Election

I should probably stop watching coming of age movies like Election, they get on my nerves.  What is more annoying than teenagers?  I hate the apathetic teen character like the sister in this movie, and I hate the overachiever character like Reese Witherspoon's Tracy Flick.  Of course, the Flick character is a gross exaggeration meant to appeal to all of us who hate people like that.  The Matthew Broderick teacher character is really endearing, as is the tall football player guy.  You see, I've already forgotten all these peoples' names.  To be fair, the film is a poignant coming of age story. I mean, I guess if the teenager characters are really annoying, the film is successful because it's true to life, yeah?

interesting...poster....

2011 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts

Today I saw the 2011 Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts.  Camera 3 downtown was showing them, and I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to see them as well!

Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage is a sort of pastiche or scrapbook in film form of a man's trip to Madagascar. It utilizes many different styles of animation.....it's breathtaking in some parts, but in others it looks a bit less fleshed out.

Let's Pollute is a subversive environmentalist film done in the style of corny old educational videos.  I think corny=corny rather than corny=funny, but the old people in the theater seemed to think this was hilarious.  The animation is styled like a kid's cartoon.  There were a few good jokes.  My favorite think about this short was how the animators utilized lots of interesting patterns.

The Gruffalo was nearly half an hour and almost put me to sleep.  It's based on a children's book. I'd never heard of this book because I don't have anything to do with kids, but you can tell it's based on a children's book because:

1. the story is repetitive, and children's stories are repetitive
2. a name like "The Gruffalo."  Enough said.

I just really, really hate children's stories.  This was boring.  The music was cool.  Kids would like this. (I think?)  Helena Bonham Carter did one of the voices.

The Lost Thing was OK.  Full of washed out colors with a bit of angst.

Day & Night is my Oscar pick.  It was awesome!  Conceptually and visually the best film shown.  According to my sister, this was shown before Toy Story 3 (which I haven't seen).


This is the whole movie, although youtube quality really isn't ideal for watching this:

The next two were just bonus shorts, they weren't nominated for Oscars this year.

Urs.  What is an "Urs"?  Who knows.  Quiet little movie with a sort of impressionistic animation style.

The Cow who Wanted to be a Hamburger looks like it was drawn in MS paint.  And it is awesome.  This was really funny.  Reminiscent of Rocko's Modern Life.

clip:

Heaven can Wait (1943)

they really used to dress male babies like this, i guess

This evening I was lucky enough (very lucky!) to see a special nitrate technicolor print screening of  Heaven can Wait at The Stanford Theater.  This was exciting, and a lot of people came out for this screening!  The place was packed.  The colors were, of course, beautiful.  I really enjoyed this movie.  It was funny  (actually, very funny) and touching.

There's a new burger joint, Workshop Burgers, newly open next door, too.  Hopefully I can check it out next week when I go to see The Importance of Being Earnest.

The Room

this picture most accurately portrays the film

The Room.  A movie which needs no introduction.  I finally saw this last night at a screening at Camera 3 downtown.  It was the first movie in their new midnight cult movie screenings....there are gonna be a few interesting ones, including Pink Floyd The Wall, Rock 'n' Roll High School, & Eraserhead (all of which I am planning on seeing!).

This was my first time going to any sort of audience participation movie.  I am going to avoid with all of my might ever seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live audience.

It was fun/funny.  What else need be said?  

excellent posters, too

Muriel's Wedding

I've always wondered why movies like Muriel's Wedding aren't on mubi.com.  I really like this film.  I like director PJ Hogan. He also directed My Best Friend's Wedding, another romantic comedy that I enjoyed  for its off beat execution.

An ABBA soudtrack....fat Toni Collette...what's not to love about Muriel's Wedding?  The movie is really enjoyable despite the fact that Muriel and her family of layabouts are all genuinely detestable human beings at the beginning of the story.  I guess seeing them ~grow~ just gives the audience satisfaction.

White Men Can't Jump

I saw White Men Can't Jump at the library and randomly picked it up to watch.  The 90s fashion is pretty amazing...especially Wesley Snipes's bicycle caps.  It's pretty funny to think of Wesley Snipes as a street b-ball playin' funny guy...when I think Wesley Snipes I think about...like...Blade.  This movie is a lot of people talking fast and some funny stuff that pops out at you.  The basketball playing scenes are kind of boring unless you're super into the sport. There was a Jeopardy! scene too!  I love Jeopardy!

Away we go

When I first saw the trailer for Away we go I thought it could be one of those annoying bourgie movies, but it really wasn't.  I found this at the library and gave it a shot.  It was genuinely funny at times in a "real life can be funny lol" kind of way.  At other times it was a little too zany, but I'm not complaining.  The people in this movie are a lovely couple.  This is a good movie for expecting parents.  Oh, and Maggie Gyllenhaal looked so pretty here!  I also just realized this was directed by Sam Mendes, who directed Revolutionary Road, which I just watched...this one was much better.

Also I can't be the only one who thinks Maya Rudolph looks like half black Lisa Kudrow.

WHOA