Yikes almost did not blog today :( ... um nothing really to write about. I promise a better blog tomorrow. In the meantime, you can read about the Oscar curse. Examples - Halle Berry, Faye Dunaway, Cuba Gooding Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow, Richard Dreyfuss and Liza Minnelli.

Here are some Oscar movies I saw:

(M) Dreamgirls. (Bill Condon, 2006) Grade: B-

Thoughts: Based on the 1981 Broadway musical about three young women Deena Jones (Beyonce Knowles), Effie White (Jennifer Hudson) and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose) and their rise to fame filled with heartbreak and hardship. Eddie Murphy was great as James “Thunder” Early and I think Keith Robinson and Danny Glover were good. However, the film belonged to Effie White played by the awesome Jennifer Hudson. She can really sing and the many awards she has been receiving shows she can act as well. I’m just glad Beyonce is getting pushing into the background. Be warned if you like musicals this movie is for you, otherwise I would avoid it because there is a lot of singing. Trivia – Jennifer Hudson had to beat out 782 actresses for her role as Effie, including Fantasia Barrino from America Idol fame.

(M) Children of Men. (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006) Grade: A

Thoughts: The tagline for the movie is “No children. No future. No hope.” And it is quite fitting. In 2027, Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is living in London where the world’s youngest kid is 18 years old and women are not capable of having children. I loved the bleak, depressing, darkness of the film’s topic; a world where there are no more children hence no future for mankind. In addition, I enjoyed the violent and fast pace of the movie, along with strong acting by Clive Own, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor and the awesome Michael Caine. As much as I am not the biggest fan of children, it would be naïve to think human’s one way of continuing survival was not the most important gift we ever got.

(M) Notes on a Scandal. (Richard Eyre, 2006) Grade: C+

Thoughts: Sheba Hart (Cate Blanchett) is a new high school teacher whom begins an affair with a student. Her one confidant is fellow teacher Barbara Covett (Judi Dench). Judi Dench was excellent in this movie as a crazy old cat lady but I think they could have casted pretty much anyone to play Cate’s role. It was neat to see Bill Nighy in the film. The only downside was I wish they went into a bit more background about Barbara’s character to understand what drove her to become what she was.

Movie count: 3

Last night, I watched The Last Kiss. I liked it and my favorite line in the movie is "What you feel only matters to you, it's what you do to the people you said you love, that's what matters." This movie was definitely written from a guy's perspective. After watching this movie, I've learned a few things...
1. Guys want younger girls.
2. Guys don't want to grow up or want responsibilities.
3. If you are okay with sleeping on the porch for 4 days, then cheat.

Happy Birthday New Wave!

(B) God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 2001) Grade: A
I decided to read a more contemporary author today, so I found this book at the library. I haven’t read Vonnegut since college, but it’s easy to remember why he’s considered one of the great American novelists. This *very* short book actually started as 90-second segments for a New York radio station, but it translates well as text. It’d be funnier to hear it though. And there’s a featured appearance of Vonnegut’s Kilgore Trout character.

I’m not one to dislike a band for its popularity or be a naysayer to the so-called newbie fans, but when it impedes my ability to see a band, I do get a little bitter. Case in point: I leave work today at 4:50p and rush to Amoeba to see The Shins. Even though they aren’t playing a proper gig, with the exception of KCRW’s, I figure I can at least see them for free at the in-store. I literally rush to Amoeba and with traffic and parking, I arrive at 5:20p. My friend tells me to hurry up because he’s already in the back and it’s packed. But by the time I arrive, there’s a line. And after 20 minutes waiting, an Amoeba clerk says that it’s at capacity and there’s no chance we’re getting in. I’m pretty upset. It’s then that I use my true fan card, ranting to New Wave, who insists they’re not that good anyway, that I listened to Oh Inverted World back in 2001, three years before Zach Braff used it in his so-called indie film, which wasn’t that good anyway. I deserve to be inside. So unfair. (sad face)

(M) To Live - Grade: B

If you have ever been curious of the development of China from about 10 years before Mao until the later years of his rule, this is the movie to watch. It's a movie about a family who starts off as property owners and luckily they lose everything before the communist take-over where property owners are killed. The family suffers through the communist ideology of Mao and keeps hope despite the constant heartache. As interesting as this movie is in how it handles communist China, China was actually worse than this movie portrays it to be. A very good film. Labeled as the "Gone With The Wind" of China.

(M) The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962) Grade: B+
After I read Alan Sillitoe’s short story, I wanted to watch the film adaptation, but it hasn’t been available on DVD until recently. Anyway, the film is nearly two hours, which impressed me since it’s based on a short story. But it hammered home all the themes that Sillitoe discussed. The film made me wonder even more about whether it was worth it to take a stand against the powers that be in order to maintain your principals, because the protagonist could have had a much easier life if he did as he was told. I guess it just takes strength of character.

So I'm starting to review stuff I have watched for 2007. At the bottom are the last three movie reviews for 2006.

(TV) Weeds. (Season one, 2005) Grade: B

Thoughts: Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) has just lost her husband and has to raise her two sons, Silas Botwin (Hunter Parrish) and Shane Botwin (Alexander Gould) on her own. The show is pretty funny and silly and over the top. I really like when they focus on the black family, whom Nancy gets her weed from, because they are honest and tell it like it is to this sheltered white woman who is basically trying to be a drug dealer. Oh and Kevin Nealon is pretty funny as a pot smoking city councilman. One thing the show has made me realized is Orange County type suburbia is SCARY.

(TV) The Robinsons. (Complete Series, 2005) Grade: B-

Thoughts: Recently divorced 30 year old, Ed Robinson (Martin Freeman) is trying to pull his life back together but it is difficult with his crazy family made up of parents Pam and Hector and brother George (Huge Bonneville) and sister Vicky (Abigail Cruttenden). I mainly watched the show because Martin Freeman from the UK Office was in it. The show had some good moments and some moments that dragged. British people are very dry in humor and totally, utterly miserable souls but I guess if you never saw that sun that often you would be the same way.

TV count: 2

(M) Zhifu (Uniform). (Yinan Diao, 2003) Grade: D+

Thoughts: Slow moving and slightly confusing, the main character makes and cleans clothes in a poor city of China. He comes across a police uniform and end up keeping it and using it to extort money from people to pay for his dad’s medical bills. Along the way he meets a girl, who seems like just another shop girl but is actually a call girl at night. The film is suppose to explore what “uniforms” say about people but I found it more about how corrupt and crooked parts of China were and how they have some time before they become a super power.

(M) Shiqi Sui De Dan Che (Beijing Bicycle). (Xiaoshuai Wang, 2001) Grade: C+

Thoughts: Guo Liangui (Lin Cui) is a country boy who just got a dream job – to be a courier for a popular delivery company in China and a bike. Jian (Bin Li) is a poor student who wants a bike to impress a girl he likes. Jian ends up with Guo’s bicycle and the story follows how the boys fight over the bike. Yet another film regarding modern China; however this was more entertaining than Uniform but not by much.

(M) Zhou Yu De Huo Che (Zhou Yu’s Train). (Zhou Sun, 2002) Grade: B-

Thoughts: Zhou Yu played by the gorgeous Gong Li is madly in love with a poet Chen Qing (Tony Leung Ka Fai). Unfortunately, Chen lives far away and so every week she takes a train to see him. On the train she meets a veterinarian doctor Zhang Qiang (Honglei Sun) who is attracted to her. Eventually the poet has to move away and she spends her time with the doctor. The movie was beautifully shot and certain scenes were so simple and lovely.

2006 count: 149 movies

The Wong Kar-Wai Collection - Grade: B

After first being exposed to Wong Kar-Wai's later works (In The Mood For Love & 2046 [my favorite]), I went back and watched these 5 films. I started with 'Days Of Being Wild' and I am going to have to re-watch this one because I think I was too hard on it. The stand-out films for me were As Tears Go By and Fallen Angels. Those were my favorites. Happy Together was ok, and Chungking Express was probably actually my least favorite though it seems to be raved about by everyone. It may have suffered the fate of Days Of Being Wild where my expectations were too high. I almost gave up on the box-set after the first two films but was very happy I watched the rest.

for the sake of a post each day...
The Good, The Bad & The Queen's "Hurculean" is the iTunes Free Single of the Week. go check it out.

So the Oscar nominations came out today. I have seen all but one of the Best Motion Picture movies. I'll prob. watch Letters From Iwo Jima this weekend.

Any guess on what will take Best Motion Picture of the Year? I'm going with Babel but Darth thinks The Queen but I'm not sure The Queen reaches a big enough market like Babel does. The dark horse is Little Miss Sunshine. A good movie but great ... eh.

As for foreign language film, I've seen two of the five but I'm going to get Water through Netflix so three soon. Oh and side note I'm only 7 movies way from rating 1000 on Netflix. Yup I'm sick :)

I'm sort of losing my mind right now because of this .....

I just can't wrap my head around the fact that I will get to see JESUS AND MOTHERFRAKING MARY CHAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm in for Friday and MAYBE big huge maybe Sat. but I doubt it.

(M) My Fair Lady. (George Cukor, 1964) Grade: B-

Thoughts: Same story as Pygmalion but a musical version. The singing and acting was great but Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle was odd because she is incredibly beautiful. Eliza should be pretty and pleasant but Audrey is breathtaking. I was quick to assume Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) as a misogynist but after reading some reviews online he is actually a misanthrope or “HATER”. He dislikes everyone and everything and nothing can make him happy BUT Eliza. It is interesting to watch this version because they do a softer and lighter version of Pygmalion.

(M) GiGi. (Vincente Minnelli, 1958) Grade: B+

Thoughts: Gigi (Leslie Caron) is being groomed by her grandmother and aunt to become a courtesan in Parisian society. Gaston Lachaille (Louis Jourdan) is one of the most sought after bachelors/playboys in Parisian society. It is only fitting the two should become friends and when then friendship leads to something more, the movie becomes very charming. Movies back then were classy and well done compared to the stuff out now; women were ladies and men were gentlemen.

(M) Who Killed the Electric Car?. (Chris Paine, 2006) Grade: B-

Thoughts: A good documentary film that only people who are already aware of the current global and political situation will watch. I would like to think it reached new markets but I doubt it. Back in the early 90’s, GM released the EV1, an electric car, only to recall it and destroy all that ever existed. The director Chris Paine did this documentary mainly because he was an EV1 owner and was upset by what had happened. Funny side note, I actually knew someone that had an EV1 back in high school and to think there are none around except in museums is odd.

(M) Agnes Und Seine Bruder (Agnes and His Brothers). (Oskar Roehler, 2004) Grade: D+

Thoughts: The acting was strong but overall premise/storyline was too over the top and reminded me too much of a poor man’s version of a Pedro Almodovar film. Agnes Tschirner (Martin Weib) has just finished her/his sex operation and is working out issue within her/himself along with her/his two brothers.

Count for 2006: 146 movies

This is ALMOST reason enough for me to go to Coachella this year. ALMOST!