Thought I would blog reviews in 40 words or less so they don’t get too boring to read.

Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry, 2008) Grade: C
Starting to think Gondry is hit and miss. Talented director but not so much screenwriter. Be Kind was NOT funny and kind of cheesy. I contemplated walking out.

Portishead @ Mayan Theatre Grade: A
Absolutely amazing show. Glad I got to see the band perform. Definitely something I never thought I would get to see. No idea if they will do a proper tour, but if they do, I will be there.

The Verve @ Pearl Theatre - Palms Hotel Las Vegas Grade: A
Another band that I never thought I would ever see live. They seemed happy to be there, which was nice. Still dislike Vegas though.

She & Him @ Vista Theatre Grade: B+
Hm, starting to think I’m going to too many shows. Well, this band is Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. Zooey is super cute and I have a serious crush on her. Plus she’s really talented.

The Book of Other People (ed. Zadie Smith) Grade: B
Collection of notable contemporary writers with the focus being that all the stories are about a character, be it human, animal, mythical creature. Some were strong; others were just OK.

(M) Les Chansons D’Amour (Love Songs). (Christophe Honore, 2007) Grade: B

Thoughts: A Paris musical about love and lovers with most of the story sung and little dialogue. The ending with the main character Ismael Benoliel (Louis Garrel) falling for a boy after his girlfriend’s death was interesting. The plot was just okay but I just kept watching because it was beautiful people walking around a beautiful city.

(M) Charade. (Stanley Donen, 1963) Grade: B-

Thoughts: Regina “Reggie” Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is a recent widow who needs to find out where her husband hid some money before a group of men locate it first. Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) is a random man she befriends and falls in love with. It tried to be like Hitchcock but wasn’t and Audrey seems a bit too young for the much older Cary, however overall an enjoyable flick.

(M) The Darjeeling Limited. (Wes Anderson, 2007) Grade: C+

Thoughts: Three brothers, Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman), make a trip to India to heal from the death of their father and to locate their long lost mother (Anjelica Huston). It was another typical Anderson film and I started to dislike it. However, halfway through it an event occurred for the characters that made the movie more enjoyable and not so annoying. Anderson needs to rethink how he does movies because his current format is getting tiresome and old.

(M) God Grew Tired of Us. (Christopher Dillon Quinn, 2006) Grade: A

Thoughts: God Grew Tired of Us follows three young men who are repatriated to the U.S. to begin a new life after their escape from the troubles of Sudan. John Bul Dau goes to Syracuse and at the end of the film, becomes a spokesperson for the Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan; Daniel Abol Pach and Panther Bior go to Pittsburgh. All the men work several jobs and try to go back to school while searching for their remaining family members. This is such a great documentary and makes you really take a step back and view what we live for.

(M) 12 Angry Men. (Sidney Lumet, 1957) Grade: A-

Thoughts: An excellent movie about 12 jurors who have to decide the faith of a young man. The entire film takes place in one room and over a span of a few hours. The acting is top notch with well known actors in each role and the dialogue is right on. 12 Angry Men is a good character study type film.

(M) The Brave One. (Neil Jordan, 2007) Grade: C-

Thoughts: I like Jodie Foster but I should really stop seeing her recent films. Erica Bain (Jodie Foster) is beaten up along with her fiancé (Naveen Andrews) in a park in NYC. Erica ends up surviving but not her fiancé. She decides to go on this revenge streak killing anyone who gets in her way. Oh and Terrence Howard is some cop who figures it out. This should have been called The Slow One because it totally dragged and I found myself fast forwarding through most of the film. In addition, it really did portray NYC as some type of crazy criminal city, which was a bit ridiculous.

Movie Count: 33

For the next week the new Ladytron album is available to listen to on their myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/ladytron

(M) Hets (Torment). (Alf Sjoberg, 1944) Grade: B-

Thoughts: Torment is part of the Criterion Eclipse series for early Ingmar Bergman work. Bergman wrote the screenplay for this and it is very well done. Jan-Erik Widgern (Alf Kjellin) is tormented by his mean Latin teacher Caligula played wonderfully by Stig Jarrel.

(M) Kris (Crisis). (Ingmar Bergman, 1946) Grade: C+

Thoughts: Crisis is part of the Criterion Eclipse series for early Ingmar Bergman work. This was Bergman’s first directorial debut and not too shabby. The film was more like a play with highly over dramatic scenes.

(M) Helvetica. (Gary Hustwit, 2007) Grade: C+

Thoughts: A documentary regarding typography, graphic design and global visual culture of the font Helvetica. It was informative enough but they filled a lot of time just showing Helvetica in everyday life which got tiresome. It would be a great movie for designers and graphic people.

(M) Dial M for Murder. (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) Grade: A-

Thoughts: Based upon the play by Federick Knott, Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), an ex-tennis pro is trying to murder is cheating wife Margot Mary Wendice (Grace Kelly) by using an old crooked college mate. An excellent murder mystery film; Hitchcock churned out some of the best stuff back in the days.

(M) Singin’ in the Rain. (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952) Grade: A

Thoughts: A wonderful classic film musical that still holds up after so many years. In 1927, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are the darlings of Hollywood. Offscreen, Don, aided by his happy-go-lucky friend and piano accompanist, Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Conner), has to dodge Lina's romantic overtures, especially when he falls for chorus girl Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds).

(M) Dan In the Real Life. (Peter Hedges, 2007) Grade: C

Thoughts: Dan (Steve Carell) finds out the woman (Juliette Binoche), he met randomly in a bookstore and is in love with, is his brother's(Dane Cook) current girlfriend. It was very predicatable but I really liked Dan’s youngest daughter for the innocence she provided.

Movie Count: 27

HAPPY 49TH BIRTHDAY ROBERT :)

Keep rocking!!

Mario!

(A) E=MC^2. (Mariah Carey, 2008) Grade: B+

Thoughts: Mariah's tenth studio album came out this week and I am quite enjoying it. Some of my favorite tracks are I Stay In Love, For The Record, Migrate (expect for the T-Pain part) and I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time. She was also was the guest coach on American Idol this week and sang Bye Bye. What a diva.

Topic: Movies, GH III, The Cure

*I don't go to the movie theatre as much anymore. It is sad but I just don't. I guess because nothing good is out. Well I take that back. I few good movies are coming out that I am interested in: The Forbidden Kingdom (4/18), My Blueberry Nights (4/18), Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (4/25).


*I have been trying to get better at Guitar Hero III and I have to say with some practice I am. Yes!!

*The new X-Files movie has a title - I Want to Believe. The title is fitting for the show but seems a bit cheesy so not sure if it will work. I'm just glad there is a movie coming out.


*The Cure tickets for the Shrine go on sale this Sat. I am ALL over that. Oh my gosh!!! Yay!!

To those who may be interested, Fingerprints records in Long Beach is having Limbeck and Silversun Pickups do in-store acoustic performances this Saturday. You will need a wrist band for each performance. Also, if you pre-order the new Portishead cd from Fingerprints you can go to an LA rehearsal show they are doing in preparation for Coachella.

Topic: THE CURE!!!

*AAAAHHHHHH!!! OH MY GOSH!!! According to a great Cure site and the OC Register, the Cure is suppose to play the Shrine Auditorium on June 1st. Tears of joy, tears of joy :) The only thing that concerns me is I can't seem to confirm any other sources so I hope this is true. Oh and RS's birthday is coming up. Yay!!

Topic: Work, Re-make, Radiohead

*Work sucks and I don't like being super busy. To top it off we hired this new idiot who is clueless, makes way too many personal phone calls and is a know it all. It is pretty annoying to say the least. Okay it is not that bad but the idiot is annoying.

*Back in 2001, a Korean movie called My Sassy Girl came out and was a huge hit. Well the US decided to remake it. Please enjoy the horrible, terrible trailer below:

*Radiohead is coming to town and most people I know are going nuts over it. I do love the band but they are no The Cure by any means (scoff). I will most likely end up going to at three of their shows.


*Around June 2006, an old classmate’s sister-in-law was pregnant with her first child. I do not know all the details but apparently when they put her under anesthesia, because she was going to have a c-section, she was under too long and fell into a coma. They were able to save the baby but she never woke up. Last Saturday, she got pneumonia and the family felt it was best to let her go. She was only 32. If you are the praying type, please put the husband, daughter and family in your prayers. Thanks.

This past week I had the chance to spend a few days each in Seattle, Wash. (great weather as you can see above) and Portland, Ore. I have been to Seattle a few times, so nothing too new. My highlights were viewing a Robert Crumb art collection at a small gallery as well as a Roman art exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and eating good food at some well-chosen restaurants (thanks to a local friend). The public library was also amazing: 10 floors of books. (Sidenote: The building was featured in documentary Helvetica because the library uses the font as its primary typeface. Great film!)

I then took an enjoyable train ride to Portland—my first time visiting the city. Memorable highlights were Powell’s bookstore (four floors and a whole city block of books), tax-free shopping and this local vendor called The Whole Bowl. There’s a street where a bunch of roach coaches sit, and I randomly bought a bowl at Whole Bowl, and it was delicious: a bunch of ingredients all in one bowl (rice, olives, red and black beans, tali sauce, etc.). Yum.

I also saw a bunch of gigs in both cities, since there was nothing else to do really at night.

Topic: NKOTB REUNION

Anyone else super excited about this??? NKOTB baby!!!

Topic: Art and Sports

*Went to some art show in Echo Park for Blek Le Rat. I'm not too familiar with his work but a co-worker of mine wanted to go. It was interesting and if you can make good art and sell it for huge prices even better. There were a lot of weirdos and smelly people there but I guess that goes with the area. Oh and some crazy cougar drunk lady was hitting on my co-worker so that was entertaining and disturbing all at the same time.


*Went to a Kings game on Thurs thanks to work. The Kings actually won which I found odd because they suck.

*I was really depressed today. Sometimes I wonder why I'm wasting my life.

Topic: Dodgers, NCAA, Badminton, C-Pop

*Update: I am losing in my two NCAA brackets badly. Oh well. Dang me losing some of my final four teams.

*Dodger season started this Monday. Go Dodgers!! So far they are 2-0. I went to the game last night and had a good time. It would have been better if it wasn't so chilly. Oh well. It did remind me how much I like Russell Martin and how cute I think he is.


*Recently I became interested in two new things - Badminton and listening to Cantonese pop music. Badminton is fun and easier than tennis and I feel like I'm getting a semi work-out. As for the C-Pop, I was flipping through the TV and came across the TVB Jade channel and saw this guy with a decent voice singing. The singer turned out to be Justin Lo, this ABC (American Born Chinese) who was born in New York but moved back to Hong Kong to make a singing career.