Not So Funny Balls

I went to see a sneak preview of Balls of Fury with Joel last night, and it was not so good. Christopher Walken was as hilarious as usual, but he proved to be the movie's only saving grace. It was silly, which is fine, but not funny enough to compensate for lack of plot. My recommendation: rent it.

Double Wow!

Joel and I went to see "Grindhouse" last night, the Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature. All I can say is wow!

Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" was gore-filled and hilarious. He really took blood and guts and ooze to a whole new level, but done in such a ridiculous way as not to be totally disgusting. It made a point of taking every B-movie cliche over the top, way over the top! Snakes on a Plane tried to do this but, in comparison, was just a bad movie.

"Death Proof" was also incredible. It was a Tarantino movie through and through, complete with a great scene of dialogue in a diner. Tracie Thoms is the female Samuel L. Jackson! The scene with the girl on the hood of the car was the most intense scene I've ever sat through, I was so wound up I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could relax again.

Both movies were all about powerhouse women. They were gorgeous and kicked ass all the same. They certainly included the B-movie T&A, but the main characters were all about not taking any shit. My kind of girls!

High Five

I finally got to see Borat last night. I went with Elaine and some of her friends. I hadn't had much Borat experience yet, just a clip from Youtube and many quotes from Pete, but I was pretty sure I knew what I was going to see.

It was absolutely hilarious! The things this guy will do with a straight face are amazing, it really is a talent. The movie gets going with shock value right away and doesn't let up until the last minute. And no one is spared; Americans, Kazakhis, Gypsies, homosexuals, heterosexuals, women, Jews, chocolate-faces, vanilla-faces, overweight people, ugly people, skinny people (himself), mentally and physically handicapped people... you name it, Borat offends it.

Over the course of the movie I watched a number of people get fed-up and leave the theater. They weren't just going to the bathroom, they had all their shopping bags with them, they were out-of-there. They all lasted a surprisingly long time, but after about a half hour they started to trickle out. My guess is that they no longer found it funny when Borat started making fun of them. It's okay to laugh when it's at someone else's expense, but hey, make fun of me and it's not so funny any more.

I truly can see why it is a controversial movie, and why people were legitimately offended. But, I think you must keep a sense of humour and take it as the social commentary that it is. If racism didn't exist you couldn't make a movie about it. If red-neck Texans who want to kill all Muslims didn't exist then they couldn't be featured in this movie. It's out there, and Borat is showing the world (in a very, very funny way!)

Film Fest

Katie, Tamara and I headed out this weekend to the Banff Mountain Film Festival. This is my fifth year in a row! After some kitty struggles on Saturday morning, we got a late start to the weekend, but we only missed a couple movies. After the films we checked-in to the Bow View Hotel picked up some wine and dinner and proceeded to get shitty. We went to the Rose and Crown and danced 'til we were sweaty to the funk and soul sounds of Urban Divide.

This morning I woke up with a touch of a hangover but got over it quickly. We caught all but the first and last of the Sunday movies, including the People's Choice Award winner "Asiemut." This was a fantastic film made by a young lovely couple who biked 8000 km across Asia. They were such captivating people and their love was so strong, it was so moving to see them succeed. I also really enjoyed the 12 minute film called "Ride of the Mergansers", which documented the challenging first 24 hours of a hooded merganser's life.

In all, the films didn't have the oomph of previous years, but they were all really great. I will be sure to be there again next year.

Getting Stuck in the Basement and Other Disasters

Elaine and I went to the Uptown Theater yesterday to check out the Calgary International Film Festival's double feature on Chernobyl. The ticket said "downstairs" and when we were coming into the theater it looked liked we needed to take the door on the far right. This door led us down a long weird corridor. Although it didn't look like we were going to be reaching a theater anytime soon, I figured that it was the film fest and maybe it was just showing on a small screen somewhere. We eventually made our way through a door at the end of the corridor and found ourselves in a stairway. Realizing that this was definitely not the spot, we tried to go back the way we came. Hmmm... the door was locked. We went up the stairs to another door... also locked. The only door that wasn't locked had big signs on it saying "Fire Door," "Emergency Exit Only," and "Alarm Will Sound if Door Opened." Well, we didn't want to make a scene, but we were stuck. Thanks to the technology of cell phones we called 411, got the number for the theater, called the manager's office and got him to come and retrieve us. How embarrassing!

Nicely situated in our seats in the theater, we settled in to watch two films on the Chernobyl disaster. The first one was titled "Radiophobia" and it focused on a group of people from the nearest town of Pripyat who returned twenty years after the evacuation. It was amazing to see how much destruction time and the elements can wreak on a town that was considered the model of modern USSR at the time. The forest had grown into the town, trees had even taken root inside of buildings, paint was peeling, and everything had been looted. I think the two most shocking things for me were that the people in the town were not told of the disaster until 36 hours after it occurred, and that when they were finally evacuated they were told they'd be back in 3 days.



The second movie was "Half Life" which told the story of the front line workers following the disaster as told by poems. This one was a little more abstract and artsy, but very compelling in places. I was particularly moved by the story of the wife of a fireman who was nursing her husband while he died from severe radiation poisoning/burns.

There are still a couple of days left in the festival, and I'm hoping to make the most of them.

Little Miss Oh-My-God Funny

Katie and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine on Wednesday. I was told by Pete that it was hilarious and the pressure was on to go see it so we could compare notes. I absolutely loved the movie. It was so funny at points that I thought I would fall off my seat laughing. The casting and acting was fantastic. Olive was adorable in her shorts that always seemed to ride up her butt and her red cowboy boots. Steve Carrell stepped outside his usual character by being the straight man. I was especially impressed by Paul Dano's portrayal of Dwayne. I guess what struck me the most about the movie was that although they were dealing with tough everyday issues, they kept the humour flowing. That's real life baby... as shitty as things get, funny shit still happens!

It's an absolute must-see... probably not a big-screen must, but a good one to buy for your home collection!

It's All an Illusion... or is it?

Dave and I planned on seeing BC/DC on Sunday night, but we wimped out since it would be so late. Instead we decided to take in a movie. The decision was tough, as there are many great movies playing right now, but we settled on The Illusionist.

It had much to lend credibility, such as Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and the producers of Sideways, and it did not disappoint. I thought it was a good love story with an intriguing plot, great special effects, and lots of twists and turns. Enough love to keep a girl simmering and enough action to keep a guy interested. Probably not a theater movie, but definitely worth renting.

Snakes on my Blog

Not sure if anyone has noticed, but I try to do movie reviews every so often on here. On Friday Elaine, Joey and I went for lunch at Japanese Village and then went to the matinee showing of Snakes On A Plane.

I was very excited to see the movie. I was well prepared with the knowledge that the movie was not to be taken seriously. Thus armed, I really enjoyed it. Although some scenes were very obviously tongue-in-cheek, the movie in general was very subtly satirical, which made it even more funny. The enlightened viewer could laugh even more at the thought of the less fortunate souls who would take the movie at face value and enjoy it.

All the key elements of big budget thrillers were there: gratuitous sex, absurd violence and gore, and great one-liners delivered by Samuel L. Jackson. I was giddy when I finally heard the big line, "I have had it with these muthafuckin' snakes on the muthafuckin' plane!" It will be a classic for sure.

All told, I thought it was really good. Worth seeing if you're in the mood for silliness.

The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Meh. Cory and I went to see Talladega Nights last night in Banff. It was only okay. The plot really could have used some work, and the jokes were only chuckle funny, nothing had me doubled over laughing. I recommend seeing it, but not until it comes out on DVD.

The Breakup

Nope, although I've had some real doozies lately, I'm not talking about mine. Chum and I went to see the movie tonight and it was pretty good. We both agreed that it was very accurate... a little too accurate really. Going through a breakup in real life is horrible, I'm not sure why I subjected myself to watching another one on the big screen.

Poked Before a Movie

Usually I like it to be in the reverse order, but what can I say, I'm easy! Now get your mind out of the gutter... I was talking about having acupuncture today and then going to the Rigstar Movie Night (you're such a pervert, I can't believe you would think I meant it the other way!)

Anyway... I had another acupuncture appointment today. This time I had the forethought to bring my camera along. In case anyone was curious as to what I would look like to have needles sticking into my head, the suspense is over.



I had a quick run after work (shaving 1 minute off my 3 km time) and then headed over to pick up Katie and Tamara. It is difficult to be cheery in downtown rush-hour traffic, but a man managed to make me so today as I sat at the lights on 4th St and 11th Ave.

I was sitting in Omar, grooving to my tunes, when I hear a man talking to me. I couldn't hear what he was saying over my loud tunes, but I was intrigued so I turned the volume down.

"Nice Jeep!" he says. Omar is not a Jeep, but he is very nice.

Small talk continued for a bit about Omar and his spatial virtues, the man standing in the middle of the street, me sitting in Omar. He then pulls out a long yellow balloon and asked me what my favorite animal was. Being very clever and perceptive, I could tell where he was going with this, so I thought I'd make it easy on him... I'm not really a dog lover but I know they're fairly easy to make. So, he starts to make me a dog, noting that he is on a tight time frame as the light will surely turn soon and I will have to go. He struggles a bit, not making the twists quite right the first time. I see the opposing light turn yellow and I start to get a little nervous for him.

"The light is going to change!", says I.

"No problem!", says he.

Within a few seconds the light changes to green, the yellow dog does not yet have back legs or a cute little tail.

"They're going to start honking at me!" says I.

"That's okay!" says he. He's obviously a pro, pressure doesn't phase him. He laughs in the face of adversity.

Before I knew it, there before me was a cute little yellow poodle.

"There's a cute little yellow poodle," says he. "There's a poodle bum," says he. "Don't look at the poodle bum!"

I gave him a dollar and thanked him. I smiled the rest of the drive, having really appreciated my poodle. I was also overjoyed that not a single person honked even though I sat at the light for 5-10 seconds after it had turned green. Sometimes it really is a wonderful world!

I picked up the ladies and headed to the Rigstar Movie Night. Rigstar is the company that Tamara's man works for/is a partner in. Every year they put on a movie night, featuring a band, hors d'oeuvres, booze, popcorn, beverages, prizes and, of course, a movie. I didn't manage to snag a coveted Rigstar hat, but I did see "The Davinci Code" and didn't hate it. Fun night, good day.

Slightly More Illuminated

I just watched Everything is Illuminated. I finished reading the book last week and I was blown away by it. I loved it so much that I ran out and bought his second book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by which I am currently being blown even further away. Needless to say, Jonathan Safran Foer is my new favorite author. The books are so original and complex, and written with so much energy and enthusiasm. He writes about love and loss, joy and sadness so vividly that it makes me curious as to what his life experiences have been.

Anyway, the movie. When having read the book from which a film has been adapted, I'm not usually one who can easily set aside my expectations for the movie. I always want it to be true to the book, even though often this is clearly not possible. I tried to keep an open mind for this movie because I loved the book so much. This being said, I think I can honestly say that I did like the movie. They did change things drastically, and not always necessarily due to time constraints. But, I guess what I loved most about the book were the characters, and the movie did them justice. Although the story-line was Hollywood-ised a bit, Jonathan was Jonathan, Grandfather was Grandfather, Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior was great and Alex was so very very Alex.

Eugene Hutz (of Gogol Bordello fame) stole the show as Alex. The movie didn't really go into the depths of his character like the book did, but he lived up to all of my expectations. I checked out the deleted scenes and it's a shame they cut some of them. The one of Alex describing his sexual adventures really didn't fit with the movie but it was pretty funny and very Alex... and even kind of alluded to midget porn, which I'm sure Jon would appreciate. It also made me really happy to hear the use of Start Wearing Purple by Gogol Bordello, I admit that I got up off the couch and danced a bit when it came on.

I guess the biggest disappointment from the movie was that it didn't go into Jonathan's family history at all, which were some of my favorite parts of the book. I would really like to have seen the love stories of Brod and the Kolker or Safran and the Gypsy Girl. I suppose there's enough material there to make an entire separate movie though, so I can see why it was cut.

All told, I give it a thumbs up. Definitely worth watching whether you've read the book or not. For those who have read it, it's really lovely to meet all of the characters, and for those who haven't, it's a great story. Enjoy.

V for Very Good

Katie and I went to see V for Vendetta tonight and I was pleasantly surprised. I had no idea what it was about or who was in it before I got there, hadn't even seen a preview actually. I was expecting a typical action movie but it was actually fairly thought-provoking. It's got some 1984 and Bowling for Columbine elements and was a pretty good social commentary. I enjoyed it a lot.

I Know I'm Not Alone

Tamara, Katie and I went to see Michael Franti last night at The Uptown theatre. It was a very well-presented evening. Franti did a bit of comedy (about how cold it is in Canada) before introducing his movie I Know I'm Not Alone. The movie was about a trip he took to Bagdad to talk to average Iraqi citizens on how they felt about the American occupation. He then travelled to Israel and Palestine to make a comparison between the two occupation situations. The movie was really good, although I think too big a topic to really get to the heart of it. This was followed by a Q&A session, which made the whole evening seem very intimate. He then finished off the night with an accoustic performance. In all, a very enjoyable time with an overall message of "You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace."

Also, Jon and I had pizza from the Wicked Wedge last night and it was uber-fantastic! He has introduced me to the wonderful world of honey and hot sauce on pizza... sounds gross but is oh-so good!