http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:45:59 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/10/12/154559.php Senor CIf a man is measured by the strength of his character, is a movie character measured by the strength of the man playing him? Yesterday, I purchased "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslett, and Mark Ruffalo, among others. I'm not the biggest art house fan, but on occasion I will diverge from the usual Senor C fare, and try something a little more off kilter. Sure, it didn't hurt that countless reviews have given this flick six or more stars on a four star scale, but other people's opinions don't necessarily qualify or disqualify a movie from my To View list. I popped the DVD into my player with no preconceptions as to what I was about to see, and boy did this film ever hit a home run. I grew up watching Jim Carrey play such outlandish characters as Fire Marshall Bill on In Living Color and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think he'd be able to play such a restrained and steady leading man. His first stab at this type of role in "The Majestic" failed to produce a major critical or box office score, so I was skeptical of at least Carrey's performance (Winslett et al, I confess, I had a bit more faith in). But from Act I, I knew this was to be a very different Jim Carrey than what I'm accustomed to. Carrey plays the role of Joel, a post break-up victim who yearns for nothing but the good old days with ex-girlfriend Clementine. Clementine, played by Kate Winslett, was Joel's one-time eccentric soul mate, who had a fetish for dressing up potatoes and changing her hair color with every turn of the season. Clementine, in an act of impulsiveness, visits a clinic that specializes in memory erasures, attempting to wipe her brain clean of any memory of Joel. In an act of equally impulsive retaliation, Joel visits the same clinic to erase his mind of Clementine. What follows is one of the most original takes on love, break-ups and the rollercoaster ride of relationships that I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Joel and Clementine are perfect examples of the simple romantic dichotomy of 'It' feeling so right and so wrong at the same time. Unless you live in a cave and actively refrain from human interaction, this movie should immediately strike a chord, whether it be through finding love in the strangest places, recovering from a relationship that was almost unreal, or finding a connection with the simplest of dreams. Joel and Clementine's relationship was the combination of dozens of very distinct moments during the course of their courtship. We're reminded that even just one memory can make a loved one's embrace feel real again, while a single memory may also emotionally break someone still trying to outrun sorrow from the past. I've come to greatly appreciate those films that toss the traditional linear approach to storytelling out the window, and instead opt for a circular or anarchical approach to exposition. Flashbacks were used appropriately, but at some points I couldn't tell whether or not Joel was experiencing real déją vu or whether he owned a sick sense of humor. I believe the intent was for the audience to react in such a manner, which is why the confusion continued until we finally understand what's happening to our main character. Joel ends up regretting his decision to have his memories of Clementine erased, and what ensues is a plunge into cinematic brilliance: Joel's brain rushes to hide the remaining memories of Clementine in other parts of his memory and subconscious. Needless to say, Joel's quest brings about some interesting and largely embarrassing memories of his childhood that Clementine (the memory) enjoys to the fullest. The absurdity of having a mind erasing service was subdued by the straight-faced performances of Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood. It was their job to perform the memory changes in the story, and they acted less like neurological pioneers, and more like your everyday, disgruntled medical employees (Hopefully, the amount of pot-smoked in this film is not indicative of real life medical technicians when patients aren't paying attention.). Their anything-but-normal portion of the story transpires in the real world, while Joel's and Clementine are occupied with protecting themselves from erasure in the dream/unreal world. Confused yet? I was too for about the 10 minutes, until I realized that this wouldn't have been a Jim Carrey movie without providing him an opportunity to act insane. Like many of my contemporaries, "When Harry Met Sally" stood as my ideal for a romantic comedy. Very few movies labeled as a romance or a comedy, let alone a romantic comedy, could hold up to comparison with the Rob Reiner classic. But with Eternal Sunshine, my movie tastes may have experienced a paradigm shift. I didn't end up looking for the happy ending, like all other films. All I wanted was for Joel and Clementine to have a second chance. This, in many peoples' cases, is all one ever needs. Video20898@blogcritics.org Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:45:59 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/15/233614.php Senor CWARNING: Spoilers Ahoy! Today I was fortunate enough to take in a viewing of the latest sci-fi geek flick, Aliens vs. Predator. I've been aching to see this movie match-up for years. I remember as a child, how much the second installment Aliens freaked the living bejeezus out of me (I cried myself to sleep, that's how damn scared I was!). And to this day it still takes an emotional (albeit different) toll. Meanwhile, Predator remains one of my favorite movies with Governor Ah-nuld and is probably one of the sweetest movie monsters I've seen. But enough with the reminscing, lets go to the videotape. First of all, this movie featured no real human hero. You can call Sanaa Lathan a protagonist all you want, and sure she's not exactly hard on the eyes. But lets get real here though: No one came to see a Sigourney Weaver, an Arnold or a Danny Glover clone. We came to see some Alien on Predator deathmatch action. On this point though I have a mixed opinion. I counted less than FIVE encounters between the xenomorphs and the ugly mother f**kers. In that respect I felt absolutely robbed. Don't get me wrong, the one scene where the Hero Alien and the Hero Predator were tossing each other into walls was pretty sweet. But shoddy camera work managed to lessen its impact and left me salivating for more. I have always been more of an Alien fan as opposed to a Predator disciple. And even though the Aliens opened several kegs of whoopass on the Predator trio, I was amazed at how easy it was for the Aliens to overwhelm their Predator counterparts. Come on, we're talking about a master race of hunters here! I counted SEVEN human hosts for the first wave of Aliens, with about 5 more additional hosts over the course of the movie. That means the Predators were outnumbered 4 to 1. But these are the Predators we're talking about! PREDATORS! One of them managed to eliminate an entire special forces team, the LAPD's best cops, and several street gangs over the course of two movies. And all of these humans had projectile weapons on their home turf! The Aliens, as deadly as they are with their super strength and slicing tails (an ability I thought only Alien queens possessed), should have been easily dispatched! But no, we end up having only one real Predator survivor after the first half of the movie. Another robbery! Curse you Paul WS Anderson! Did anything work? Of course it did. I liked the whole concept of a rite of passage/training ground for the Predators in the multicultural pyramid (This probably explains why two Predators were easily mauled in the early parts). We unfortunately didn't see any new Predator technology, just a return of some of our old faves. I still get a kick out of seeing the Aliens in action: Efficient hunter-gatherers, with acid for blood and a vicious violent streak. It doesn't get any better than seeing the chest-busters spring out of new living hosts. Honestly, the entire idea of a Alien vs. Predator movie is great in its own right. Paul WS Anderson had to screw this movie up beyond recognition for it not to be cool in some way, shape or form. The Verdict: While many fanboys disagree with my assessment, AvP was definitely better than Predator 2 and Alien Resurrection. I'd say it's either tied or slightly better than Alien 3. I may have to watch AvP again, just to acquire a better perspective on the flick. But until then fanboys, keep fighting the good fight and summon your inner strengh. Hopefully, there will be an AvP sequel. It's just a matter of time until we get to see what Anderson has wrought. Video18688@blogcritics.org Sun, 15 Aug 2004 23:36:14 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/11/072936.php Senor CKal Penn is my hero. Seriously. From the advent of Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, I knew that this was going to be a balls out feature. Would a relative unknown risk being immortalized in our cultural subconscious because of one wide angle shot of his naked Indian body? Of course! Comedy done the Kal Penn way: "To hell with dignity, lets show some ass!". From the creators of Dude Where's My Car, HKGTWC entertained and left me on the verge of tears on occasion. Admittedly, I forced myself to lower expectations because of its default membership in the 'stoner flick' club. That may explain why I was significantly more fond of this flick than Dude, in addition to the fact that it seemed like the filmmakers didn't automatically assume only stoners would watch HKGTWC. I was also surprised to be only one of 3 people in the theater when I watched this flick. All in all, the environs did little to deter me from laughing my ass off. As for the high points: Doogie Howser MD! The Neil Patrick Harris cameo was absolutely perfect. He plays a high-on-ecstasy/womanizing/cleptomaniac version of himself in the movie (I wonder what the journal entry would look like after his travails that night).The Asian Club! ALRIGHT, I was regretfully part of a very similar club back in my college years. But being the only Asian in the theater I couldn't help but laugh at the stereotypical caricatures of the overachieving Asian mafia at Princeton U. Not to mention everyone's transformation from geek to chic at their dorm room party! Ah, the good old days. Shamless Self-Promotion: By the end of the film, even I wanted to inhale 20 sliders (tm) from White Castle (though the closest one is probably about 3 hours from where I live). The WC reference was so over done, that there's no way anyone will possibly associate WC burgers with post-marijuana binges. They weren't high the entire flick, right? Extreme Guys: Thank God that the Mountain Dew/X Games Extreme guy fad was put to rest in this movie. I hope everyone's learned how foolish you'll look if you attempt speak in one syllable words while having seizures at the same time. A few low points: I'm sorry John Cho, but you were definitely holding the Harold and Kumar duo back from cinematic greatness. I felt like his acting was a bit subdued. This may be due to his performance as the MILF guy in the American Pie trilogy (Understanbably, he was sloshed for the duration of his screen time, but keep in mind first impressions always count for more rather than less.). Battleshits: I don't know if I will ever associate 'cute' with 'British accents on women' ever again. The scene worked, but damn it, WHY RUIN A GOOD THING??Shameless Self-Promotion: As much as this was a brilliant marketing scheme for White Castle, I hope that other movies are NOT encouraged to include corporate sponsorship. Lord of the Ringsbrought to you by Sony? It will be the end of the world. In conclusion, I would recommend this film for anyone looking for a fun summer movie. If you're looking for Oscar-worth performances, high powered drama and intrigue, you're barking up the wrong tree. Come to this one, and you get to smoke one. UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot my FAVORITE scene in the movie! Even though it's done on occasion in movies like Tommy Boy, the uncomfortable silence prior to the hetero-male sing-along scene ruled. If only there was a BIGGER group of people watching with me, I would have joined in singing the classic Wilson Phillips tune, "Hold On." Video18510@blogcritics.org Wed, 11 Aug 2004 07:29:36 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/08/09/225609.php Senor CThe reign of Senor C that is. Greetings from Washington, DC. As the newest member of the Blogcritics cabal, I hope to bring a refreshing take on, well, just about everything I have time for. My main blogging interest lies in politics, but I definitely take the time to either slobber all over or completely destroy movies, CDs and the occasional recipe. Don't jump to conclusions just yet. I no longer espouse the metrosexual lifestyle, as it was once so hip to do. I'm just a regular guy with a flare for USEFUL couture...uh, I mean culture. Check out my team blog Restless Mania in your random web travels. I promise we won't disappoint. Hold on to your knickers chaps, and get ready for some old-fashioned Filipino fascism. Huzzah! Culture18472@blogcritics.org Mon, 9 Aug 2004 22:56:09 EDT