Monday, June 04, 2007

This & That

First things first: Over at Zoom In [link fixed] I'm sharing thoughts on last night's MTV Movie Awards which I'll be honest: I'm too old and too much of a film bitch for.

This Weekend: I saw Pirates: At World's End (meh. But at least Johnny had more to do than he did in Dead Man's Chest and therefore it was better than the second one) and Knocked Up (in regard to which: I am in a teensy minority of not all that impressed. I can live with that. I've never been too concerned w/ majority opinion anyway. I'm still deciding if i'm thumbs down in a very positive way --it was really funny-- or thumbs up in a negative way). What did you see this weekend?

Also: That sidebar soundtrack jukebox has five new choices for your listening pleasure.
  • Christine Lavin's Attainable Love -an actressexual anthem than many of you probably haven't heard. She's my favorite folk singer
  • Rufus Wainwright's "Oh What a World" -I love this song so much. His line readings make me giggle. I particular love "men reading fashion magazines. straight men..." the ellipsis kills me. Is it a question, a head scratching shrug, or a story untold, a joke? God I love Rufus.
  • Erykah Badhu's "Back in the Day/ Puff" from Dave Chappelle's Block Party. There's a post over at Jurgen Fauth's Muckworld about revisiting the movie that I liked.
  • Thompson Twins "If You Were Here" which is a tune I always liked and was a staple of 80s teen movie soundtracks
  • Sapna Anthi's "Chiayya Chiayya Bollywood Joint" from Inside Man

16 comments:

Paul C. said...

I more or less agree with your MTV awards assessment. I stopped watching these things years ago, around the time I realized that I didn't really listen to any of the music they played on MTV.

One thing though- I don't know if it's the same now, but back when BOTTLE ROCKET won the prize for best first film, the award was voted on by film school students, which might explain the startling difference in taste.

Anonymous said...

"Men reading fashion magazines. Straight men..." I completely agree with you about Rufus and that line. Just wonderful!

Marius said...

Yeah, I stopped watching MTV (anything) award shows years ago. I do, however, watch VH1 from time to time. God, I feel so old.

Well, I thinkPirates: At World's End is better than Dead Man's Chest. I was entertained by Pirates 3. Actually, I was expecting total crap, but it wasn't that bad. I haven't seen Knocked Up, but it's been getting really great reviews. You and MaryAnn are clearly in the minority. Honestly, I had no intention of seeing the film, but now I’m kind of curious.

Oh, and I can’t believe you gave Hot Fuzz a B-? It doesn’t seem fair.

Anonymous said...

The night I saw Inside Man, I went home and found out that Chaiya Chaiya was from the soundtrack to a Bollywood movie called Dil Se. Bought the soundtrack unheard and it is in constant play. If it was vinyl I'd have worn it out by now. Chaiya Chaiya isn't even my favorite track.

And by the way, Christine Lavin won my heart years ago with the Air Conditioner Song.

Anonymous said...

Chiaya Chiaya is almostly certainly one of the best uses of music in movies in recent memory

Anonymous said...

just for the record, i was not a fan of knocked up either.

Anonymous said...

Now I have to click onto some random other blog (that doesn't even load properly) for first dibs on your opinions on something instead of here? Not cool.

Anonymous said...

Disappointed you didn't think more highly of At World's End.

I loved it. I wasn't even a big fan of the first two (save Depp's performance in Curse of the Black Pearl). I thought the Dead Man's Chest was too much set up and no payoff, and Pearl didn't have enough going on to justify its considerable running time.

Granted, it's a fair argument to say that At World's End had too much going on, but I'll take fun overstuffed in a movie this long rather than fun understuffed (X-Men: The Last Stand being a good example of unfun overstuffed).

Who knows... I just had a blast the entire time.

NATHANIEL R said...

anonymous, pay me to write and i won't work for other sites.

yours,
the management.

NATHANIEL R said...

oh my apologies about the link to ZOOM IN... they've rejiggered the site to divide it up into channels and the url didn't work.

Lucas Dantas said...

i saw notting hill and died as usual. i love that so much! and i'm finding myself not a bit excited about pirates 3; i'll just see it because it's the last and i've seen the previous ones, so... and man, rufus is genius!! i love him to death.

gabrieloak said...

I thought Pirates 3 was about an hour too long. I got claustrophobic from all the closeups in this film--for an action film I could have been watching a TV show. And what was with the director's fetish for showing the dead bodies of Asian women in the first part of the film?

I was a little underwhelmed after reading all the praise for Knocked Up but that may be because I was expecting a laugh riot. It was a much more serious film than I expected. I may try to see it again though because the audience I saw it with was very quiet throughout.

Matt said...

Saw POTC3. Why is this film so loved? A waste of nearly 3 hrs and $7.50. Sure, Bill Nighy is an awesome actor even when he's forced to emote from under a gallon of sushi. Sure, Stellan Skarsgaard can do the job while partially encrusted. Depp too. And so on down the line...but to what end this cast loaded with talent but left without narrative, editing, direction, etc?

But I also saw the 35mm return of "Killer of Sheep". Sublime cinema. I paid $7.50 for that too, but would've paid much more.

So I guess I came out of the weekend ahead...

Anonymous said...

Saw "Knocked Up"...was planning on seeing POTC3 immediately after, but "Knocked Up" seemed longer than expected.

I was planning on watching the MTV Movie Awards, but I realized I would be angered for such an action. I mean, Beyonce nominated for best performance? Ugh...I BARELY think she can sing, let alone act. MTV Movie Awards, in some ways, respect a lot of what's wrong with Hollywood today -- pumping lots of money into movies for a 16-24, predominately male demographic. Way to foster diversity of thought, studio execs!

Anonymous said...

This weekend I came late to the "Away From Her" party. I admit to a bias here (she is not one of my Oscar Five), however, I thought Julie Christie was out-performed by both Olympia Dukakis and the interesting woman who played the day shift attendant at the facility (whose smoking would draw an instant 'R' rating in the brave new MPAA world). Also saw "Once" - the Czech performer as the female lead fascinated me, even at those times that the movie didn't.

Anonymous said...

I saw Knocked Up this weekend, and thought it was really pretty great and lived up to the hype. I love the Apatow/Rogen brand of humor, though, so I could understand how people who aren't into that would dislike the movie.

I also saw Bug. That is a weird f-ing movie. As one random girl said when we were leaving, "What did we just sit through?"