Friday, July 16, 2010

Technical Difficulties

It is not my week.

I've fallen further and further behind in just about everything and now my big Mac isn't doing what I tell it to do. No uploading of the revised Oscar predictions. No force quitting when things stop functioning. Funky unpredictable internet browsers no matter which I use. Am typing this from my decrepit small old and less connected laptop. So obviously everything is on standby. [insert profanities here]

It's a sign that I should take the weekend off? Head to the beach. Hopefully, I can get this functioning enough to get you the Friday stuff that was already mostly written.

Is your Friday treating you more kindly. Any movie plans for the weekend?
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16 comments:

Janice said...

No movie plans whatsoever, sadly enough.

I did just watch Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man" (1996) with Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer. It's supposed to be a western, basically "indigenous person goes out of his way to help the special white man" nonsense, a la Dances with Wolves...Avatar...etc, etc. (And yes, I'm looking at you too, "Australia".) When the heck did that enter the movie lexicon, exactly?

Although I'm wondering if that's meant to be a joke because the man in question (Depp) isn't special at all, but "the Indian" (Farmer) had it right the first time - "Stupid white man". But then it gets too pretentious and clearly believes in the white man's specialness.

The only other thing I can come up with is that it's a comment/parody on fame and celebrity. Depp as the man who becomes famous or infamous - unwanted and unwittingly as a murderer - Robert Mitchum as the industrialist who is hunting him down can be seen as the evil magazine editor who has to fill pages, and the hired guns chasing Depp as paparazzi? If I see it that way it almost makes sense. This way before the current glut of "reality stars" or whatnot and the internet. the joke extending, of course to the credits: "Johnny Depp's hair by...Johnny Depp's makeup by...Johnny Depp's assistant...chauffeur..." etc.

But then where does the helpful Indian come into that? (the unsung personal assistant perhaps?) So, maybe I'm entirely wrong.

God that was a long post. Sorry.

Andrew R. said...

One word: Inception.

NATHANIEL R said...

i've never seen DEAD MAN but the other thing complicating this is that Johnny Depp is famously partially Native American (Cherokee ancestry if i recall correctly?).

Jorge Rodrigues said...

I'm seeing Polanski's THE GHOST WRITER.


I hope it's as good as I'm expecting it to be.

Blinking Cursor said...

I'm going to see Inception this evening, and will likely try and see what's going on at the Montreal Fantasia festival this week-end.

MD said...

Saw Predators. I thought it was all right. Then again, I haven't seen the original. Am I missing out on anything?

Kyle said...

Inception for sure, and hopefully the Kids Are Alright as well (finally came to Atlanta)

Amir said...

watched 'the kids are all right' yesterday and loved it.
i'm watching inception tonight and i hope it can live up to the expectations.
if it's good it will be the longest continuous streak of good movies ive watched (in the theater of course) after 'exit throught the gift shop', 'toy story 3', and 'TKAA'.

Volvagia said...

That picture's funny. Dark...but a great piece of photoshopping.

Anonymous said...

You are asking us to insert the profanities?

Dogballs.

Michael Parsons said...

Friday kicked me in the back of my head! Cannot wait to wake up on a new day. Be gone evil day!

SoSueMe said...

I gotta check out The Kids Are All Right...btw, I saw Alice in Wonderland last night...and...it wasn't as bad as reported!:)...Not perfect, a little awkward, but certainly not horrific! I liked the performances - Mia, HBC, even Johnny (and so glad Tim cast Lindsey Duncan and the hot, hot, hot Marton Csokas). As for Anne, I didn't think she was bad (she had moments of comic inspiration)...what was bad was her weird choice of raising her arms and flitting about...it felt forced and not fully integrated into the character. Needless to say, a little extra rehearsal time would have been good for the entire cast. And yes, the Hatter's dance jumped the shark!

Anonymous said...

Because I'm boring, I'm watching Inception tonight.

Because I'm less boring, I'm watching Ran on the big screen on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

This isn't movie-watching news, but has anyone read anything else on this:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/yes-amy-adams-confirmed-for-janis-joplin/

I'm completely baffled. I don't know whether to be happy she's going against type, whether to be suspect that this will even happen/is true, or whether to cry.

Anonymous said...

I now see Nathaniel beat me to the punch with the Amy Adams news. But still, RIDICULOUS.

Bill_the_Bear said...

Well, I did get to five movies this past weekend, all new to screens in Montréal:

"I Am Love"--Saw this one twice, and absolutely LOVED it!

"The Kids Are All Right"--Great acting, but I had some problems with the script, i.e. blaming everything on Ruffalo, when "it takes two to tango."

"Musica en espera"--A cute Argentine rom-com, somewhat formulaic but rather better than the Hollywood rom-coms I've seen lately. (I can see Hollywood remaking this one, though, with Katherine Heigl as the very pregnant banker.)

"Fados"--Carlos Saura looks at the fado...just musical interpretations, one after the other. Some worked well, others less so...but if you like the genre, as I do, it's a must-see.

"Mr. Nobody"--Jaco van Dormael's look at memory, truth & reality and string theory. Not always easy to follow, but good visuals and a story line which doesn't bore. I'd seen a review comparing this to "The Fountain," but it's much better than that piece of dreck.

Incidentally, these were all playing at the AMC, which does double duty as a mainstream cinema and arthouse.

As for "Inception," I'll get to it soon.