost Famous now he wrote and directed this film. It is basically a loose autobiography of when he was a teen aged writer for Rolling Stone magazine. This is also a very dramatized version of his first tour experience I believe with the Allman Brothers. Now, I enjoyed the movie in the theaters but when it was released on DVD it was released in a directors cut bootleg version that is 162 minutes long. So I often watch it in a couple of sittings. Not because it bores me because it does not. But I just like to use my time a little better then sitting through a movie that long in one sitting.

I love music. I love movies. When I was younger I worked in a movie theater and I gave serious thought to attending film school. That dream never came true but I still love a good film. (Or even a bad film, I.E. Con Air) But, this movie tied it all together for me. It had music and film and I am a sucker for a good movie that can blend the two. I feel like it is very important for a movie to have the right combination of the two because the wrong music can absolutely destroy a film and the right music can take that film to a completely different plane. I realize that not everyone feels this way and I may be guilty of liking some lower quality films just because I enjoy the music that it is surrounded by. Often if I have enjoyed a film I will also buy the soundtrack because listening to that will often take me back to the place I was when I first enjoyed that film.

I just realized that I have gone on for quite some time just giving you the background of why I like movies and music together so I think I am going to stop here and I will discuss more about Almost Famous on Friday. If any of you who read this think this approach is going to be interesting please let me know. I always like some feed back. Or even if you have some films you might think I would like please feel free to tell me about them.

So I will talk to you on Friday about Almost Famous . I do not know about you but I am looking forward to it.

5-13-2010 (Thursday)

I went to see "Iron Man 2" last night with some friends and while I enjoyed seeing a movie with a group of people I was not all that impressed. I am not really sure what the problem was. I really liked the first "Iron Man" but this did nothing for me. I think one reason might be that when I went to see the first one I did not have very high hopes for it and I was surprised by it. I think that for the second one my expectations may have just been to high.

I really like Robert Downey Jr and I would see him, and have, in most everything. He, as usual, was amazing but even that was not enough for me to say that I enjoyed the film. It just did not do anything for me. There were some pretty cool set piece action sequences and some very good visuals but it just was kind of blah for me. I am willing to consider though that part of the problem for me may have been the group of young woman behind me who seemed to have a hard time following the film. I mean it isn't like it is a hard movie to follow at all but they way that they were asking each other questions made me wonder if they had even heard of Tony Stark before.

But, part of the problem might have been that their higher brain functions must have been tied up in keeping them breathing. Because they seemed pretty dim, if you know what I mean.

I would have to say for me as far a good popcorn shut your brain off kind of movie that "Kick Ass" was a far better film. I will not be seeing "Iron Man 2" again and I will be seriously considering if I want to see the upcoming Avengers movie as well.