A two sentence movie review

I wanted to like this movie but I absolutely hated it. Everyone who was involved with it needs to be punched in the crotch for being in it.

Alphabet Movie Soup

PJ tagged me with this meme last week. It was begun by Fletch at Blog Cabins. You name one movie for every letter of the alphabet. I'm going to skip the rules because most of you have seen them by now. Here's my list:

Airplane!-One of my favorite movies ever.
Bedazzled-I love both versions.
Cat Ballou-Lee Marvin is great in it and it also has a young Jane Fonda in it, grrr baby grrr.
Drug Store Cowboy-Matt Dillon's finest movie and it has Kelly Lynch in it, grrr baby grrr.
Eight Men Out-John Sayles take on the sad tale of the Chicago Black Sox. It costars a ton of people who went on to do bigger but not necessarily better things. And it features the late Studs Terkel as well.
Frankenhooker-A cheesy fun funny horror movie. It also features the finest non porn performance ever by Heather Hunter.
Go-A great little movie. Sarah Polley and Katie Holmes rock in this movie.
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle-Yes, it's a stoner comedy with all kinds of jokes about farting and getting high but I love it. What do you expect? I have the sense of humor of a 13 yr old.
I Heart Huckabees-If you hate this movie then you can bite me, I love it. It's funny and it has Naomi Watts in it so there, nah nah nah.
Jeremiah Johnson-One of the best westerns ever made.
King of Comedy-Deniro is creepily wonderful in this movie.
Lair of the White Worm-Another fun horror movie. Directed by Ken Russell and it has Amanda Donohoe and Catherine Oxenberg in it, grrr baby grrr.
Miller's Crossing-Marsha Gay Harden should have won her Oscar for this film. It's a brilliant gangster movie.
Nine to Five-Another great Jane Fonda movie.
O Lucky Man!-A crazy Malcolm McDowell movie musical from the late 60's/early '70's. I've seen most of it and the best thing about it is getting to see a young Helen Mirren's bare butt.
Patty Hearst-I lived through all of this and the movie got it pitch perfect. Natasha Richardson is knock your socks off great in this movie.
Quintet-One of Robert Altman's lesser thought of films from the 1970's. People are still trying to figure out just what the heck this movie was all about.
Rabbit Proof Fence-A great movie about a shitty time in Australian history. Also the DVD version has the best 'making of' feature ever made.
Soylent Green-I hated his right wing politics but I loved Heston's dystopian movies from the 1970's.
Tremors-Best movie Reba Whatshername ever made.
Up the Academy-One of the worst movie's ever made. Horrible. I'm still trying to forget how bad this movie was almost 30 years after I first saw it.
Virgin Suicides-A dreamy and sad movie. One of Kirsten Dunst's finest roles ever.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?-Clever animated/live action film.
Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl-X movies are hard to find. And yes, I've actually seen this film. I like Chinese movies, so there. Nah nah nah.
Young Frankenstein-Gene Wilder is brilliant, so is Marty Feldman, and don't get me started on the perfection that is Terri Garr. Her accent alone in this movie drives me wild.
Zardoz-Sean Connery rides around on a horse while wearing a thong thingy that is stretched over his lumpy hair body, people in masks ride around after him, women bitch about penises polluting them and the planet, what more could you want in a shitty 1970's sci fi movie? What's that? You want a super sexy Charlotte Rampling in the film as well? Okay then, you got it. Trust me, she's the best thing about this turkey.

Thanks for the tag PJ! I tag MN Mom, Enriched Geranium, Enc, and you to do this meme if you want.

Let me eat cake

Sometimes I listen to the corporate media movie reviewers too much and I miss out on good movies because they give them bad reviews. I'm not really sure why I do that, after all I have long stopped listening to their blathering about politics and world affairs because I know better than to believe their pro corporate hype, so I really should do the same thing when it comes to films.

After reading a post by Matty Boy, or as I call him, 'my west coast doppelganger,' about the films of Sofia Coppola, I decided to catch the one film of hers that I have not seen yet. So last night we watched this film: And while it's not great, it's still pretty damn good. The corporate media reviewers did not like this film for two reasons and those reasons are that the film portrays Marie Antoinette in a sympathetic light and the soundtrack was too "modern," Ms. Coppola uses a lot of rock music instead of the usual Mozart, Bach, and the like.

They make the point, which is oh so true, in the "making of" feature, which runs waaaaaaaaaaay too long by the way, that Marie was a victim of bad publicity and that she never said those infamous words, "Let them eat cake" when she heard that the French people had no bread. She was the victim of Jacobean "swiftboating." History has not been kind to her due to the lies and distortions of the hopped up French revolutionary mobs. Was she an out of touch rich snob? Yes. Was she part of the entrenched ruling class that lived off the backs of the poor? Yes. Was she a pampered obscenely rich white woman who never had to work a day in her life? Yes. But was she a calculating vindictive twat who mocked the starving people? No. She was born into privilege and she took full advantage of it, much like Cindy Bush-McCain does today. To have a film like this portray her closer to what she really was is to upset a couple hundred years of entrenched historical fallacy, fallacies that are held dear by many of the corporate media movie reviewers.

The use of modern rock and roll in the soundtrack, while distracting to some, was entirely appropriate because this film sought to throw off the shackles of distorted history and show a modern take on the life of Marie Antoinette. The choice of modern music reflected Coppola's modern look at Antoinette's life. The script was daring and modern, so the music had to be also.
All in all I enjoyed the film and the performances by all the leads in the cast. Kirsten Dunst was very well cast and did a super job in her role. She was the picture of milky cuteness and she looked great in and out of her period costumes. I loved Judy Davis, my adopted actor Shirley Henderson, Molly Shannon, Rip Torn, and Asia Argentino as well.

The movie was well shot, it has a ton of great odd shots with odd camera angles all through out it. It's well edited, and well scored as well. I'll say this for Ms. Coppola, she may not be the greatest actor in the world, but she does make a damn fine film. I recommend this movie, as well as all her other ones, especially Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides.

23 Dicks

I saw this movie the other night:
I must admit I liked it more than I thought I would. It's got a lot of twists and turns and Jim Carrey does a nice job of not being funny in it and the ending is kind of unexpected. I recommend you watch it but only if you can do so for free.

Oh, I almost forgot, the best thing about this movie is that it has Virginia Madsen in it.
She's pretty good in it and she makes most of it bearable, at least for me anyway.
I hope I look as great as she does at 45.
Holy shit, what am I talking about? I'm already 45 and I'll never look that great. Boy howdy is she a pretty woman or what? Virginia is a 10 in 23 and she's the only reason I sat through the entire movie.

I watched Dick again last night on one of those In Demand channels on digital cable.

I loved this movie the first time I saw it and now after seeing it again after about 6 or 7 years, I love it even more. It's about two teenage girls, played Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst, who get involved with Dick Nixon and the Watergate mess. It's funny and has great performances by everyone in the cast. This clever film is a must see light comedy.

I was just a little younger than the age the girls in the movie were supposed to be but I remember that era vividly. I remember the clothes, the music, the politics, the attitudes about Nixon, Viet Nam, and dope smoking. This film hits them all dead on and gets it right on every count.

It's a sweet funny comedy that I highly recommend. I like it so much that I may add it to the permanent DVD collection here at Monkey Central if I see it for sale at a low price some time.

And now, you knew they were coming, so here they are, ladies and gents, the obligatory Dick jokes: You can't go wrong with Dick. I'm not kidding, Dick does not suck. You'll laugh and you'll want this Dick for your very own. This Dick is a charmer.

The endorsements keep rolling in

Look who else has come out for me: