Category Archives: Ratings

The Long Winters @ Stinkweeds

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Long Winters

tuesday, i worked a solid 25 out of 29 hours between sept 11 and 12 to get a new design up for the my company’s entertainment section.

i got home at 12:30pm. all i wanted to do was sleep.

i forced myself to stay awake so i could attend an acoustic set by seattle’s the long winters at stinkweeds record store on central camelback. it was well worth it.

i’ve admired these guys since i first heard “the commander thinks aloud” on kexp.

frontman john roderick was really funny and played off the crowd quite well. the first song they played was “ultimatum.” it’s very slow and heart-felt. i was nearly moved to tears while they were playing it.

i was going to give a rundown of the setlist in order they were played, but i was really tired at the time and while trying to write this, i couldn’t remember the order of the songs. here’s my best guess:

1) ultimatum
2) blue diamonds — he seemed a little perturbed about playing this
3) carparts — my request
4) cinammon — great song
5) rich wife — from the new album, a more electric song, but sounded great acoustic
6) pushover — their favorite song from the new album at least at the time of the performance

john was a really cool guy. i got to chat it up with him a little bit after the performance. i must of looked like a madman because i was working off zero sleep. i asked him they put a faster version of “ultimatum” on the new album. he simply said, “because i felt like it.”

“fair ’nuff, john.”

we shared a laugh.

“i just wanted to make this a little bit of a faster, more rockin’ album. you never know, the next will be so slow that it’ll bore you to sleep.”

could he tell i was high on sleep deprivation?

they were playing at the rhythm room that night. i really wanted to go, but my lack of sleep caught up to me. i passed out as soon as i got home and woke up at 11:30. to say the least, i was pissed.

none the less, though, the put on a great performance, and i was very happy to see them.

keep a look out for this band. they’re gonna be big some day.

ultimatum


fire island, ak

mp3s:
carparts
scent of lime
blue diamonds
stupid
ultimatum
pushover

The Family Stone (2005)

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The Family Stone

The Family Stone

A woman meets her future in-laws and discovers they don’t much care for her in this comedy from writer and director Thomas Bezucha. Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) is a successful young businessman who is dating Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), and has asked her to spend Christmas with his family, with plans to ask his mother, Sybil (Diane Keaton), for the titular family wedding band and propose to Meredith on Christmas Day.

I hadn’t really intended to see this film, had it in my Blockbuster queue just as a filler. Looked like an OK chick Flick, but nothing I needed to see. Then my step-sister told me she loved this movie. “Love-love-loved it!” Alrighty then, I’ll give it a go….

…and I will end up feeling like I just wasted an hour and a half.

The premise is fairly simple, and something that would be quite familiar to a lot of people. Boy brings home Girl to meet the Family before he proposes to her; Girl is uncomfortable, Family doesn’t like her, hilarity ensues, cue laugh track. Unfortunately, the writer/director(?), or whoever, wasn’t satisfied with that. What they end up giving us is a cast of unrelate-able characters, most of whom have no redeeming qualities whatsoever – in fact it seemed as if they lacked humanity altogether. Even the most heinous villain should have some vulnerability or charm to make us care about the story, I couldn’t have cared less about the majority of this group.

They finally become a bit human in the last ten minutes of the film, but the various nauseating & absurd (though predictable) couplings spoil even that.

It manages a 1.5 simply because of the two girlfriends I have who may want to see this, and who I wouldn’t actively dissuade. They both love Sarah Jessica Parker and this is her in her neurotic element.

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 51%; Audience 61%

A few gems:

“A feel-bad holiday film about a repellent family, with a milquetoast dad and a smug, devious harpy of a mom.” — Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

“There are many ways to define the shrieking awfulness of The Family Stone, from the general lack of wit to the cheap exploitation of cancer to its casual cruelty.” — Stephen Hunter, WASHINGTON POST

“It doesn’t matter how many fine actors are assembled in a film, if the script is terrible, then the movie can’t be good.” —Jeanne Kaplan, KAPLAN VS KAPLAN

“Rarely have I seen such a maudlin, manipulative, mean-spirited mess masquerading as a holiday comedy.” —Susan Granger, MODAMAG.COM

snakes on a plane

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Snakes on a Plane

the anticipation is finally over.

the movie that has captured the attention of internet geeks around the country has finally been unleashed on an unsuspecting public.

SNAKES ON A PLANE!

the plot is simple the story is predictable. just by looking at the title, you know what the movie is about.

Agent Flynn, played brilliantly by Samuel L. Jackson, has to escort a key witness to a mob hit from Hawaii to Los Angeles to testify. All the cliches are there: its a flight attendant’s last day; kids are flying alone for the first time, there’s a dog, a baby, a celebrity, and a lil’ sex in the bathroom.

the movie practically writes itself.

snakes

why did i find it so good? i didn’t expect anything out of it. i knew there was going to be a high level of cheese. i knew the plot was totally ridiculous. i just wanted to see a fun movie. plus, sam jackson is the man.

snakes on a plane is completely enjoyable from start to finish.

i’m gonna say it… greatest movie ever!

i attended a noon showing with some people from work, and we all had a good time. i couldn’t imagine what it would be like to see it in a crowded theatre.

it could easily gain the cult status of a rocky horror picture show.

World Trade Center (2006)

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World Trade Center

On September, 11th 2001, after the terrorist attack to the World Trade Center, the building collapses over the rescue team from the Port Authority Police Department. Will Jimeno and his sergeant John McLoughlin are found alive trapped under the wreckage while the rescue teams fight to save them.

~ Claudio Carvalho

 

I hadn’t planned on seeing this one when I heard about it, since Oliver Stone is so completely in the tin-foil-hat club. I was not about to pay money to sit through two hours of his theories of how the 9/11 attacks were America’s fault, or perhaps a government plot. When Jeff Jarvis gave his reaction, I felt more inclined to give it a chance. After all, he lived the day more directly than anyone I have actually met and through his blogging I get the New York flavor, not just my distant Arizona memories of the day.

Other reviews, as well, said this was not like other Oliver Stone movies, that he allows the story to tell itself. Good enough, it is a story that needs to be told.

My trepidation, then, became solely my expected reaction to the heart wrenching emotion of it. The trapped police who were there to help, the men who put their lives on the line to help others, just the thought of it breaks my heart. The families who waited and hoped, not knowing. In my safe little house here in Phoenix I was unable to process the loss and I cried imagining what those families were going through; wondering if your loved ones were alive or dead, knowing that, either way, they had been terrified and in pain. I remember how we waited for more of these happy endings, how we would call each other about every rumor that they found someone alive.

I have to say that I agree with US Weekly in their review of this movie: “A disturbing and disjointed letdown”

Maybe I went from expecting too little to expecting too much. I kept waiting to be moved, kept wondering when the emotions would hit. In fact, at one point in the movie (one of the more action packed portions) there was a man in front of us snoring – yep, SNORING – his wife(?) had to jab him in the ribs to wake him up.

I was disappointed by what seemed like a lack of urgency on everyone’s part; the people leaving the buildings (which Jarvis commented on), the police and fire entering the building, the rescue crews working after the collapse. Everyone seemed sort of lackadaisical, not at all what I imagine it was really like.

I never believed that the wives were really waiting for that kind of news, I never felt anguish or longing… They are both fine actresses so I am not sure what the problem was (well, I did find the blue contacts on Maria Bello very distracting). The one moment of true emotion I felt came late in the film when another woman in the hospital was relating her last conversation with her son, an elevator operator. In her eyes, I saw the terror and the grief.

I wouldn’t say this was a bad movie, just not a good one. I needn’t have feared the blame America angle, it wasn’t here really. It may be worth seeing this picture, just for the story, but it needn’t be seen on the big screen. There is just nothing big in the way Stone presents it.

(I think they have the actual guys in the BBQ scene at the end. Anyone?)

UPDATE: Just found another reviewer who was bothered by (among other things) those stupid blue contacts. He, like several other reviewers I found through Rotten Tomatoes, claims to have dreaded United 93 and eagerly anticipated World Trade Center – only to have his opinion of both of them flipped.

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 71%; Users 70%

Last Holiday (2006)

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Last Holiday

Last Holiday

“…when she learns she only has a few weeks left to live, Georgia gathers her money, quits her job, and flies to a swank European resort she’s always dreamed of visiting. Naturally, her new carelessness with money and fearless candor lead everyone around her–including her senator (Giancarlo Esposito, Do The Right Thing) and her former boss (Timothy Hutton, Ordinary People)–to think she’s a mover and shaker. Last Holiday unfolds the way you expect it to (dozens of movies and TV shows have similar plots), but Latifah and the capable cast keep it alive.” –Bret Fetzer

I wasn’t expecting much from this movie, though I had heard it was funny. I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining it was – though I would hesitate to call it a “good movie”. I would say it is what it claims to be, a fun little romp. It is also quite palatable for the whole family – not so chick-flicky that it would be hard for guys to sit through, not full of bad language or scenarios that would make it uncomfortable in mixed company.

Based on Word of Mouth Scale, I would recommend it to just about everyone in my circle.

A couple of silly complaints:

  • I think Queen Latifah has shown she has acting chops and she is well cast here, but if you are going to have her in your movie, find a way to get her to sing.
  • I don’t know how they would have gotten it into the script, but why have LL Cool J in your movie and not have him shirtless at least once?

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 55%; Audience 70%

pieces of april

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few movies actually have an effect on me emtionally. usually i’m just a passive movie watcher who usually doesn’t allow myself to get too involved with what’s happening on the the screen.

to put it simply, i have never cried at the end of a movie.

that was until i saw big fish. that movie is something i call my “dad” movie. the ending just made me think of what it would be like for me and my father. i completely broke down. the end of the royal tennenbaums gave me that feeling too just not as much big fish.

i’ve been in search of my “mom” movie and feel that i’ve found it in pieces of april.

the movie revolves around an estranged daughter named april (katie holmes) who is currently living in new york city and spending the entire day cooking thanksgiving dinner for her mother, joy, (patricia clarkson) who is dying of cancer.

they haven’t talked in years and all joy can remember are the bad times. the family is really hesitant about going. the other daughter, beth (allison burns), does everything in her power to try and talk her mother out of going.

it could possibly be joy’s last thanksgiving so you get the feeling that she wants to be there.

the thing about this whole story is that i could see myself cooking some sort of big dinner for my mother if the time ever comes that she becomes sick or, god forbidden, dying.

even though i didn’t cry at the end of this movie, i did feel compelled to write something about it. if you love your mother or haven’t talked to her in a while, you may want to watch this movie and then call her afterward.

pieces of april

The Matador (2005)

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The Matador

The Matador

A globetrotting hitman and a crestfallen businessman meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City in an encounter that draws them together in a way neither expected.

We thoroughly enjoyed this movie which casts Pierce Brosnan as the anti-Bond. Unsophisticated, completely lacking charm, on the questionable side of the law (he’s a hit man). Throw in Greg Kinnear as a slightly twerpy salesman grieving his dead son and you have a recipe for fun. No, seriously.

The Matador has some graphic bits that will keep me from recommending it to a couple of people. Most of my friends, though, should see it. Rent the DVD, make some Margaritas and settle in for some good fun.

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 76%; Audience 58%

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