A big day.

I arrived at the theater, and immediately a friend who has only known me from the internet in the last year ran right up to me to say Hi. This was my first reminder today that I was very recognizable.

Then, ERIN CAME! Hurray!! It was a little weird to have a crossover in my different lives, and right away I started feeling nervous, around Erin of all things. I took her into the theater and sat down to wait for my cue as speaker. The cue came, I got my mic, turned around to face the audience...

And my heart started pounding. ERIN WAS THERE. I took a breath and started speaking, but I could hear the shake in my voice which made my heart pound harder. I kept speaking and glanced over at Erin... Big mistake! Everything went out of my head. I got back on track, but started talking a million miles a minute, as I do when I'm nervous. Everything was coming out in a jumble! That made me more upset, which made me talk faster, and my heart pound harder, and then I glanced at Erin - ACK! - and finished up as fast as I could. It was horrible.

Erin says I did great. But of course she's going to say that! And she didn't get to see how otherwise relaxed I've been up there. It's not a big deal, but I do wish she could have seen me as I've been all week.

We were there to see THE PROFESSOR and I hoped and hoped that she would like this, her very first Cinequest film. It was a documentary about "a brilliant, charismatic, foul-mouthed professor" and was really good. Erin was laughing like crazy and nodding her head up and down through...

All fifteen minutes of it. Because at that point the lights on the wall started flashing and a siren went off and a mechanical voice calmly said "ATTENTION. SOMEONE HAS REPORTED A FIRE." Me: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Not NOW!!!!

Not only was it a good film, but I knew there was no way this was going to be resolved quickly enough that Erin could see the rest of the movie. She had a 6pm appointment which was just enough time, but not if we were stuck outside for an hour. Which we all were. Everyone calmly left the theater and walked down the stairwell. We were all moving pretty slowly, I think because this was a really great movie and no one wanted to miss it! But we hung around outside for an hour, I introduced Erin to a couple friends (and BigBoss too! Remember BigBoss?) and we made new ones just walking around. It was a fun hour with Erin anyway, but I do wish she could have seen the film. She had to leave once they let us back inside, but she said she did like what she had seen. Also, I was able to point Rude Lady out to her, as she placidly wandered around. Unbelievable. Seriously, if she can act normal on medication, why doesn't she take it every day? This woman threw a hissy fit and harangued volunteers because she had to stand in line for 2 minutes but she hasn't said a word through a tape breaking or a fire alarm?

Getting people back in the theater was a mess, but once they were inside I got back up to announce what happened, and the schedule changes, etc., and of course I WAS VERY CALM AND COLLECTED and was able to answer all questions, and basically was 1000% better than when Erin was there. BOO.

Went on to introduce the film DESERT OF FORBIDDEN ART and the short film DANSE MACABRE which I had pre-screened and LOVED. I talked to the audience about it during the introduction and was happy and relaxed again and even made them laugh. Why couldn't I have been like this when Erin was there?

Later in the day the (arrogant) producer mentioned in other posts came to talk to me. We politely discussed his film for a few minutes, and at some point he said "Now don't blog about this, but..." and continued on, while I stopped short and wondered what he meant about that. And then he made reference to something I had written, and I'm like Good GAWD, this man knows who I am! I asked what he had read, and it was the Metblogs review, which honestly was not a bad review! But he said it "had stung a little" but that I had made some good points that he was going to think about. So we ended up discussing it for quite some time. Then when the film was over he came back to me to clarify some more points. And he was honestly quite personable. Now, I took into account that he now knows I can write about him, but we really did have a good conversation. I kept thinking though, this is why you should always make a good first impression. Because I had a really BAD one of him initially, and now I think he's quite a nice, intelligent human being, but I'm not going to erase what I wrote earlier because it is all true.

I went to stand in line for my next film and a man in line started talking to me about the film we had just seen, and it was very funny because his girlfriend was standing next to him but kept her back to me. But little by little she started wrapping herself all over him while stealing glances back at me. Um, No. I am not trying to steal your boyfriend. However, it was the first time in a couple years that someone actually thought I might be able to. So that was nice.
:)

I ended up back in the theater with the producer again, who immediately got out of his seat to come talk to me all the way until the opening credits. Seriously, I was starting to wonder if he DID read this blog. Because my review was NOT BAD. And when the film we were watching (which was horrible) was over, he came straight over to me again. I gave him my writing card and asked if we could have an interview for the CQ site, and he said yes. And I am very happy to give him the chance to explain about his film on our site.

So it was a lovely day with Erin at the movies (and out of the movies), and we got through the fire alarm, and met new people, and cleared things up with the producer, and possibly stole someone's boyfriend, and saw some great films. There were a lot of problems, but overall, it was a Very Good Day.

TIRED.

Film count:

11 days, 26 films.

And a VERY interesting day. I'll write tomorrow. That is, if no disgruntled directors find out where I live and do away with me... turns out they are all aware of who I am and what I look like.

Oops.

I'll write in the morning. ZZZZzzzzzzz

It had to be done.
But now I'm ready to continue on through the next three days!

I worked until 2pm, then Erin came over and we just relaxed and talked with our Bloody Marys (of COURSE there were Bloody Marys!). She needed to do a swim workout and wanted me to go with her but I'm deathly afraid that I won't be as good as she is, and I don't know, disappoint her somehow. Quite ridiculous, I'm aware. But I promised I would swim next week by myself to get my confidence up and then I would go with her. But while she was gone swimming, I weed whacked the backyard! With all the rain and sunshine we've been getting, the grass was like a jungle, it was past my knees!! Spike had told me the weed whacker wasn't working, but I decided to see what was wrong with it -- turns out it was just a case of Lazy Boy. I just untangled the string, and WaLAA! It was fixed.

As soon as I finished whacking that mess and rinsing all the green off my legs, Erin said she was free again so I suggested dinner and off we went. Seriously, I really needed this day off with her. We had a good time talking and laughing all day, I spent time in the sunshine, and I just feel really rejuvenated today and ready to go back to Cinequest. My life is so much better with Erin in it.

So film count remains the same:
10 days, 23 films.

Today I head back to announce THE PROFESSOR and THE DESERT OF FORBIDDEN ART. I'm looking forward to both! And then probably CELLAR or SOLITARY to end the night. Also, my friend Tassoula from Seattle is flying in today to attend the festival. I don't think I'll see her today, but hopefully tomorrow!

It is going to be a good day!

This day I got to hear from many audience members from yesterday's producer/director idiocy, who all came TO ME to tell me they thought the producer was "kind of arrogant" up on stage. See, it wasn't just me! They also mentioned that the film, which should have been very emotional, was actually not emotional at all because of the time the producer spent on screen telling us how awesome he was. HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA. I was glad to hear actually, because I wasn't sure why I hadn't been depressed and crying during the film, and another audience member said she felt the same way, but while we were all talking we realized it really was all the time they chose to focus on the producer talking instead of on the heartbreaking stories. Heh.

So then I saw GABI ON THE ROOF IN JULY which I didn't hate, and I didn't really dislike... I actually did like a lot of it, but there were enough parts that I didn't like that I'm not really sure of my final feelings yet. Also, no one told me that star Sophie Takal was completely naked through most of the film. I have no problem with that myself but now I understand why my guy friends all think this film is the greatest ever.

Then ANYONE YOU WANT, a lovely Australian film by my new friend Campbell Graham which was truly a Cinequest gem. Just a perfect blend of delightful characters, relationship drama, and ideas to think about.

Then I saw STRIGOI, a vampire film which everyone at the festival has been waiting for, and I was kind of disappointed. So was my festival-mate Paul, but then another couple we know loved it. I think the scenes were dragged out way too long and not enough was happening... but then Paul and I both started dozing so neither one wants to declare for sure the film was boring. We'll just take our friends' declaration that the film was good. Hmmm. I still don't think so.

Went home and crashed at 1am again. It's starting to catch up with me again and I have to work all day. There are no films I'm dying to see tonight so I think I'm going to take the day off. I'll be right back at the theaters tomorrow though.

Film count:
9 days, 23 films.

Rude Lady returned yesterday morning in the audience of my first film. I was very happy to not hear one gripe out of her before the film started. Then, halfway through the film, the tape broke. OH NO, I thought, We're all going to hear about this now.

Not a peep. Hmmm, I thought, somebody took their meds this morning.

Later that night some of the volunteers and I were talking about rude people and I brought up this lady. One volunteer wanted me to point her out if I saw her, and what do you know she happened to walk out of a theater just two minutes later. I pointed to her and the volunteer's eyes bugged out and she started laughing. "Oh, HER!!!" she said. "OMG." Turns out, as I suspected, Rude Lady is known as Rude Lady throughout the festival. She's had run-ins with several volunteers this year already and get this... my volunteer friend said she thinks she might take medication -- because of how quiet she had been all day.

That's how rude this lady is, that when she's not being rude, people notice. But, because I think she probably does take medication, I'll stop talking about her here. Well, unless she pisses me off again. But if she could just take her medication and remain a happy person, everything will be great.

So then.
At some point today, I won't say where, I had to introduce a film. And I was introduced to the director who said he was going to speak before the film started and conduct the Q&A after. That was all fine. But five minutes later I met the producer, and he stated that HE was going to give the Q&A, and that the director just THINKS he's the director, and that the producer is actually the producer, writer, conceptualist, researcher, director, "and some would say quite more." Okaaaaay. So who's the guy who said he was the director? "Oh, he's the director. But *I'M* going to conduct the Q&A and he's just going to stand there. Have you seen the movie? You'll understand why once you've seen the movie. It's MY movie. He just THINKS it's his movie." Okaaaaaay.

It appeared they could not be within 50 yards of each other, and sat on opposite sides of the theater. They only turned on their smiley faces during the Q&A (where the producer took the stage and occasionally let the director speak). But that's when it became clear... the producer is an arrogant [REDACTED]. Loves to hear himself talk. You could ask him the time of day and get a 15 minute answer. When we had to cut the Q&A off, due to it being TIME TO CLOSE THE THEATER, he told the theater manager "NO ONE interrupts ME."

Well okay then.

I have no Speaker duties today, though I'd love to introduce the first two that I'm going to, and looking forward to viewing all three. I'm expecting a fun night!

Film count

Count as of Tuesday night:

8 days 20 films.

Hopefully I get caught up writing about them tomorrow. Three on schedule for tomorrow night!
GABI ON THE ROOF IN JULY
ANYONE YOU WANT
STRIGOI

I'm looking forward to all three of those, and absolutely the filmmakers for the first two.

Speaking of filmmakers, I met some DOOZIES tonight. But I'll talk about that tomorrow morning. Without naming names.

Only two films tonight, bringing total to 16 films in 7 days.

Spent yesterday just relaxing and writing, got some errands done and laundry too, and even got a quick but sound afternoon nap in. Then back to the theater.

For film #1, PARABLE, I was introduced to the actor Stephen Taylor. He wanted to let me know this director's films are often referred to as "tone poems" and that this film is very "symbolic" and that we need to let the audience know beforehand. This is NEVER A GOOD SIGN. A freaking TONE POEM? Do you know what that means?

That means that from an audience of around 100, there would be 17 still sitting there at the end of the film. I, however, had to stick it out. The CQ program director came into theater at one point to see how things were going and started cracking up as soon as he saw me there -- he knows how I would feel about this whackadoodle film. "Everyone is LEAVING," I stage whispered to him. "I figured that would happen with this movie," he said, and left the theater still laughing. Damn you, Mike, damn you to helllllll!!!!

However, the 17 people who were left, many of them filmmakers, seemed to really love it, and it was an excellent Q&A needing no help from me. I was really happy for the actor, and really happy that those who stuck it out were rewarded. I did tell the remaining audience they all deserved a gold Maverick star for sticking through it and they all started cracking up.

Then I saw SEMSHOOK which is a 2 hour long movie about a Tibetan's journey from India to his homeland. It was an excellent film, but 2 hours at 9pm on a Monday night was a bit much. However it played to a packed theater, 90% of whom stayed for the Q&A with the producer, director and screenwriter who were all extremely nice.

So that was two very happy audiences, even if one was comprised only of 17 hardcore film festival goers.

Then I went home and crashed. I think I drove home on autopilot, my brain was done working after those two intense films.

Today I have on my schedule to see:
STARRING MAJA
UPPERDOG
DEEP IN THE VALLEY
and then presenting:
THE EXPLODING GIRL
and that f-ing PUCK HOGS.

That is a very long day. But I really want to see those first three films, and I can totally sleep through PUCK HOGS -- and don't think I won't.

I'll be in the theater from 11am to 11pm today. Pray for me.

Total film count so far:

14 films in 6 days. I think I'm running behind my record.

Cinequest Day 6 - Documentaries and Praise

Today was a DAY!!! Good and Bad, but it was definitely full.

First I went to see NO TOMORROW which I liked and gave me a lot to think about but which I thought may have missed its mark in the issues it was arguing.

Then I was lucky enough to spend some time with Erin, and we went to Gordon Biersch for lunch and Bloody Marys (of course!). We've managed to see each other every other day since Cinequest started and yet because I'm busy for 90% of the day with CQ it still seems like a week between times. But it was a highlight of my day, I enjoyed just walking through downtown with her and having a chance to talk and catch up.

Then it was back to the SJ Rep to present the mockumentary PUCK HOGS. OMG. I hated that film so much. The only thing stopping me from slamming it in a review was that the audience seemed to have loved it. Hockey fans... I'll never understand you. It was absolutely TORTURE for me to sit through, on the other hand I was happy that the hockey fans in the audience, having just watched Canada beat the US in the Olympics, were having a fantastic time. As for me, I get to present and sit through it AGAIN on Tuesday. I'm trying to find someone to switch films with me.

And right away I was back in the Rep to present TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: KA SHEN'S JOURNEY. This was a fabulous documentary about the life of Eurasian actress Nancy Kwan, star of FLOWER DRUM SONG and THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG. First of all, Ms.Kwan is 70 years old and doesn't look a day over 50, if that. Second, the Q&A was the best ever.

I brought Nancy and the director Brian Jamieson out on stage and began by asking how they had met and decided to do the documentary. Then I asked the audience for questions. *crickets*... So I asked them how long it had taken to make the film, and then again gave the audience a chance for questions. *crickets*... So I asked them another question... And finally the audience got up the nerve and started raising their hands. Well, the men in the audience started raising their hands. "Nancy, I have had a crush on you since high school, it's such an honor to see you here tonight!" "Nancy, I have adored you since I was a teenager..." "Nancy, I love you..." One man even professed his love to her as his wife was sitting next to him filming -- she made a point of waving to Nancy which we all thought hilarious.

But after was the best part. My friends have all said I've been doing a good job presenting (but really, it's not like I'm on stage for 30 minutes when presenting), but I expect friends to say this, right? But tonight I was thanked over and over by Nancy and the director for "the great Q&A" and many in their entourage came up and told me I was "terrific" and "did a fabulous job". I was blown away and really really proud of myself. I can't say that getting up on stage at the SJ Rep in front of 500 people is not intimidating, so I'm happy if I'm not stuttering or forgetting the name of the film. To have people who really care about what happens tell me I was doing a good job and thank me so profusely made me very happy.

AND when I had stood up to present PUCK HOGS I saw one woman in the audience point to me and say "Oh I LOVE this one, she's so CUTE." So, you know, I'm cute too.
:)

I introduced FrICTION which I loved, and director Cullen Hoback's Q&A went superbly.
I watched HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE which I also loved, though I started nodding off through in the beginning.

The long hours in the movie theater were starting to get to me.

When HIOP was over there were several celebration parties to attend, and I wanted to go to all of them because the filmmakers were my friends. I also wanted to attend the COMEDY SHORTS program at 10pm. 75% of my brain said I was wide awake and would be fine. 25% said I was running on auto-pilot and was about to crash.

I elected to forgo the parties and head home. I barely arrived and I was ready for bed. I was in bed and sound asleep by 9pm.
Woke up around 6:30am and got out of bed at 7am. I think and hope that I have been rejuvenated enough to get through today -- and the next seven days.

I'll be attending the documentary NO TOMORROW at 11:30am (in 30 minutes!) and then presenting PUCK HOGS and TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: KA SHEN'S JOURNEY and possibly be interviewing famous Eurasian actress Nancy Kwan (Ka Shen). I'll be through with films by 9pm today and have none tomorow morning, so hopefully I can get another good night's sleep and then some errands done tomorrow - I need to wash my Cinequest speaker clothes!

I also have a break this afternoon so Erin and I can have lunch together and we are both really looking forward to it. My brain has been too wrapped up in writing for Cinequest to give her the attention she deserves, and I so appreciate that she is patiently waiting for the festival to finish.

Seven more days. Somehow this year seems like the busiest festival so far.

Too tired to write tonight. No reviews until morning.
FrICTION was fantastic. Completely different from anything Cullen Hoback has done before.
HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE was the sweetest loser movie I've ever seen. Audience laughed quite a few times. Loved it.

Missing the HIOP Premiere Party and the Comedy Shorts in order to try to recharge. My body is aching to get exercise. I am back in the theaters at 11am. Bah.

Sunday's movies:
NO TOMORROW
PUCK HOGS
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: KA SHEN'S JOURNEY

Good night.

Cinequest Day 4 - Surprises

Definitely a day of surprises.

I introduced the World Premiere of my friends' movie BABNIK. Although I love their previous films I totally understand why many don't, as they are very difficult to get through. I was bracing myself for 90 minutes of excruciating confusion -- and instead was presented with an accessible film which: 1) had a story! 2) had actual dialog! 3) went in a linear direction! 4) had an exciting ending! 5) was sometimes funny! And yet, still didn't provide all the answers, and required the viewer to think. WELL DONE, Alejandro Adams and Marya Murphy. You have made a film to be proud of, to be sure.

Also at the Repertory Theatre: Rhett and Candyce Lewis from BILLY WAS A DEAF KID!!! They made a surprise trip from Utah just to say Hi to Cinequest. They are two of the nicest people in the world and I was thrilled to see them AND brand new baby Stella.

Was supposed to see DEEP IN THE VALLEY but instead ran into @HappyFunPaul and we went to see PEEPERS instead. Hilarious fun.

Word on the street:

GABI ON THE ROOF IN JULY is excellent.
THE BONE MAN is excellent.
HOUSE OF FOOLS is excellent.

World Premiere of FrICTION is today.
World Premiere of HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE is today.

More daily announcements can be found at the Cinequesting website.

Not a hitch for this day.
Saw GREEN WATERS: Here is my review: "A big ball of WTF." That's all I have to say about it.
Saw THE ROBBERS: Loved. Go see it. Definitely a must-see.
Saw 1981: Loved. Adored. Go see it. Definitely a must-see.

Conducted the Q&A with Cindy Lin, producer of THE ROBBERS, and it went really well. The audience loved her film and she was happy to have come all the way from Beijing for the North American premiere of her film.

Overall it was an awesome night, with great films.

Tonight I introduce BABNIK, and hopefully make it to DEEP IN THE VALLEY and possibly SWEETGRASS.

And then sleep. Sleep Sleep Sleep.

This is where things got better.

Yes, both my films had technical problems, or I should say it was my theater that had the problems. Some sound card (acting as if I know what I'm talking about here) was messed up in my projection room, so the film was delayed while they worked on it. Finally I was told it was ready, I introduced the film and sat down.

And... nothing happened. I had to tell the audience we were having a technical delay, and they were very nice about it -- which is what I love about festival audiences, they understand these things happen (Grumpy Lady wasn't there). Some people were concerned about getting to their next movie, which was understandable, but still, they were nice. So we waited, and waited, and waited, and...

I was told to tell the audience we still weren't ready. I believe we were at least 15 minutes late at this point. I stood up and told them we had our best technical guy on the job, it could be fixed at any moment, but if anyone was concerned about getting to their next film we would be happy to refund their ticket price for this movie. The audience asked a lot of questions about what films were next, how long this one was, things like this, and I knew all the answers! Made me very happy, and from that moment on I knew I was going to do just fine. I had just had my first crisis at my first screening, and I kept everyone happy and was able to keep them informed.

Four people got up and left -- perfectly understandable. No one was griping or making a scene, they just quietly went on to a different film.

I sat down. The lights went down. The film started! Everyone was happy, it was a great film (SLOVENIAN GIRL), and I'm pretty sure everyone made their next film on time.

I also had difficulties at the next film with another delay, and then the projectionists insisting I introduce the film a second time... I haven't yet found out if this was a misunderstanding (they didn't realize I already did?) or just another technical issue, but I stood up with the mic, said "Shall we do this again?" and the audience laughed, and clapped every step of the way as we thanked the sponsors and announced the film again.

Unfortunately that film wasn't so great (LOW LIGHTS).

However, even though we had all these problems, even though one audience waited an extra 20 minutes and the second audience waited 5-10 minutes, people were extremely nice and understanding about it, and that's what made my night. Film festivals will have technical issues, and volunteers will do their best to make things better. The only duty the audience has is to relax, have fun, and go with the flow -- because there's going to be a reward somewhere down the line.

I can't wait for tonight!

Cinequest Day 2 - Rude People

Yesterday, despite a multitude of technical problems, went very well and I had a GREAT time.

It started off badly though.
I arrived at the theater to watch a film before my speaker shifts started, and just as I got there another couple arrived for the same movie. The Theater Manager was directing them to their line, which was empty because the film was 30 minutes away. Well, this lady didn't want to stand in line, she wanted into the theater. Which she couldn't do, because she wasn't an Express Line holder, she was a regular patron. Express Line gets in 30 minutes before the film, regular people get in 15 minutes before. She started raising SUCH A STINK. She was loud, rude, and obnoxious. She was berating the theater manager and loudly proclaiming she was going to "talk to Halfdan about this."

I wasn't working yet, but I wanted to tell her to settle down. In fact, if I wasn't a volunteer I probably would have. But now I have to be "professional" and deal with the public nicely. Errr. I forgot about that part. But I tried very hard to stay quiet and help the Theater Manager in charge, meanwhile going through my head what I would possibly do if this happened when I *was* on shift.

And all I kept thinking was, "Good grief, it's DAY ONE. It's the FIRST MOVIE OF THE DAY, and you're ALREADY CRANKY????" I mean, COME ON. You should be having fun, not griping because you arrived half an hour early to your movie, WITH NO EXPRESS PASS, and actually have to stand in line for a couple minutes. And you know what? She got let in afterall.

And continued bitching. All the way to her seat she was loudly complaining about the rules, and "those volunteers" (GRRR), and how incompetent everyone else was, and more about the stupid rules, and "Halfdan needs to hear about this." And as she sat down a few rows in front of me, I realized...

THIS WAS THE SAME LADY (second paragraph).

At that time I was furious that this woman was even back at the festival, because I saw her throughout the festival last year and she was CLEARLY unhappy with everything around her, so why would she put herself and the rest of us through all this misery if she hates us so much? But then part of me was relieved because it wasn't ANOTHER cranky woman, and maybe all I'll have to avoid is this ONE.

So.
1. Come on, People, TRY TO HAVE FUN.
2. It's way too early in the festival to be this grumpy.
3. Volunteers work their butts off, so don't badmouth them unless you've done a better job volunteering AT THIS FESTIVAL.
4. I'm going to try very hard to deal with these kinds of people in an appropriate manner.

That last one might be hard.

Last night was the best opening night that Cinequest has had in three years.

1. Last year Cinequest showed appreciation to Cinequest bloggers by giving us press passes. I was hoping (and praying) I would get one this year. Not only did I get a press pass, but they threw in a few extras that blew my mind. “You did a lot of work this year, and you got all those interviews in,” they told me. I do it because I love it, as you all know, but it was just amazing to be rewarded like this.

2. I didn’t have any volunteer duties last night so instead of wearing the sensible, comfy black shoes that I must wear at Speaker, I wore my favorite red heels. OW. Two blocks from parking to the CAL theater, two blocks back to the Rep due to some misinformation, two blocks back to the CAL, two blocks over to VIP party that a filmmaker was kind enough to invite me to, two blocks back to the CAL for the film. And then two blocks back to the closing party where my feet said “ENOUGH!” and I spent half the party just carrying my shoes. Today I am wearing bandaids.

3. I was a Super-Star again. It is VERY WEIRD having strangers know who I am. No one really recognizes me, but as soon as they hear my name it was “I know YOU! You’re THAT GIRL! Who writes THAT STUFF! On the INTERNET!” Most surprising this time were people who knew my name from the Cinequest program, where I had written a few film synopses. It was also nice meeting all the filmmakers who I had interviewed through email.

4. The opening film (The Good Heart) was GREAT. Yes, it was predictable, and yes you could see the ending from the very beginning, but the ride in between was laugh out loud enjoyable. The audience was cracking up through the whole thing, the acting was great, I loved the characters, and I was actually satisfied with how the ending played out. This is the best opening night film that Cinequest has had in three years (and some of us debated whether it was even better than Thank You for Smoking).

5. The opening party was also the best in years. The opening party is ALWAYS super crowded and loud and you don’t yet know anyone. But this year was at E&O Trading Company which is pretty big, and well lit. E&O also kept the food and drink at a constant flow; they actually were running out of drinks before food. It has always been very difficult to just grab one kabob from a passing server at other opening parties but everyone was satisfied here. It was super loud, but I knew quite a lot of people this year and we had fun. I did leave around 10:30 though, with a hoarse throat and angry feet. More parties at E&O!!

I think that recaps my night. One filmmaker friend got me into the VIP Party before the film where we were served free Mojitos. It’s never a bad night that starts out with a free Mojito and ends with a free Cape Cod. Tonight I will be seeing The Escape and then will be Speaker for Slovenian Girl and Low Lights. I am looking forward to all three!

And so it begins!

Tonight I'll be at the Opening Night film and party.
Tomorrow I'll be introducing the films SLOVENIAN GIRL and LOW LIGHTS.

Read my article about Cinequest and why you should attend.
Read my film reviews and interviews at CQ Central (they will also be at Metblogs).

I'll post the random stuff, my thoughts and comments, funny stories etc., here. When I have a moment for my own thoughts!

See you at the movies!

Also, Cinequest is coming up on February 23. I think I'll keep most of my writing over at CQCentral this year to avoid making you all crazy. But maybe not. We'll see. I usually hate putting bad movie reviews over there, even though I shouldn't. So anyway, when/if I disappear from here around February 23, you'll know where I am.

You should be there too.

P.S. I'll be working 40+ hours as a speaker this year. This seems sort of insane to me. We'll see how well I hold up.

Have you been reading the interviews I've been doing for CQ Central?
Some of them are really good. For about half I've seen the movies already and that's why I contacted the directors. And there are more interviews in the works right now!

I am SO TIRED. I've been writing about Cinequest and communicating with all my film friends all day. AND watching film screeners for review later. The first one I watched was entertaining but kind of poorly acted... but starred three of the most beautiful women ever, and that was enough to keep my attention, and anyone else's to tell you the truth. The second one I'm half through and has Zach Galafanikonkitisss in it and is HYSTERICAL. No academy award winner, but it's pretty good. BUT, I'm not finished with it yet.

Earlier today I was telling Erin about something that happened at the CQ party and she said "Oh my, I can't imagine you sassing someone like that!" and I thought she was being sarcastic and I LAUGHED, because... you all know I'm about as sassy as it gets, right? Turns out, she really didn't think I would ever be sassy to someone in a position above me -- which I think all my former bosses would think to be QUITE hilarious. When I realized she was actually serious all I could think of was my old BigBoss who would have thought she had lost her damn mind, or never actually met me.

Okay, anyway. Um yes, I don't care who you are, I will sass you if needed.

My dishwasher washed all the dishes without incident and without flooding the house today, FYI.

And now I go to bed. Tomorrow is more movie watching and Friday I go to the SJ Rep to watch The Weir. And then probably write all weekend.

60-second SanDisk Phone Flick contest

Here's a fun thing from Cinequest that everyone can participate in. You don't have to attend the festival, you don't even have to live in California.

SanDisk asked 20 Cinequest filmmakers to make a 60-second film using only a smartphone and a mobile memory card. All the resulting films are on YouTube here.

You can go watch the films and vote thumbs up or down for each one. When you are done you can enter your name and email for a chance to win your own smartphone, or one of 24 mobile memory cards!

It's easy to do, each film is only 60 seconds long -- but most important, some of these films are pretty incredible and will show you what amazing things can be done even with just a little camera phone. So go check them out! Vote! And enter to win your own smartphone.

My tongue is still licking bright green Psycho Donut crumbs off my lips and my fingers are already black with ink from the Cinequest program.

People. A lot of stuff happened tonight. A lot of information was given. I don't even know where to begin. I have a pile of film screeners to watch and review and what might be the makings of the flu. We shall see.

I'm going to write things up tomorrow. Festival programs will be available at your local Peet's Coffee Wednesday morning, and the updated website with new interactive and totally synch-able film calendar will go live at midnight tonight!

You want more details?

Deepak Chopra... GONNA BE THERE!
Benjamin Bratt... GONNA BE THERE!

76 Trombones - oh, I mean 76 PREMIERES... GONNA BE THERE!

A 3D showcase... GONNA HAPPEN!

Comedy Writing Forums... DON'T MISS THEM!

And of course, PARTY PARTY PARTY, every single night of the festival...

The program is filled with some very interesting movies, and we saw clips of some films that I cannot WAIT to see.

For now, I need to go to bed. In the morning I'll be writing things up for Metblogs and CQCentral, and maybe post more here. Let's all cross our fingers that I am NOT coming down with the flu.

Oh, one last very important thing: Mike Rabehl totally WISHES he were part of the cool kids blogger group.
That is all.

Get ready for Cinequest

Tonight is the Cinequest press launch party, which I will be attending and where I will be eating their food and drinking their "surplus of alcohol" that I've heard about.

So anyway, when all of us press people are done eating and drinking Cinequest dry tonight, it's very likely to be all Cinequest all the time here again, or at least for the next six weeks. Can you handle it?

CAN YOU??? Hey, I know *I'm* looking forward to it.

Of course I'm sure there will be breaks for workout grumblings, relationship happies, and kid gripings. But mostly you're going to be hearing about movies and parties.

Which brings up a question: If you live anywhere near San Jose, you'll BE at Cinequest, right? Why wouldn't you? Are you going to leave all the awesome films and parties to ME? It's the 20th anniversary of Cinequest, one of the top ten film festivals in the world, and if you've been around but have never attended, you might want to ask yourself why.

I'll likely be back here this evening writing about all the incredible things we have in store. If I've had too much alcohol, I might have to wait until tomorrow, haha. But you can always follow Cinequest directly too:

Cinequest on Twitter
Cinequest on Facebook

Today was the first Cinequest volunteer meeting and film festival madness has already begun!

I got there early and already the Camera theaters were PACKED with eager volunteers eating the free Psycho Donuts and other goodies. Right away I spotted friends: Nathan, Darnisha, Stephanie, Christopher, Paul, Vince, Ray, Lou, Art, Cheri, Robert... Everywhere I looked in this packed theater were friends.

We all went inside to hear about the different jobs, and Halfdan stood up to give his speech. He told us that Cinequest was not really about watching films and getting drunk. Paul and I looked at each other... "Well, I quit," we both said, haha. The funny thing though was when later we were told instead of seven soiree nights where we get to meet and drink, there will be TWELVE nights to meet and drink. "But it's not about getting drunk!" I told Paul.

Halfdan also talked about how Cinequest has not only changed lives, but SAVED lives. Paul and I laughed at that later, a lot, but I should keep quiet, because the reality is it certainly has changed my own life

So the main job I wanted was to introduce the films, the Speaker job. This job would at least allow me to see the films so I could still write about them, and I don't mind speaking in front of an audience. I also liked the job of Envoy, being paired with a filmmaker and introducing him around the festival and promoting his film. I do that anyway as part of the press.

So the job I have at the moment is Speaker! It's going to take a lot of time, but I think it will be another good way to show my presence and support the festival, and get that line on my resume too. :) And you know, I don't normally shy away from the spotlight either.

Then I went to lunch with friend Paul at Gordon Biersch and ate too much but had a good time. All in all the day worked wonders for a bad weekend, and set things right again.

My press meeting for Cinequest is Tuesday when the lineup will officially be introduced. Already a few eager filmmakers are announcing their dates, and I am SO excited to hear some of my favorite director friends are returning with new films. Number one: Cullen Hoback, director of Freedom State and Monster Camp, two of the funnest movies at Cinequest. Cullen himself is a GREAT guy, and I'm so excited he'll be back again. Number two: Jarrod Whaley. Jarrod is a personal friend, and he made the incredible short Passion Flower, which I reviewed on Metblogs. Number three: Alejandro Adams and Marya Murphy for Babnik. Both of them are also friends of mine, and director/producers of Around the Bay and Canary.

Those are only the three films that popped up today. Of course there will be more incredible films showing also. But it's so exciting to hear friends from around the country making travel plans for February, and to know I'll be a part of it again. And to have two weeks of fun, and film, and friends.

And drinking. Because face it, there's gonna be drinking too.

Well, Bright Star is exactly what I thought it would be, not really my kind of movie, but the trailer looked beautiful and the movie certainly was. I enjoyed myself, and there was great sexual tension between the actors playing the unconsumated lovers. As far as romance film goes, I tolerated this one just fine. Erin was not so enthused about it, but she picked it so she couldn't complain. "What did you THINK was going to happen?" I asked her when it was over. She laughed.

She held my hand at the end when Fanny was shrieking in grief at Keats' death. And then she said I could pick the next movie. I'm thinking Whip It or Zombieland (if I can convince her to go).

CANARY, the crazed film by my friend Alejandro Adams, is playing at The Old American Can Factory tonight in New York. I am so super excited for the film and for Alex I can hardly contain myself. I'm also thrilled that his wife (and actress) Marya Murphy was able to make it to New York for the screening.

When I first saw this movie I only marginally knew them both, and had mostly heard that I was going to hate the film. I was absolutely prepared to hate it. But instead I was mesmerized by all the scenes that made others walk out (and there are always many who walk out of this film), and when the final, chilling, creepy, terrifying scene played out, I was hooked. When Alejandro came up for questioning and instead turned the questions on us, the audience, I promptly fell in love with them all. Alejandro, the film, Marya. This movie is a scholar's film. It's a difficult film to recommend to your average friend because it's a difficult film. You don't just go to sit down and be entertained for a couple hours. You must go with the mindset that you're going to write an analytical essay when it's over. And when it's over, you'll know you need to write that essay just to figure out what you just saw.

Although I was not the only person to be entranced by the film at Cinequest, my excitement now comes from the fact that so many reviewers are seeing it and writing the same incredible things about it that I feel. I mean... this film is not going to make millions of dollars, and it will never be a hit. But how many pieces of classical literature were bestselling books? Almost none, until long after the authors had died. Some of the best literature in the world never made a dime during the author's life, that doesn't mean the books weren't good. That is how I look at this film. It is really an incredibly genius piece of work.

So I am so excited because now New York gets to see it, and I have high hopes that they will understand and appreciate this film. And so much has changed since February before it premiered at Cinequest. Alejandro has gone from a man who appeared to direct people AWAY from his film (I believe to protect his precious baby from the harsh criticism of the world) to a much respected director who has provoked curiousity and fascination in film circles everywhere.

Assuredly there will be walkouts tonight. In fact there may be a higher walkout rate than usual (already a high rate) because the film is getting incredible buzz that is sure to be misinterpreted. You simply cannot go to this film thinking you're going to see an entertaining sci fi movie about organ harvesting. You're going to be sorely disappointed. But if you are willing to sit through the period of time this movie covers, if you are willing to sit through to the last scene which I believe provides the biggest clue to what Alejandro is trying to say, if you are willing to open your mind to an incredibly new experience in film - an experience which will not only require you to think but will not give you the option to do otherwise for days later - you really will have been given a gift.

When I say that I just want to crack open Alejandro's mind and devour his brain, I'm totally not kidding. If you ever get a chance to see this film (and I'll keep you all alerted to its screenings) I really hope you go see it and bring your open mind with you. For now, I'm just ready for an explosion to happen. There will be hate tonight, there will be love and fascination, and there will be notoriety. I am SO happy for my friends, and SO happy that many others are going to personally learn about this film tonight.

One more link, if you have access to KQED public television, This Dust of Words is playing Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I saw this film at Cinequest 2008 and reviewed it here. I really really recommend it, so if you get this channel, please set your DVRs to tape it. I think you will really like it.

I watched The Hangover yesterday with Buffy and a friend. They're both 17 now, so I didn't have to feel guilty about bringing them - though it wasn't really that R rated until the very last few minutes.

At any rate, THIS WAS THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE SEEN in a very very VERY long time. GO SEE IT. I never laughed so hard in a theater before.

I had seen the trailer on TV and it looked so awesome, but I was afraid, you know, that that was all there was to it. You know, all the funny parts are in the trailer. But I have heard wonderful things about it so when Buffy suggested it yesterday I jumped.

And we were SO not disappointed.

A spoiler free synopsis: four men go to Vegas for a bachelor party night on the town. They wake up the next morning with raging hangovers, a trashed hotel room, several added things that do not belong, and oh yeah, a missing groom.

The rest of the movie is the remaining three guys trying to retrace their steps, having no memory of the night before, so they can find the groom and get back to LA in time for the wedding. Three AMAZING comedy actors, incredibly funny villains, a pretty good role for Heather Graham, and just the funnest movie ride EVER.

We left the movie with Buffy and friend wishing they could have adventures like what was shown in the movie. "Oh, you'll have them," I assured her. "Everyone has some of those adventures. Yours are right around the corner."

"Did YOU have them?"

"Oh yes," I said, and laughed as I remembered my many adventures, "I definitely had them."

She wanted to hear about them, but like they say in the movie, when those adventures are over you take one last look at the photos and then erase them. You don't speak of them later, ESPECIALLY to your children. Heh. But I remember them. And I know Buffy will have adventures just as fun as mine were.

I hope she erases the pictures before I ever find out about them.

Orphan - the Movie

I saw previews for Orphan yesterday. I cannot WAIT for it to come out. I HOPE it's as good as it looks!

I'm going to take a stand here and say that I, for one, do not think UP is the most amazing movie ever made. Not the best animated movie, not the best Pixar movie, not the best movie this year.

I liked it, I really did. But I'm not going to slobber all over it because it could have been better.

What I did like:
The animation was great: I loved the effects of the window reflections, though the fact that they stuck out for me may actually be a minus for animation. Still, it was beautiful. I saw it in 3D but don't think it really added to the movie; anyone who missed 3D likely didn't miss any experience.
The characters: When I watched the short it appeared that the old man was ornery and grouchy and was being mean to the poor little wilderness scout. I love how the movie made you instantly fall in love with the old man and made you want to drop-kick that kid across the country. Although to be fair, you end up falling in love with the kid too.

What I didn't like:
How they dealt with the dogs. Look, I'm all for magical realism, I'm actually a HUGE fan of magical realism. But magical realism means believing that an old man tied thousands of helium balloons to his house in one night and then flew to South America in it. Magical realism MAY even allow for a talking dog collar. Magical realism does NOT allow for dogs being able to cook dinner or fly airplanes. That is a Looney Tunes cartoon, not magical realism. There had to be a better way to drive this movie than by throwing in a hundred plane-flying gourmet meal cooking dogs - who are then reduced to stealing hot dogs off a plate instead of just making their own steak dinner back in the kitchen.

I thought the villain was terribly scary, I thought many scenes might be too scary for very young children - but as I've said before, kids thrive on the Scary, so the last problem with this movie is the ultra happy ending. I know this sounds wierd, but as much as I was dreading anything horrible happening to any of the main characters, I think it would have been much more emotionally cathartic to have one of them die. You have three big candidates here: the old man, Kevin or Dug. The old man's death would have been offset by Russell growing up, Kevin's death would have been offset by her little babies living, and Dug... well Dug would have just been sad, so we'll nix that option.

I thought it was a great movie, especially the first half. I thought the villain was suitably scary, but I did NOT like the flying chef dogs, and I think it could have used a dose of tragedy at the end.

Of COURSE you should see it, and be careful about young, sensitive children, but I'm just not giving this 5 stars. Because it doesn't deserve it, and if you're honest with yourself, you'll agree.

Instead of posting about it twice, here is my SJMetBlogs article about the movie shoot yesterday. There are also a couple more pictures posted on Flickr. Because they were using my phone as a prop I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures but you get the idea. And yes, it was a real movie. I was just glad that everything went as well as it did.

Phoebe-cat also helped in the shoot. She usually spends her day sitting in a chair on the front porch; this way she gets pets from anyone going into or out of the house. I was a little concerned that I would have to lock her in a room because she's so friendly I didn't want her walking around during the shoot. But during the first half when they were shooting towards the street Phoebe just sat in her chair and got pets from the actors (who were playing tough guys) as they walked from the porch during every scene. Then during the second half when they turned the cameras toward the house, she jumped down and ran over to the side where I and the crew were. She sat there quietly and watched from there.

She's a smart little cat, and wasn't diva-like at all, heh.

I don't know why I'm so whiped out today. I only watched the shoot for three hours, I didn't do any of the work. And they left after to go shoot limo scenes until 1am. It sounds like things went well. I'm really happy for them and can't wait to see the finished movie.

In the meantime I'll get to see their first film, Around the Bay, on June 12. Can't wait!

Oh, also... Last night Kathleen Powell, cofounder of Cinequest told me she LOVED MY WRITING...

*swoon*

*DIES*

It's a real movie weekend

You can read about last night's Cinequest Happy Hour here.

Now I'm frantically cleaning up the front of my house because it's going to be used in some scenes of a new movie by Alejandro Adams. Visit Amity Movie to see more info about this film. Alex is the writer/director of Canary, a film from Cinequest 19 which prompted strong reactions from everyone who saw it, and the highly regarded Around the Bay which will show at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum on June 12. It will be accompanied by Jarrod Whaley's short documentary Passion Flower, a film that looks like it should not be missed by anyone.

So anyway, Alex and wife Marya are friends of mine from Cinequest, and they asked if they could use the front of my house for some scenes, and why not? The only problem: yeah, we still have Christmas lights up, so what? heh. So I'm taking the lights down, and scrubbing the fake snow off the front window, and sweeping up the porch - nothing big, just getting ready. The film crew will show up around 3pm and I'll be taking some pictures and observing so I can write up an article for SJ MetBlogs.

So that's my day today. I better get to it!

New ways to have fun with Cinequest throughout the year - Get involved!!

New Cinequest Happy Hours and letting your voice be heard at CQ20!

Hell is Other People is an independent film made by my friend Mr. JB Whaley. I would appreciate it if you went to visit the site and looked around.

Love,
Me.

Kittay asked for some more movie reviews or suggestions, and since I haven't seen any I really loved lately (HATED Kiss Me Kate, couldn't finish Tropic Thunder) I went through my Netflix list of rented movies and picked some I really love.

So Kittay, and anyone else who wants a suggestion, if you haven't seen any of these, you should:

Pan's Labyrinth
The Host
Memento
Cabaret
Milk
Quinceanera
Outsourced
Run Lola Run
Murderball
Monster Camp

I love these enough to say that if you haven't seen one of them, even if it doesn't sound good by the description, you should see it anyway, and I would bet that you'll love it. So try something new!

Get thee to Netflix or your nearest video store and rent this, Ahora!!

I cried and cried and cried. LOVED it. I can't wait for my daughter to come home so she can watch it, it's going to be her favorite movie.
It's only $9.99 at Amazon, you could just order it now since you'll want it when you're done watching it anyway. I know my order is already placed.

Since when was this a movie reviewing blog, except for during Cinequest???
I guess since I broke my brain at school. Hopefully the brain is all healed by August.

Anyway, I totally forgot to tell you I watched Chorus Line, right before I watched Gypsy. I never really had any desire to see Chorus Line, and in high school concert band we had to play "One" like a million times and it involved putting our instruments down to clap and just... like... GAWD. Hated it. So anyway, I never wanted to see it. But again in class my professor made a comment about it being one of his favorite stage shows, so I watched it.

It was okay. It was better than I expected, but I wasn't blown away or anything. I was a little surprised by my professor's professed love, but I figured maybe it appealed more to those who, like him, have experienced chorus line auditions. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars.

But in class today I told him I watched it and he screwed up his face and said it was the worst adaptation of a stage production to screen ever. He said it's totally different on stage, a totally different storyline. I'm glad he told me, because I never would think of buying to see tickets to see the show after I saw it, and frankly I was doubting his taste, heh, but now I'm open to seeing it on stage.

This post is too long for a mediocre movie. I don't recommend you rent it, unless you really want to see it - it's not terrible, just okay. But if you're a fan of Disney's High School Musical movies, one of the Chorus Line stars now plays Mrs. Darbus on HSM.

In class a couple weeks ago we saw a clip of Gypsy starring Bette Midler. I haven't seen it before but it looked really good. I decided to rent the 1962 Rosalind Russel version, with Natalie Wood starring as Gypsy Rose Lee, because it was rated higher than the Bette Midler version.

It was SOOOOOOOOO good. I loved Rosalind's Mama Rose character, mostly because she was a strong woman who was so opposite from the women in most of the other musicals I've watched - women swooning over men and worrying about when they would get married. Mamma Rose had no intention of getting married and I loved it. Of course, Mamma Rose is also a horribly manipulative stage mother slash monster, but I liked the strong woman part, heh. It was a really great film, and according to my professor it's considered one of the two best written musicals ever. I have to say, as awful as Mama Rose was for most of the movie, when she told 16 year old Louise to get out there and strip - GOD it was one of the most disturbing scenes I have ever watched.

Most people I've talked to have seen this movie already, but if you haven't it's a really REALLY good one. Of all the musicals I've seen this week, I would say it's tied with Cabaret for my favorite, but with Music Man a close sentimental second. You should definitely try to rent it.

Music Man was the first musical I ever saw so it holds a special place in my heart. But also, it's a pretty good movie. It's definitely difficult to get past all the poor, helpless women crap, and the woman needs a man to be happy crap, but otherwise I still love it. At the beginning I was laughing thinking that Iowans must HATE this movie; the film just skewers small town Iowan folk. But that makes watching Professor Harold Hill con the entire town all the more fun. Like I said, I don't go much for the love crap, but watching little Ron Howard cry at the end really brought tears to my eyes. And the very end, that ridiculous closing with the band made me all crazy happy crying. Ugh. haha.

In short, it's one of the best musicals, as far as light hearted comedic musicals go. I haven't seen it in over 20 years but I still had a fantastic time. So I think you should watch it too. It's not Cabaret, but really they're two different things.

Also, I didn't realize that Professor Hill was played by Robert Preston - the same actor who played Toddy the queen in Victor Victoria. 20 years made a big difference with that man.

Now go rent it and have some fun. I watched it on Netflix Instant Play.

Victor Victoria - the Movie

Eh. It was okay. I actually enjoyed it a LOT more than I ever thought I would, but the ending has left me bitter. I hate abrubt endings that don't answer any questions or give you, really, AN ENDING. So what was a 4 out of 5 star movie is now a 3. It's available on Netflix Instant Play.

I think I'm going to go for Music Man now as I haven't seen it in over 20 years, and technical and weather issues are preventing me from working on the back yard. BOO. That yard needs some serious work.

Movie watching update

I've been happily watching as many movies as I can the last couple days. I guess I'm having my own little home film festival - but 100% of my movies are good so far!!

Religulous - I liked this movie a lot, but it's not on my top 10 or anything. I thought Bill Maher rightfully skewers the main religions, but maybe doesn't spend a lot of time on some that he could have. I did think he was overly excited to show Islamic and Muslim religions as extraordinarily violent, but evened things up with the closing scenes showing violence on both sides. The deleted scenes were very interesting. The first one shows Maher kind of making fun of a man who was babbling about the violence of Muslim/Islamics... but I guess that didn't fit in with Maher's own babbling about their violence so it was cut from the movie. A few other deleted scenes just show Maher being kind of a disrespectful asshole. So applause goes out to the editors of this movie. They managed to at least keep the themes and ideas from being contradictory, and keeping Maher from looking like an asshole gave him a lot more credibility in the documentary. All this isn't to say that I don't like the movie; I did like it, and Maher makes entirely valid points. If you're religious you may be offended by this movie. On the other hand you might want to open up your brain to the truths Maher is trying to point out.

Zack & Miri Make a Porno: The offensive volume was turned way down for a Kevin Smith movie - which is a relative sort of statement, so don't think you're not going to see a lot of naked boobs or hanging nut sacks OR a full frontal of Jason Mewes. I think the dialogue quality in general may have lowered also, but overall it was a cute movie. My buddy Todd from IDLYITW called it "a guy chick flick" and that's pretty accurate. Also, Elizabeth Banks is smoking hot. I liked it, I just didn't love it. Don't get soft on me, Kevin Smith.

El Orfanato (The Orphanage): I watched this late at night all alone in the house, and when a certain dead woman suddenly springs to life I jumped a foot out of my chair and screamed. It's a very classic, old school type of creepy horror movie, and also uses that magical realism that is so common in Mexican films and stories. I loved it. Creepy kids in creepy mascaras are something I maybe don't ever want to see again. Rent it. Watch it.
Available on Netflix Instant Play

Cabaret: My number one favorite movie this week, even over Rocky Horror Picture Show. I didn't know ANYTHING about this movie before watching it, so I was not prepared for the introduction of: Nazis, homosexuality, homoeroticism, transvestites, lots of sex outside of marriage, dead dogs, and abortion. Did I mention the Nazis? I'm so used to musicals being mostly light hearted comedies that I was at first struck dumb by this movie, and then simply fascinated during the second half. By the time the final, soundless credits started rolling I was so emotionally wrung out by this movie I had to step back and take a break. Plus, awesomely made, acted and directed. I really wasn't expecting such a fabulous movie - and wasn't surprised to see that it practically swept the Oscars. This movie is my number one pic this week: If you haven't seen it yet, rent it. It's really an amazing film.
Available on Netflix Instant Play.

Now watching: Victor Victoria. On the menu for later: Chorus Line, Gypsy, and Sex & Lucia. And possibly The Music Man.

And yeah, just for the record, though some of you think I've seen every movie ever made I actually have missed a lot of classics. For instance, I have still never seen any Godfather movies. That's right. No Godfather. That's probably number one on my list of shame - yet I still haven't bothered to rent it. I will though. One day.

Also, I actually do not just watch movies all day. I'm just still repairing my brain from last semester. So yeah, I guess I am mostly watching great movies and bad reality shows, but that's what my brain needs right now.

And so I leave you so I can watch Religulous.

Rocky Horror Picture Show - the Movie

I assumed incorrectly that everyone I knew had already seen Pineapple Express, it seems instead that no one I know has, haha. I hope that everyone who is watching it now on my advice does enjoy it - it's not the best movie in the world, but I liked it MUCH more than I thought I would and would definitely see it again. Turns out Buffy has seen it so many times she can practically quote the entire movie (she can also recite from memory any scene from any Kevin Smith movie too, so she's obviously my daughter).

But hopefully I really am the last person to watch RHPS, because WOW, the fabulosity that is Tim Curry cannot be missed. I'm going to have to watch a midnight Santa Cruz showing of this, ASAP. As a teen I had always wanted to go see it, but the parental rules definitely nixed that idea. And as an adult, I guess I just never had time. Then as time goes by, and you re-watch old movies that you remember as being awesome and it turns out that your memory is bad because the movies SUCK, ...well I guess I figured RHPS would never live up to its reputation and I didn't want to be stuck in the theater at 1am with a bunch of crazies and a bad film.

Finally though, because I'm studying musical theater in class this semester, I decided to watch as many musicals as I can - and that was a great excuse to finally rent RHPS. It started a tiny bit slow for me, I'll admit I was on the internet during the beginning, but once the Transylvanians started dancing I was hooked. Really catchy tunes and you just can't beat dancing transvestites any day of the week. By the time it ended I knew I wanted this movie playing in the background all day while I worked. So I ordered the anniversary DVD (with extra Shock Treatment DVD) from Amazon and plan to see it in the theater just as soon as possible.

Unless you have some ridiculous aversion to dancing transvestites, I hope you all have seen or are going to see this film. Dr. Frank-N-Furter is one sexy beast, and I'd visit his castle any night.

Okay, you want me to be honest, here's an honest review: I have fucking hated James Franco ever since meeting the arrogant jerkwad at Cinequest a couple years ago when he brought one of the worst films I've ever seen to the festival. I have never forgiven him for putting me through that stupid film and I didn't like him as a person any better.

But James Franco in Pineapple Express is one of the best characters I have seen on film in a very long time. As far as comedic performances go, he totally deserved the Golden Globe he received. I just may forgive him his stupid "Ape" film. Maybe. Well, very possibly. For someone who never smokes weed, I seem to have been surrounded by close friends who do for most of my adult life. Franco captures the best and funniest of those characters beautifully.

Pineapple Express is a silly movie, but it's the best kind of silly movie - it's HILARIOUS. Most everyone reading this has probably seen the movie already so there's no point in going on about it. But I totally loved it, I was laughing out loud several times in the movie, and if you haven't seen it yet, you should go rent it now.

Pineapple Express

In the middle of watching Pineapple Express and it is crazy funny. Silly, but funny.
Also, I have hated James Franco since meeting him (and his wretched movie) at Cinequest a couple years ago, but there is no denying that he did a fabulous job in this movie.

Not done yet, but so far it's great...

(Like I told my friend Morgan, and like most of you already know, there is no rhyme or reason to my movie tastes, haha)

Thank you to everyone who is weighing in on Watchmen. I fully admit my brain was on another planet and defer to you all for a true review. I probably won't watch it again on DVD as there are too many other DVDs to watch, but I wouldn't be opposed to it if the kids brought it home.
Thanks!!

Scott and I saw Watchmen this weekend and I'll just be totally up front here: I slept soundly. I had been sick the week before, and the flu seemed to be catching up to me that morning. Scott gave me some Nyquil capsules, swore they didn't make you drowsy, and off we went to the very very VERY comfortable 41st Ave Theater in Capitola. In fact, I believe my last words to Scott were, "These seats are so COMFORTABLE."

So I saw the beginning of the movie, and loved the set designs (a true comic book lover did those) and I watched what seemed to be the longest credit sequence ever, and then... total blackout. I woke up now and then, saw a scene or two, and then went back to sleep. There was one point when I told Scott I had to use the restroom, left the theater, and walked in foggy circles in the lobby trying to remember what I was going to do. Finally found the restroom, debated napping in the stall, and made my way back to the theater to conk out again. I slowly woke up after the movie was over (2 hours 45 minutes???) and we were drinking coffee, and it wasn't until I told Scott about my spaced out feeling in the lobby that he remembered the Nyquil. That must have been it. Lesson of the day: No Nyquil before Movies.

So I won't count this as a real review, but this is what I feel from what I saw:
Dr. Manhattan: Possibly the most boring character ever
Silk Spectre II: Not a great actress, but points for great naked comicbook sex scene
Set Design: Loved
Rorschach: My favorite. Possibly my drugged up state influenced my fascination with his mask. The only extended scene I remember watching in the whole movie was the prison break, and I loved it.

So there you have my non-review. I kind of didn't like it a whole lot - but I was drugged and sick. I also admit to not being a great Watchmen fan, I have the graphic novel but I never could get into it. However, I also remember seeing the trailer months ago (before Dark Knight maybe?) and even though I wasn't a Watchmen fan, that trailer blew me away. I could not WAIT for it to come out. So, drugged up or no, I didn't see anything that remotely blew me away here, and that's why I still honestly can't give it a thumbs up.

Also, I don't get why parents don't understand that "Animated" does not = "For Kids". Why "Comic Book" does not = "For Kids". This movie was very true to its graphic novel roots and genre AND it was rated R, and you know what that means? DON'T TAKE YOUR LITTLE KID. GAWD.

Edited to add: the 18 yr old boy also saw it this weekend, he said he liked it a lot but gave it a 7 out of 10. Also, Scott has the graphic novel AND has read it, and really liked the movie.

So this brings us to the close of the best Cinequest year yet. Regular readers know I have reviewed Cinequest for quite a few years now - thank you for your patience during these strange 12 days of the year. New readers may be quite surprised to find how boring this place actually gets the rest of the 353 days of the year. I won't feel bad if you don't return until February 2010. But I certainly appreciate and thank everyone who visits during Cinequest. All I ever wanted was to talk about the incredible films I would watch at CQ when I had no one else to discuss them with. So I would just ramble here to myself for 12 days a year. Now we've become something pretty big and important, and it's fun but mostly it's just nice to have actual people respond now.

And to those readers who read me but didn't attend the festival: I hope this year's coverage convinces you to give it a try next year. Seriously. It's not a scary place, it's just a time for movies. And it's fun beyond your imagination. That's what I hope I got across.

Until next year, Folks. And now we return to our regular scheduled programming.

Goodbye Cinequest Friends

Because Cinequest this year was for me much more about the people involved than it was in previous years, I have to take some time to say goodbye to them too. Click the link below for thanks to many people I met this year.

Cinequesting: Dude, we’ve been “friends” and linking to each other’s reviews for four years but I never met you until this year. This meeting was the most exciting for me. Thanks for hanging out with me and discussing movies - in person this time! You are a tremendously cool guy and I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye – but I’ll see you next year! Or maybe I can borrow some of those screeners you have laying around.

Jason: Ah Jason, you know I read your reviews throughout the year. You’re a bigger than life Maverick and next year they should put YOU on the program covers (with your Maverick tattoo of course). I hope you had as good a time this year as I did.

Vincent: It was truly a pleasure meeting you this year. Even nicer to find out you’re a really special, cool and loving person. Thanks for hanging out at the party with me!

Michael Vox: You got away from me this year and I never got to meet you. But I want to thank you for inviting me to post on CQCentral. I hope I lived up to your expectations.

Alejandro Adams: One of the most interesting directors I’ve ever met and he has a much softer inside than he lets people see. Alex, I am really sorry we didn’t have more time to talk during the festival because I think you probably have a lot of interesting things in your brain. I look forward to Slamquest, and thanks for letting me hang out with you at the closing party and introducing me to even more people (Hello, The Dridge!).

Marya Murphy: Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgeous and super-smart, but also beautiful inside and a great mom. I hope we can continue to be friends and I look forward to seeing you next year – or at Slamquest!

RandomCuriosity and Ana Z.: You both got away from me at the festival, but I enjoyed “meeting” you through the internet. David I actually did see you Sunday, but you were talking to people inside the box and I was running off to the Cal. Next year, right? And Ana, next year you will take extra vitamins to ward off any germs!

Beth Toni Kruvant: Definitely great meeting you in the FM Lounge this year, and because of that meeting I made sure to see your movie. It was a pleasure, and I congratulate you for winning those festival awards. Well deserved!

Ray Rodriguez: Dude, you’re awesome! I’m glad I got to meet you and thanks for sitting with me during some movies. Come sit with me any time! See you next year, I’m sure!!

Jeffrey Goodman: What a genuinely nice guy. I wish you much luck in the future and good luck with this film and any future ones. Thank you for bringing your film to Cinequest because I had a great time watching it. I’m glad you had a good time at Cinequest and hope we get to see more of you and your films in the future. You can contact me through this blog if you need me!

The Volunteers: You are the best, as always. I saw you putting up with some very, uh, interesting people this year, and you handled them far better than I could have. The festival was HUGE this year, and you helped make it run so smoothly it was unbelievable. Thanks to all of you, both the brand new volunteers and those faces I see year after year after year.

Halfdan Hussey: You can’t put a thank you list together without adding Halfdan, co-founder of Cinequest. After he quoted my blog in his Closing Night talk I had to introduce myself and we had a nice chat. He and his teams have worked very hard over the years to make Cinequest what it is today and I think extraordinary measures were taken this year to take the festival to a higher level. Mr. Hussey, it was a pleasure.

Rhett and Burke Lewis, Candyce Foster: I’m putting you last here, but only to emphasize how much I enjoyed meeting you. Thank you for contacting me before the festival, and I am still sorry I didn’t like your movie – but I do look forward to future movies from you. I hope you had a great time at Cinequest and I just want to thank you again for being such nice people. And for not sending me down the Light Rail tracks on the couch.

As the rest of you can see, there are some terrific people at Cinequest and you are guaranteed to meet some of them if you go next year. So I hope you’re all making plans because I expect Cinequest 2010 to be bigger and better than ever!

Goodbye Cinequest: I will miss you

So much to say, I don’t know how I’m going to get it all in, or all OUT. I LOVED this year’s Cinequest. I think Cinequest grew up a lot this year; it definitely felt like a major film festival for the first time. Sitting in the Cal Theater on Sunday night you could actually feel the energy (as opposed to the exhaustion from previous years) surging through the audience. I just felt like I was a part of something BIG this year. There are so many very small things that Cinequest either put into place or encouraged, and those small things really added up to something special. I just hope I can remember everything.

1. Previews before the films! In past years the repetition of the sponsor ads (not to mention that platinum blonde telling us about Cinequest over and over and over ad nauseum) made you want to stab your eyes with a fork. This year we had ads interspersed with previews of upcoming festival movies and interviews from InsideCinequest. VERY nice and welcome change!

2. The Twitter Review contest. Audiences were challenged to write the best movie reviews in 140 characters or less. They haven’t announced a winner yet, but many people participated; just reading the entries was a lot of fun, not to mention informative.

3. Twitter! Wow, did this come in handy! With the addition of the #CQFF19 tag moviegoers were able to connect with other viewers, hear instant reviews, find out the best lunch location or where the nightly soirees were, or even be instantly warned that parking was scarce or that a line was forming for a certain movie. A lot of people attend Cinequest alone, and somehow Twitter brought us “out” and got us together, and I personally became friends with a lot of people I never would have met otherwise. All through Twitter. Who would have thought?

4. The artists at the Camera Theaters. It’s not film, but it’s art and it brought attention to the Camera windows day and night. It was a great way to draw crowds closer to the theater and another great way to support local artists.

5. Nightly watering holes. I didn’t get to attend any of these parties (because I was in the theater) but I thought it was great that Cinequest gave back to the community by promoting a different place each night. They support Cinequest, we support them; it’s an obvious win-win combination.

6. Festival Fanatic. This website saved my life this year. The last thing I had time for was getting out my Excel sheet to try to make up my schedule again. This site was so easy to use and so easy to make changes to. If you plan on seeing a lot of movies at a festival, I highly suggest you use this site.

7. InsideCinequest. These people did a great job interviewing as many filmmakers as possible, and the website was a great thing to spend time on while you’re at home waiting for movies to start. It gave the festival a more professional feel and made the festival sound as exciting as it was for people just checking it out.

8. Matinee prices. Movie tickets at the festival have always been $10, or $5 for students, and that is not bad. But this year they introduced the $7 matinee ticket and I think that was a great idea. It's a tough year for people, but you always need new people to attend. The cheaper rate might bring people in this year who can afford a pass next year.

9. My Press Pass. Bloggers have talked up Cinequest for years for free, but calling us all out and giving us passes gave us a sense of legitimacy and feelings of importance and appreciation. I’ve been in communication with Jason and Cinequesting for years, but this year it was not only like we were on a team, but we felt a responsibility to do a really good job in return for those passes. Giving us access to the Filmmaker Lounge made meeting the filmmakers easy and we were more than happy to change our schedules around to watch and promote the films of directors we had met there. I hope we did Cinequest proud (and I hope I get a pass next year!).

In short, this was the best festival ever. In years past I have had a wonderful time watching movies but was more than ready for it to be over after twelve days. This year it was like a 12 day/24 hour non-stop party, and I cannot tell you how sad and disappointed I am that it is over. I urge you all more than ever, next year is Cinequest’s 20th birthday: You are NOT going to want to miss it. Come on down, sign on to Twitter, write some reviews, and go to the parties. You are GUARANTEED to have a blast.

Gotta Dance - the Movie

I am now officially a sucker for old people documentaries.

This movie was billed as a film about a bunch of senior citizens who have taken up hip-hop dancing. But it really was so much more.

It starts out with a panning shot of a line of feet, just shuffling away, not moving fast and not remotely following a beat. My first note in my book says “They’re not coordinated AT ALL. I’m not sure about this.”

My next note says, “10 minutes in and I’m going to cry off all my mascara from laughing.”

The film follows around this group of senior citizens who try out for a new New Jersey Nets dance team. But as we follow these seniors around we also get to know about their lives, and that’s what I’ve always found so incredible and satisfying about these “old people” documentaries. Fanny is an 80 year old Filipino woman who lived in the jungle with her family for two years during the war. She’s maybe four feet tall and all skin and bones, but she loves to “Boogie Woogie”. 61 year old Betsy is a kindergarten teacher who was extremely introverted but likes to dance. So she renamed herself “Betty” and talks about Betty in the third person. “Betty wants it sexy,” she says as she complains about their loose fitting costumes. Betty also brought the theater house down as she demonstrated her “sexy pole dance” for the audience.

Next note: “15 minutes in – mascara all gone.”

While many of the seniors danced when they were younger, most had not even heard of hip-hop. But “when they started that music I was poppin, hippin, whatever!” says 60 year old Audrey. And that is exactly what they all did. Ranging in age from 60 to 83 years old, this team of twelve women and one lone man started training for their first dance routine to music they had never heard before. It was slow-going for the poor cheerleaders who had taken up this project, but they respectfully let the seniors know that they expected them to work as hard as possible to get the routine down.

Game day. All the seniors have to get their hair ready and make-up done. “I could be sexy,” says one senior, “but it takes a lot of work!! Transexuals, transvestites, why would they want to go through all this?” she complains. As the team walks through the back hallway to get to the arena they see an ambulance parked outside. “Is that for us because we’re seniors?” one of them asked.

And finally, it’s time. The team, dressed in bright red rain slickers, takes the arena floor and the opening to “Singing in the Rain” starts. They start shuffling around like old people do and the audience claps politely. But then… “Singing in the Rain” fades out. Jay-Z fades in. The rain coats are slung off. And the team of seniors start “poppin, hippin, whatever,” to CRAZZZZY feedback from the audience. The New Jersey audience is up on their feet screaming and hollering and dancing right along with them, and when the routine was finished the theater audience broke out in spontaneous applause too.

The film continues to follow them through their five month long “15 minutes of fame” and shows them dealing with their new-found celebrity. There are Nets audience interviews that show the respect this team achieved, and interviews with happy youth dancers who got to do a routine with the seniors at the last game. It was a really FUN film, and a really inspiring film. It’s difficult to imagine your own parents hip-hop dancing out there, but really it’s difficult to even imagine ourselves out there. This team of amateurs really earns the audience’s respect, and gives everyone proof that there really is life after 60. The theater audience wildly enjoyed it, and I found it an incredible movie to watch on the last day of Cinequest.

But first:

Before I get to reviewing and recapping...

Halfdan Hussey, Director and Co-Founder of Cinequest, quoted MY BLOG in his opening words on Closing Night. That's right. MY BLOG.

It's not like it was any amazing writing or anything, but it was still my words, and I was very very excited. Okay, give me time to think up my reviews now.

Movie count: 25 films, 11 days (45 films if you count shorts)

Today was a really really really good day. I am really sad though that it ends tomorrow. First Cinequest ever that I'm not ready for it to be over. Thank God I didn't have school.

I woke up with a terrible sore throat and still felt like crap, so I just stayed in bed until 8:30 and decided I would miss the first set of shorts. So I drank some coffee and felt a little better, then Spike got me an Italian fritatta ciabatta sandwich which made my recovery complete. I got to Cinequest around 1pm and felt just fine.

First I watched the Shorts 7 program which had a lot of really good films, and one that was shot partly in San Jose. If Shorts 7 plays again tomorrow, you should try to go see it. As I got out of the theater to head over to the Rep I saw Rhett and Candyce and from Billy Was a Deaf Kid. They had asked me before the festival to review their film, but I very sadly hated it. Still, they asked me to introduce myself if I saw them, so that I did. They seemed really happy to see me and were genuinely some of the nicest people I have ever met. They were in very good humor about the review, and even said they wanted to post it on their website (WHAAT??). I have had my reviews quoted on websites before, but never a BAD review. Their theory (a correct one) is that their film definitely did not cause apathy; people either loved it or hated it. I hated it and I was not alone, but I have heard people raving about it all over the festival. They asked to take a picture with me, and so we did, and I apologized some more for my review. Honestly, they are so gosh darn NICE that I wanted to retract my review - but I stand by it. I'm sorry, but I can't get past that horrible dialogue. If it wasn't for that I could have gotten through it. But I would definitely see another movie of theirs, to see how they have grown and changed from all this in the future.

So off to the Rep to see Canary. Cinequesting asked me why I liked Canary but not Billy/Deaf Kid. It's really simple: Canary gives you a lot to think about with not a lot of dialogue, Billy gave me nothing to think about BUT the bad dialogue. And so of COURSE, the Billy kids were there at the theater. Candyce liked Canary, and when I said I did too her eyes opened in surprise and then her entire face fell. "I'm so jealous," she said, making me feel a thousand times worse for not liking her movie. Honestly, I rarely feel bad for anything I do or say, but these kids are insanely nice. I feel like a cad, I swear, heh. I will say this though, they have stuck around through the whole festival and everyone knows who they are. These are the kinds of filmmakers we love to see come back, whether they have a movie in hand or not. They are the kinds of filmmakers who make the whole experience for us Cinegoers. You can feel the holes that directors like Cullen Hoback and Craig Saavedra leave when they don't return to the festival. The Billy kids are going to leave a hole next year (unless they come back!).

And then off to see The Last Lullaby, which I also loved, review below.

Tomorrow's schedule will possibly look like this:
Student Shorts
Ready? OK
Euforia
Nature of Existence

And I just might be able to run between theaters to fit in Gotta Dance, but I doubt it will happen. Sadly, this is the end. No more movies after tomorrow. I am sad.

Sitting in front of this stupid page for 30 minutes now trying to figure out what to write about Canary, but I know that’s what writer/director Alejandro Adams wants. There has been a lot of talk about this movie at Cinequest, and some badmouthing, 99% of which comes from Alejandro himself. Never in my life have I seen a filmmaker try so hard to get you to skip his film or prod you to write something bad. Possibly this is genius marketing – what better way to have people watch your film than with expectations at the bottom of the barrel?

Always ready to bite at any challenge, I was not going to be deterred. I did do something that many people did not – I read all the promotional materials. The Canary filmmakers made a great fold-up flier, like the kind you would see at a doctor’s office. It was an information brochure for Canary Industries. There is a lot of information in that brochure that would help a viewer before watching the movie. I also visited their website which also has this information. And with this information I watched the movie and was able to love it.

I guess the main point that the viewer needs to know is that the Canary Industries deals in organs. Organ donations and organ retrievals. The film is set in the present, and if you listen carefully (or read the materials) you will find out that you can register your child (born or unborn) and of course yourself, so that you can receive an organ when necessary, donate one if necessary, and most importantly: take care of them. A good explanation of the company comes from their own words:

If any client is not in compliance with the Conscientious Usage contract, an Organ Redistribution Specialist may be authorized to remove the leased organ in order to preserve it for the future use of the community. The important thing to remember is that the organ gives life to many, not to one. Any individual who endangers an organ is willfully undermining the sustainability of the community.

“Indulging in sports, alcohol consumption, vigorous sexual intercourse, or other prohibited activities” will result in organ retrieval. This also means you must eat only approved foods, and no worries, Canary Industries has their own organic food line.

The movie itself has almost no plotline, no beginning, no end. The only real main character is “Canary Agent”, played by Carla Pauli. She speaks no words, just moves through Canary Industries (which is based in San Jose, of course) and the city without ever being noticed. She is not noticed by the chattering office workers at Canary, or by any citizens as she walks through town, or even when she stalks her organ prey in their own houses.

The Q&A with Alejandro was interesting, in that he decided he would ask US the questions. First one? “What does the last scene mean?” Well, heck if I know. But I loved that he posed it to us, because to me it solidified the idea that this film IS an idea. It’s something to think about. I felt that the Canary Agent, silently both walking among us and ignored by us, really just showed how everyone turns a blind eye on things that happen in the world. We can get a job with an employer that does very bad things in the world, but we’re just employees, we’re not actually taking the organs. Bad things are happening all around us, right under our noses, but we walk on by because they aren’t happening to us. And worst of all, we are inviting bad things to happen to ourselves without speaking out or taking action. So don’t be surprised if you’re inanely chattering to your girlfriend about really stupid things on television and then wake up with all your organs gone. You should have paid more attention.

edited to add: After thinking more, I remember that the only person to ever notice Canary Agent is a very young child from the last scene that Alejandro asked about. I suppose now that that scene must have been something of an "Emperor has no clothes" meaning to it. The movie just gets more awesome the more you think about it.

The Last Lullaby - the Movie

The Last Lullaby is based on a story by Max Allan Collins. Price is a career hitman who wants to retire but decides to do one last job. This is an often told tale, but I really did enjoy this movie. Tom Sizemore is fantastic as the hitman who falls in love with his target and the supporting cast also does a great job. Director Jeffrey Goodman said he wanted to tell a quieter story than you usually see, minus the helicopters, explosions, and multi-car freeway chases. He does a great job with this, creating instead a really suspenseful film, one that makes you literally jump out of your seat every time a gun goes off. Seriously. The gunshots were CRAZILY loud (My note during the first shoot-out: “Is the theater BLOWING UP???”). There are also a few twists and turns in the film, none of which I guessed before they happened. And so instead of your average action movie, what you end up with here is a really well told story, with great, developed characters.

Goodman and writer Peter Biegen were asked how it was to work with Tom Sizemore, and the hesitation they took before answering really said a lot. But they both agreed that though they “had some issues,” Tom was a complete professional during filming and seemed to really want to prove himself. However it happened, Sizemore gives a great performance, and this is a movie you should find the time to see.

Cinequest - Day Ten

And on the tenth day the Body declared a Day of Rest.

I got sick, I couldn't do it. I didn't make any movies Friday. I'm sad that I didn't see Gotta Dance because who doesn't want to see hip-hopping grandmas? Hell, I'll probably BE one of these grannies in 20 years (or less). Ah well.

Woke up feeling even sicker this morning, but after some coffee I'm feeling MUCH better and expect to get to Cinequest by 1pm. On today's schedule is:

Shorts 7: Breaking Through
Canary or Firaaq
The Last Lullaby
Another Man

Those of you who haven't made it to Cinequest yet had better get here quick, tomorrow is the closing day. There are still LOTS of good movies to see this weekend. If you're anywhere around here, and I know many of you are, come down and see these movies! Watchmen will still be in theaters when Cinequest is over, you won't miss anything, I promise.

Tandoori Love is bright, colorful, musical, romantic, slightly violent and best of all, contains extreme close-ups of beautiful, delicious Indian food. This is fusion filmmaking at its best and most hilarious, and you will leave the theater desperately searching for the nearest Indian restaurant.

Sonja lives in the Swiss Alps and is engaged to Markus. Well, he hasn’t actually proposed yet, or given her a ring, but he has already announced the engagement to their families. Markus seems like a nice guy if a bit of a mama’s boy, and Sonja is a gorgeous Swiss Miss with very long legs and red hair.

All is going well until a Bollywood film crew sets up camp next to their chalet/restaurant. Spoiled Priya is a Bollywood diva who loves Raja, the crew cook. But Raja only has eyes for the Swiss beauty in the chalet. Markus, unaware of Raja’s love for his fiancé, hires him to be the new cook for the restaurant.

And now the fun begins. The arrival of the film crew has turned all of Switzerland into a Bollywood movie. Raja makes an impromptu marriage proposal to Sonja in the supermarket and suddenly is singing a love ballad while all the Swiss customers start dancing in sync. After every declaration of love or rejection we cut to an overproduced Bollywood music video. And of course we have the standard boy meets girl, loses girl, accidentally stabs a man in the back, and then wins girl in the end. But you never know which boy and which girl will end up with whom.

This movie is just pure, enjoyable fun. There are no deep messages here, no thoughtful quandaries to think about later, it’s just a fun and quite beautiful Swiss-Bollywood movie. Definitely one of my favorites this year.

Cinequest - Day Nine

Today was a really good day for movies.
Heart of Stone was a awesome and a documentary
Lightbulb was based on a true story and entertaining
Tandoori Love was HYSTERICAL, but it's after 1am so no review until tomorrow.

Make room on your schedules for Tandoori Love. It's like the movie Like Water For Chocolate, but produced by Bollywood and set in Switzerland. Very very good, hysterically funny, and amazing close up shots of delicious indian food. Don't go hungry!

Tomorrow my plan is:
Killer Poet
Gotta Dance
Why Am I Doing This?

Lightbulb - the Movie

Lightbulb is a hard movie for me to categorize. The program lists it as comedy, and it really was funny. It also had some serious parts too, but most of all it's just the true story of two guys who are struggling to find that one idea that will make them rich. Matt and his friend are trying to create novelty gadgets to sell, such as a watch that gives you random numbers for the lottery. This idea doesn't go over very well, but a different watch idea, one with "thinking dogs" (don't ask) is well received. They go on to lose all their development money at the dog track, so more money is needed to create different watches with the top ten dogs on them. Matt's gambling problem then not only loses all the business money, but flushes all his wife's money down the toilet as well, and she smartly leaves him. Eventually they are snookered out of their watch rights and hit rock bottom (trying to steal a gigantic cactus - by digging it out of the desert), but are finally saved when Matt goes to open a bottle of beer and finally comes up with a brilliant idea. The best part of the movie is that this is a true story, and it's hilarious seeing up on screen an item that you either have at home or have considered purchasing. Matt the gambling loser was obviously a genius.

The movie isn't the best at Cinequest, but it is very entertaining and well put together, and has some experienced but not well-known actors, and even some pretty funny sex scenes ("It's Animated! It's Animated!!!"). I wouldn't recommend you skip something really great to see this one, but if you have a free spot you won't be sorry.

I'm really glad I managed to fit this one in. It had gotten my attention in the festival program but I set it aside because you only need so many Stand and Delivers and Lean On Mes. But after the talk with the director earlier in the week my friend and I were intrigued, and then after my son saw it and liked it I decided I had to see it too.

It does follow the same type of storyline, except it is an actual documentary. It is the story of Weequahic High School in Newark, built in the Jewish and African-American section of town, and which churned out more graduates who went on to get PhDs than any other school in America, 1930-1970. Philip Roth, who I just spent an entire semester studying, graduated from this school. But in the 1970s things started changing, and the entire neighborhood was overrun with Crips and Bloods.

In steps new principal Ron Stone. At this point the school had won a single football game in three years, and no state championship in 25. Fights ran through all the halls. The Crips and Bloods were trying to kill each other. And Ron Stone, wearing his bullet proof vest, vowed to make a change.

It wasn't all Ron Stone's doing though, and I wasn't clear who was the chicken and who the egg, but there is also an alumni association involved here. Made up of Jewish graduates from the good times, there is a marked contrast between their lives and those of the current students. Doctors, lawyers and businessmen, they arrange meetings and barbeque fundraisers to help Ron Stone build a gym and create college scholarships. Through the association's help, students are able to go on ski trips and even a trip to France.

Through the six years of Ron Stone's rein, the football team wins the state championship and mediators make actual headway with the gangs. Many gang members vow to make sure all their members are going to graduate high school - and they not only do this, but they go on to college.

As promised by Beth and my son, there is a marked ending to this documentary. I'm not going to tell you just like they didn't tell me - you may possibly see this on TV one day. I will say it's a tragic ending but not an expected one, and this really catches the viewer off guard. Regardless of that tragedy though, it is obvious that the good that Ron Stone and the alumni association are doing will continue on, and that takes some of the sadness away.

Must take my vitamins today

The 18 hour days of school/work/movies/5-hours of sleep are just starting to catch up with me, but I think I can make it through to Sunday. I still feel like a bug is trying to take hold, but each morning the coffee drives it away. At this very moment I'm not sure I can handle three movies tonight - but they are all movies I've really wanted to see, especially the late one (Tandoori Love - trailer here). So somehow or other I'm going to see all three. Jason survives on these Foosh Mints, and I haven't noticed them at the store, but I think I may go on a mission today.

Speaking of errands, I have 19 library books that have been overdue since Cinequest started. Dammit.

Cinequest - Day 8

Today wasn't the best of days, so hopefully things get better tomorrow.

My son was going to attend Generic Thriller with me today, but he came home this afternoon looking like death warmed over. Or maybe warmed under. I sent him to bed where he passed out and I went to Generic Thriller alone. As you can see from the review below, I didn't enjoy myself. It was SO boring that I couldn't even get up the energy to leave, I just dozed on and off through the movie - along with a couple people around me to my amusement.

When it ended I didn't stay for the Q&A; if the director had something to say it should have come across on screen, and I didn't see anything I wanted to hear about. So I left, hoping Asqew Grill would still be open. Just closed, of course! I had planned to see Camila JAM but I just wasn't up for a subtitled movie this evening. Hopefully I'm not catching my son's bug, but I feel like I should get some sleep tonight. So I drove home, got to Pasta Pomodoro just in time to get an order of Pasta Bolognese and Bruschetta in, and went home.

I'm going to get some good rest tonight, because I have three movies planned for tomorrow:

Heart of Stone
Lightbulb
Tandoori Love

I am REALLY looking forward to all three. I hope they don't disappoint, I don't think they will.

Generic Thriller - the Movie

I can’t say that I wasted 90 minutes of my life at the theater this evening, because I did get some good nap time in. But I can’t say that you should go see this film either. At all. Ever. The misleading title probably didn’t help expectations, but not even in the Cinequest film description are you told that the entire film is constantly narrated by strangely boring Steven and takes place solely on the stage of the SJSU theatre. There is no “thriller”, generic or otherwise. There is a strange killer of blondes that runs around pretending to stab and shoot people, but it’s really only funny for a couple minutes – and don’t even let that bit get you excited, it was NOT exciting. This was not even a poorly thought out SNL skit that was lengthened to a full length feature – it was a long, rambling stream-of-consciousness with no thought provoking ideas or comedic moments, and most especially, it had no Thriller.

It did have one redeeming quality – the awesome Shirley Jones. Head floating around the stage in a bubble, she gives constant advice to Steven as he continues talking and arguing with his players. But don’t think for a moment that any of these supposed conflicts make this film even remotely interesting. I came home and told my son to take it off his movie schedule immediately. No point missing something really great, or even something good, by wasting your Sunday morning watching this. Go watch the Student Shorts instead; you’re certain to find many fascinating films there.

Last night I had the great pleasure of seeing Lifelines, directed by Rob Margolies. I picked this movie because Jane Adams is my Indie Queen and I always love anything she’s in (including 11 episodes of “Frasier”). Lifelines is the story of the Bernstein family, and for the first 6.2 seconds they appear to be the Perfect Family, in the Perfect House, on the Perfect Street. But like the Todd Solondz movies this film is so reminiscent of, things are much different behind closed doors. Daughter Meg sneaks boys into her room to spend the night. Teenage son Michael has a painful stuttering problem. Mother Bernstein, played in the performance of a lifetime by Jane Adams, is a caffeine addict and verbally mistreated by all three of her children. The dysfunction in this family becomes even more apparent when the entire family goes to a family counseling appointment, youngest child arriving in handcuffs after escaping the car and making a run for it. This family meeting has convened so that the parents can announce their impending divorce, which comes as absolutely no surprise to their children. Ah, but the reason for the divorce? Dad has discovered he is gay and is carrying on an affair with mom’s co-worker Mr. Hennessey.

All the way up to this announcement the laughs are plentiful and they are out loud guffaws. But as the counselor brings each family member into an individual session, even darker secrets are uncovered. The youngest son was raped by a male neighbor when he was five and never told anyone. The oldest son saw what happened and wasn’t able to help, thus initiating the stuttering. The mother turns out to be just what her daughter has been complaining about all along: a stark-raving lunatic bitch.

The acting of everyone involved in this film was amazing. Jane Adams ranges from her usual meek, incompetent, loser character to a psychotic, screaming, belittling mother from Hell. The teenage daughter, played by “Gossip Girl’s” Dreama Walker, is a wonderfully expressive actress, and so gorgeously beautiful that she was sometimes distracting in her background scenes. And Jacob Kogan, who you have seen playing the creepy title character in 2007’s Joshua, was amazing as the precocious young son. You’ll be seeing him again soon playing young Dr. Spock in the new Star Trek movie. What amazed me most was when 26 year old writer/director Rob Margolies walked out on stage. A KID did this? I would have bet a million dollars that Todd Solondz had directed this film, but it was all Rob who wrote the story and coaxed such striking performances from Jane Adams and the rest of the young cast.

It was simply an amazing film; those of you missed it missed something really good. It wasn't the best I've seen at Cinequest, but right now I'd rank it right under The Market. It is opening in New York on April 3, and I would not be surprised to see it at an Indie Theater near you in the future.

Heart of Stone - PreReview

A few days ago, during the infamous "No Internet in the FF Lounge" day, Cinequesting and I found ourselves in conversation with Beth Toni Kruvant, the director of the documentary Heart of Stone. I had seen this movie in the program and thought it looked good, but wasn't super-excited about it, so I did not have it on my schedule. Cinequesting asked the usual questions of the documentarian, "How long did you film?" (2 years), and "How did you know you were done filming?"

Her answer was that there was a "natural progression towards an ending". This intrigued us, but she was very cagey about telling us about the ending. She just gave us a look that told us we need to see the movie without knowing anything about the ending.

That was enough for us. We started furiously scanning through our schedules to see if we could fit it in, but I didn't think I would make it. Last night my son was looking for a movie to watch and I told him that I thought he might enjoy Heart of Stone. So that's what he went to see.

He came home last night and told me that it was Really Good. He really liked it and said I should go see it. I told him about my conversation with the director and asked if there was a definite ending. "Oh yes," he said. At that moment I didn't think I was going to see it, so I asked him to tell me the ending. He just gave me a look. "Are you SURE you're not going to see it?" he asked. "I don't think so," I told him. "Are you SURE?" he pressed.

I turned back to FestivalFanatic where I keep my schedule. I scanned through it, checking, and TaDAAH! Thursday at 5pm is the last chance to see it and I can make it. "I can see it Thursday!" I said.

"Then I'm not going to tell you the ending."

I am intrigued. And even more excited than when I was talking to Beth. Did YOU see it last night? Are you planning to see it Thursday? I think we all should.

Movie Count: 17 movies (30 with shorts) + 1 DVD in 7 days

Today started well and ended badly, but we can blame teenagers for that.

Arrived at Cinequest around 4pm and my first viewing was at 5 so I headed to the FF Lounge to read out of the rain. It certainly was nice to have a warm, dry place to sit. It was interesting again that the internet was turned on and the talking was at a minimum. There was some talking, but not the big, exuberant groups we had the other day.

At 5pm I went over to the Cameras to watch the Animated Shorts with Cinequesting. Today was the last day to see that series of shorts, so I'm just going to link to their description but also a BONUS: I found two of them on YouTube. Here they are:

Chainsaw
Glance Back
The Inquisitive Snail
Kaleidoscopics
Life on a Limb
Our Wonderful Nature on YouTube!! (don't stop until the 1:50 mark at least)
Run
Chicory 'n Coffee on YouTube!! (only two minutes of it)
Lies
Sudan

Then I went back through the rain to the Rep for Lifelines. I will see anything with Jane Adams in it so this was a must see for me no matter what. I am SO HAPPY I got to see this movie, it was unbelievable. I'll do the movie review later.

When it was over I left the theater and got in line to go right back into the theater to see a movie I've been waiting for: Audie and the Wolf. Click that link, watch the entire trailer, and tell me that's not quality film right there. I was so excited that I was actually going to fit it into my movie schedule.

*buzz* *buzz* *buzz* goes the cell phone as I sat waiting for the movie to start. "Hello?"

It's my daughter. My 17 year old daughter who has spent the last seven years of her life with mother being AWOL for 12 days in February and March. She knows it's Cinequest time. She knows Mom is at the movies. She knows that you DON'T BOTHER MOTHER DURING CINEQUEST.

*ahem*

She was not calling from home. She was calling from a friend's house. Because instead of going home like I told her, she went to her friend's house, and when she left her brother was still home because he had not yet left for his Cinequest movies and so she LEFT HER HOUSE KEY AT HOME.

So I had to leave the theater without ever seeing one minute of Audie and the Wolf, and drive all the way home to let her in.

I'm not bitter. *SOB*

Tomorrow's movies:
Generic Thriller
Camila JAM

Movies for today

It's going to be a three movie day, unless I get super tired.

Shorts 3: Animated World I never miss the animated shorts
Lifelines Starring Jane Adams from Happiness, I'm just not going to miss this one
Audie and the Wolf I've been a sucker for horror/comedies since I was a kid

Looking at my schedule, I still have a LOT of good movies coming up. Very exciting!!!

Cinequest - Day 6

Movie Count: 15 movies (20 with shorts) + 1 DVD in 6 days

I think we're heading towards a record. I believe 22-24 may be the most films I've gotten in at one Cinequest. I'm aiming for 34 this year, and I haven't missed one yet!

Today was pretty easy. My first movie was at 7pm so it was just a school/work day and then off to Cinequest. My first movie was called How To Be... with a young actor you may have heard of... Robert Pattinson?

IMDB describes it: A young man having an existential crisis convinces a Canadian self-help guru to come to London and become his personal life coach.

IMDB leaves out the part where the self-help guru actually comes to LIVE with him (and his parents!), and often pops up at inconvenient times. I really liked this movie, MUCH more than I had expected. I had not gone to see it for Robert Pattinson, like the 1000 young girls in the audience who were cheering and squeeeing everytime young Robert blew his nose. But you would not believe how good he was in this movie!! There was a lot of physical acting in this film, and he was really quite charming. I just really liked the character. The official website is here. Cinequest sold out of the first showing, and nearly packed in the Cal Theater for the second showing. I think someone would be remiss in passing up the opportunity to get this film out now while the Pattinson is hot. It was definitely good enough to play at the Nickelodean theater in Santa Cruz.

The director was there and stayed for Q&A, and he delivered a lot of really interesting information about making the movie. Including the time Robert Pattinson let him know that he had gotten a "small part" in some American horror film, haha.

Did it "WOW" me? Mmmm, it came close. It's definitely up there on my favorites this year, but I wouldn't say it WOWed me. I would say though, that you should go see it.

After I saw it, I ran over to the Cameras so I wouldn't miss a minute of Billy Was a Deaf Kid (reviewed below). I should have gone to see Samurai Avenger instead.

Billy Was a Deaf Kid - the Movie

Billy Was a Deaf Kid was a very trying movie for me to get through. The two speaking characters, Sophie and her boyfriend Archie, were the most annoying couple I’ve ever seen on screen or in person. They never STOP TALKING. But they don’t talk about anything, it was just “Why did you do that?” “Why did you do that?” “Why are you doing that?” “But why did you do that?” Ten bajillion times over. There are also a couple of shocking moments, starting with the opening scene of Archie spitting into Sophie’s face about a hundred times. Now, this was part of an agreement, so you know, whatever. But there was a point where she told him to stop and he kept going. The spitting continues through the movie with Sophie several times asking him to stop. There is also some arm grabbing and refusals to let Sophie leave the room. Despite this, and in spite of me mentally yelling, “RUN, Sophie, RUN!!” Sophie sticks with him to the end of the movie (even after he also violently pushes his own adult sister into the concrete).

The Q&A after was interesting. One woman and one man both raised their hands and said they had never laughed so hard at a movie. I laughed a couple times, but never very hard. But you know who really never laughed? The 28 people who walked out of the theater. Ten of them during the first spitting scene. I hadn’t meant to keep count but I was sitting near the exit, and when a parade went past I couldn’t help but count them, and then kept a tally through the movie. 28 people, gone.

There was a discussion of whether what Archie did could be considered domestic abuse, and the woman who played Sophie defended the actions saying that when Archie poured soda in her face and mouth and nose while holding her down on the floor, it was only after Sophie had spit soda in his face. And in the first scene, she was slapping him while he was spitting on her. Well. That’s not exactly how I would describe what happened. I would say that it starts crossing the line into abuse when Sophie tells Archie to stop and he refuses, and ANY time that he won’t let her go. Yes, she started some of the fights. But at no time did she hold Archie against his will (nor could she have) and never did he tell her to stop doing something except during the first scene. Granted, she did start slapping him again after he told her to stop, but it was because he would not stop spitting in her face. I would have done more than slap Archie at that point, I would have kicked his fucking ass instead.

I loved the parts with them riding on the couch, and I quickly realized this was because it was set to music and Sophie and Archie could SHUT the hell UP. If all the dialogue could be taken out of this movie, I would love it - including the spitting and slapping. So, special supporting role of the Couch gets an A+ from me.

I felt through most of the movie that either the writing was just really, really, REALLY amateurish, or the actors were improvising as they went along. Apparently there was a little of both. But it wasn’t until the scene with Billy’s doctor that I understood the reason for the inane dialogue. The thesis statement comes right out of the doctor’s mouth: “Communication means you talk and then someone understands.” The doctor was trying to describe Billy, but at that point you realize there is no communication in the film between anyone, no matter how much talking they do. Even Archie's sister has her iPod on and does not notice them stealing Billy from her house.

I know Cinequesting liked it, but I cannot recommend it. At least 28 others in the theater also don’t recommend it. I think the filmmakers hold promise, I understand the meaning of the movie, I just don’t ever want to sit through 90 minutes of Sophie and Archie yappering to each other ever again.

In the Camera Theater lobby:

"Let me introduce you to my friend - oh! You should know each other, you're both from Canada!"
"Well, Canada is very big."

Maybe that filmgoer will learn some things about the world while attending Cinequest.

Before a screening of Corpse Run:

"What are you doing, some blogging there?"
"Oh I don't blog, I don't do any of that crap. I was checking my email and FaceBook."
"Am I your FaceBook friend?"
"I don't know, let me check..."

Bloggers are everywhere Dude. And we're invisible.

In the Cameras before Whiz Kids:

"I can't believe we couldn't get into that movie, after being turned away last night too! This is too much!!"

Well, it is recommended that you arrive 30 minutes before the film starts. Especially because, sorry, but we don't have a special seat saved just especially for you. Like everywhere else, it's first come, first sit.

In the hallway to the Camera Theaters, one filmgoer to a Cinequest volunteer:

"We appreciate you."

And we do. Cinequest couldn't run at all without their pool of volunteers who all work Very Very hard to make our experience a good one. So Thank You again to those volunteers.

What Cinequest is and is not

The other day one of my old high school friends asked, “What IS Cinequest, anyway?”
Cue me as Mrs. Broflovski: “Wha-Wha-WHATTT???”

I have friends from all over this country and Canada who read this blog, and I understand that most of them have not heard of Cinequest, one of the top ten film festivals in the world – except what they read here. But a long time San Jose resident??

I explained to him what it was and his response was, “I saw Death Race this week, loved it. :-)”

I don’t think he understood. I love Jason Statham too, and will watch any movie with him in it whether he’s talking or not (naked is nice, too). But that doesn’t mean that I won’t enjoy something from Cinequest. On questioning him further, I decided to put together a list here.

What Cinequest is and is not:

1. Cinequest is not JUST for the hoity-toity upper-class, neither is it only for film makers or film students.
Cinequest has movies for everyone, from teenagers to the elderly to your employer’s IT guy to the burly sanitation engineer on your street to the high school student to the college student to the entrepreneur to the waitress at Asqew Grill to the cashier at Baja Fresh to the old cranky retired guy down the block. There is absolutely, positively, something for everyone at Cinequest.

2. You do not have to dress up to go to a film festival.
Many people dress up for Opening Night because the film is in the California Theater and there’s a party after. But many don’t. As far as the rest of the movies, comfort is essential, just as going to any movie. And though many people come for only a couple movies, many others have marathon viewing schedules and barely arrive to the Camera Theaters out of our pajamas. You’re in a dark movie theater, folks, arrive with curlers in your hair if you like.

3. Cinequest has more than just foreign films.
Cinequest has PLENTY of foreign films, it also has plenty of films from the USA, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, so if you don’t want to read subtitles you can still come every single day and never read more than an opening credit.

4. Cinequest also has foreign films. And they're good.
Dude, I’ve seen hysterical foreign films that blow the socks off Tyler Perry’s Medea, I’ve seen foreign films sadder than Mystic River. I’ve seen fantastic films from Hungary, Finland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ecuador, Turkey, Iran – and they are all just as good and accessible as anything you see at your local AMC.

5. Foreign films are not all obscure, obtuse, or impossible to understand.
Some are. Sure. But the majority at Cinequest are just as understandable as your local AMC movies and leave you much more satisfied when they’re over. Honestly, you’re missing a lot if you stick to American and English-only films – some of the best films I’ve ever seen have been (easily understood) foreign films.

6. You know you won’t like Cinequest because you only watch horror films?
Honey, have I got the festival for you. Obviously you haven’t seen Blood Car, Samurai Avenger, or Audie and the Wolf

7. You’re a geek and can’t leave your WOW games or your Game Cube for two hours?
Haven’t seen Monster Camp or Corpse Run, obviously.

8. Yes, in fact there IS parking downtown, and Cinequest will validate your parking ticket. There’s also a convenient little thing called the Light Rail System that drops you off right by the theaters.

9. Cinequest is not expensive.
Sure, you can buy a pass to get into all the movies for $125 or a super-special pass for $500, but a single student ticket is only $5 and matinee shows are only $7.

10. If you don’t like going to the movies alone, this is the place for you to go – alone.
I go to the majority of my films alone and have NEVER stood in line without someone talking to me about a film or striking up a conversation in the seat next to me. If you know me in real life you’ll know I’m a lot shyer in RL than I am on the internet – but I don’t feel that way at Cinequest. Everyone there has one thing in common – they want to see some fantastic movies. You don’t have to come up with small talk because you already have something in common: the film you’re about to see or the film you just saw or the film you want to see or the film you heard about. I have never felt less alone than when I am at Cinequest by myself.

If you have any other misconceptions or even a simple question about Cinequest, feel free to post it here. Or go visit some other really great sites that will assure of the exact same information:

Cinequest
Cinequesting
CQ Central
Cinequest on Twitter
Tweets about Cinequest
Inside Cinequest

Today's Schedule

First up, School.
Then, Work.
Then:
How To Be... Starring some unknown actor named Robert Pattinson
Billy Was a Deaf Kid I have heard some mixed reviews, but mostly good, and I am really looking forward to it.

Shorts Program 2: Document: The World

Christmas in Tent City – One of the best of a great group, Francisco and Roberto Jiménez tell the story of a childhood Christmas 60 years ago, after having emigrated from Mexico. Switching between talking heads with the brothers and beautiful illustrations detailing the story, you can’t help but shed a tear when his mother cries.

Drag King – I was disappointed to realize this movie was not about actual Drag Kings. Oh no. This film was red-neckery at its most perplexing. In Lake County, California, there is a demolition derby where the drivers also tow boats behind their cars. I don’t know why. I didn’t understand this movie at all. It got a huge applause though.

Forced into Comfort, Fighting for Apology – GOOD GRIEF. The Comfort Women in Japan did not volunteer to be raped, beaten and tortured. SHAME ON YOU JAPAN. This was an EXCELLENT film.

Naming Pluto – About the woman who actually named the planet (she was 11 years old at the time). It was a really interesting film. Although when I started giggling every time they said “discovered Uranus” and “observations of Uranus” I knew I probably watch too much South Park.

Pickin' and Trimmin' – My mind started drifting the moment the old man started mumbling about… ZZZzzzzzzz. I think I probably should have liked it, but I didn’t, and it was torture for me waiting for it to end. Don’t hate me if you thought it was charming.

Rare Chicken Rescue - LOVED this one. About a man suffering from depression who raises very rare chickens. And these birds are Gorgeous. At 26 minutes, it was just starting to lose my interest when suddenly a tragedy hits and I woke right up again. I would watch this one again just to see those gorgeous birds. Here is a trailer to give you a taste of the film (but not a taste for chicken).

Movie Count: 13 movies in 5 days. (18 movies if you count the shorts)

Great day today and I finally saw two films that WOWed me!!

Went to Cinequest early today to spend some more time in the filmmaker's lounge. Lots of friends there today: Cinequesting, Chris Garcia, Alejandro Adams, Marya Murphy, Jarrod Whaley, Beth Toni Kruvant - director of Heart of Stone, and more. Usually everyone is quiet and has their noses in the computer screens - but today... NO INTERNET! It took us awhile of clicking and wishing and mentally kicking the computers until we finally gave up and...

Started talking to each other. Like, in large groups discussing the movies. And when many from my group left to go to their movie, we all formed into new groups. People who have sat in the lounge together for days but never spoke were suddenly in deep conversation about film. It was great, it was fun, I talked to people I probably never would have spoken to otherwise. (And RandomCuriosity, if you were there, you better speak up next time.)

At 11:45 I went over to the Cameras to see Shorts #2 - the World, and saw some really great films. Then I raced over to the Cal Theater to see The Market, a Turkish comedy that was the first to WOW me this year. A quick stop at Asqew Grill for a very fast salmon salad, then back to the Cameras to see Whiz Kids, another film that came very close to wowing me. And finally back to the Cal Theater to see The Caller - LOVED it. I didn't know it only played once this year, the rest of you are out of luck - but I can't possibly believe this film won't become available somewhere sometime.

NO time for reviews today as I have to finish a school project, but after class tomorrow I should be able to catch up on my reviews. But do you know where you can find reviews? At CQCentral. Go there for a lot of information on the festival and the films, and even many trailers!

Top Cinequest Movies so far

I was asked to rank the films I've seen so far, and by doing this I managed to get some good mini reviews in too. So I'm going to post them here and let this be my catch-up. Today is another full day and I'm falling way behind, so this is the only way it's going to work!

1. Witch Hunt – Moving documentary executive produced and narrated by Sean Penn, but Sean’s voice quickly fades into the background as you listen to these seriously outrageous stories. I remember when these Bakersfield cases were going on but had no idea that these parents spent so much time in prison, or that they had only recently been released. I think listening to the children tell their stories as adults was probably the most difficult, and seeing them onstage for the Q&A still suffering from so much guilt was heart-wrenching.

2. Capers – Very fun movie to watch with a lot of interesting visuals. I loved everything from the animated credits and scene cuts to the satisfying ending and the hope of a sequel. Danny Masterson did much better with his role here than he did in Wake. Plus – there’s a dachshund!!

3. Two Million Stupid Women – Drunk birthday girl recently dumped by her boyfriend runs around town with her two friends pretending she’s not demeaning herself further. I wasn’t sure about this movie about halfway into it when some unidentified issues with the two friends started escalating. But I felt the movie came to a satisfying and believable ending – something that could not have been accomplished without these three very impressive actors.

4. How Am I Not Going to Love You? – Billed as a story of two friends, I think it really focused only on futbol loving Hugo. It was a very moving story about learning important life lessons too late.

5. Historias Extraordinarias – It was long, I dozed a few times, but I still couldn’t help loving it. I think the moving vignette about an elderly lion in his last hours on earth will stay with me (and the entire audience) for a long time.

6. The Skeptic – Light on special effects, it still had the audience jumping in fear a few times. I really enjoyed it even though it might possibly be only a few levels above a midnight TV movie. I thought the ending could use some adjustment but I do recommend it.

7. Rock Paper Scissors – I’ll be honest, I laughed throughout this movie. But the characters and entire plotline were so over the top and kind of ridiculous that I had a hard time believing it was a true documentary. It was only the rational composure of the filmmaker at the Q&A that convinced me it was for real.

8. Corpse Run – HATED IT.

Blue Sky, please come back

Woke up to rain today. Don't want rain for Cinequest. Not quite awake yet. Need coffee.

Well folks, it's almost midnight and I'm going to HAVE to go to bed. I have to watch the 128 minute film "Carousel" Sunday morning and have a short paper written before class Monday morning. I had planned to get to Cinequest by 10am tomorrow, but I don't think that's going to happen now. I need sleep so I can get up early, watch film, and then watch four other movies at CQ! So the longer reviews are going to have to wait again. BOOOO.
Even pretend College tries to ruin my Cinequest fun.

Historias Extraordinarias - the (4 hour 20 minute) Movie

I am not ashamed to say that I dozed off a couple times in the second half - I did better than I had expected, and another viewer told me she was out at one minute 30.

Having not seen the ENTIRE film, I have a hard time reviewing it. I did enjoy it, I didn't feel like I had just lost 4.5 hours of my life, I wasn't sorry to have scheduled it. Would I recommend it? I haven't decided yet.

I absolutely LOVED that the narration was in such simple Spanish that I could almost entirely understand it without subtitles (I am SJSU certified as "fluent" in Spanish. This makes me laugh.). This of course made closing my eyes for a minute much easier. But that also made it easier to doze off. Ah well.

I LOVED the promise of the three stories: One character named X, one named Z, one named H. Each a solitary man on his own personal journey or quest. At different times one or the other is searching for gold, searching for a beautiful missing woman, one is hiding for months in his hotel room, another trying to get a job done... But I never saw any real ending or wrap up to any of the stories, and I don't know if it happened when I was asleep or not at all!

I LOVED the short vignette about a very old lion named "Colonel". I thought that particular story was told very very well.

I was really interested in everything that was happening, although it jumped around so much I kept having to go back through my head to remember which story this or that character was from. None of the stories tied in with each other. I really enjoyed what I saw when I was awake.

But then I fell asleep for more than a moment and woke up to a group of German speaking men, and a first person narrator. What happened??? I figured out who the narrator was, but didn't understand the connection. This was almost at the end, and marked the moment when I knew I had lost the battle to see this movie.

Also LOVED: The closing song at the end of the movie. Sung in English with Spanish subtitles, I enjoyed the Spanish version even better. Even though I wasn't sure about the endings of each historia extroardinaria, this final song kind of tied them together for me.

In short: I loved everything I saw. My only complaints are about some missing endings/explanations, but they may have happened when I was asleep.

So what do I decide?

I say, if you've read the Cinequest description and still want to sit through 4 hours 20 minutes of one movie, then do it. I don't think anyone left during intermission and didn't return. Just drink more coffee than I did.

Cinequest - Day Four

Movie Count: 9 movies in 4 days

Ahhh, the day of mix-ups.

Started the day out going to the Repertory Theater with my Starbucks oatmeal to see if the filmmaker lounge was open. The volunteer told me no, they were still setting up. No problem, I just sat on a nice park bench to eat my oatmeal. Just as I got it open, she came back to the door and said it was a mistake, that it WAS open. So up I went for my first time (“Press” get to lounge in the lounge with the filmmakers).

WOW. I had heard other people exclaim how nice it was, but I had no idea. Six computers hooked up to the internet with another 2-3 with gigantic screens. A large table with an assortment of snacks lain out: Bagels and cream cheese, crackers with assorted bries (peppercorn and pesto were my favorites), fruit, pastries, and of course coffee. I just wanted a place to sit and eat my oatmeal, so I did, and helpers kept coming to me asking if they could bring me anything, like coffee or a bagel. Umm, no, that’s okay… it’s right THERE. Haha. They were the nicest volunteers ever. I wish my movie schedule allowed me more time to visit the lounge.

So then I started my walk from the Rep to the California Theater, just a couple blocks. But a fellow moviegoer said I was going to the wrong theater, that Historias Extraordinarias was at the Cameras. There was a little group of us who were confused then, so we went in and asked Nathan Louie. He sent us to the CAL Theater. We all walked over, but it looked deserted. We tried the doors, one was open so we went in and through the lobby but wondered why we didn’t see any volunteers. Finally a Cal employee saw us and asked how we had gotten in. Heh. She said the movie had changed from 11am to 11:30am and could we all please wait outside. So we all did. Ten minutes later another volunteer came running up to us and said that Historias was actually at the CAMERAS. Good grief. We only had ten minutes left. So back we went running up the street and into the Cameras and up to the third floor where the movie had not started yet and the theater was not even half filled. Yay. And in Nathan’s defense, Cinequest had just opened for the day, I’m sure he had not gotten the memo yet.

THEN. I was back in the Cal Theater this evening listening to the cast Q&A from Witch Hunt (No Sean Penn, but it was fabulous anyway). It was really running long, and I had to get back to the Cameras for a 7pm showing of Billy Was a Deaf Kid. I would have snuck out, but I was in the middle of a packed row, there was no way to get out of there until it was over. As soon as it ended (around 6:45) I zipped out of there, around the crowd and down a different exit, out the doors… and into a different street. I wasn’t sure where I was, so I just hurriedly followed the building around. My son called and said he was waiting for Billy the Deaf Kid to start, so I was happy to see it with him. Then he said he was at the REP. “The Rep??” I asked, “I thought it was at the Cameras.” “No, it’s at the Rep.” So I booked it over to the Rep. The Rep wasn’t even half full but I found my son sitting in the balcony. We sat down while I caught my breath from running around downtown. It was 7:05 and they were still showing previews, so that was good. But then the announcer came out. “Welcome to our premiere of The Skeptic.” “The SKEPTIC???” I said to my son. “WE’RE AT THE WRONG THEATER.” But there was no way we’d get to Billy on time. Skeptic was on my schedule for a different day, so I just hoped I could rearrange things later.

So, The Skeptic was good, but I was disappointed to not see Billy the Deaf Kid tonight. I’ll get to see it Monday night instead – but then I won’t get to see Samurai Avenger or The Friend. Ah well, if that’s the worst of my problems with scheduling 33 movies in 12 days, then I’ll just have to deal with it. I still had a great time today.

On the list for tomorrow (very much up for revision):

Shorts 2: Document the World
The Market A Turkish comedy
El Camino (or a nap) A Costa Rican drama
The Caller Starring Oscar Nominee Frank Langella and Elliott Gould

Cinequest Day Three

Movie Count: 6 movies, 3 days

This is the quick, 1:15am version. Hopefully I'll have time for reviews tomorrow morning or I'm going to be really behind this weekend.

How Am I Not Going to Love You?: Brazilian Spanish-language film, very well made and I liked it. Futbol loving Hugo learns a life lesson the way they're usually learned: too late.

Two Million Stupid Women: This one I need time to talk about because I really liked it. 4 out of 5 stars

Corpse Run: I HATED IT. I would have left halfway through but I was blocked in my row. Afterward at the Q&A with the cast everyone seemed to be really exuberant about the film so I figured I was in the minority, but I'm getting emails from others who hated it too.

I haven't seen anything that has wowed me yet. Capers comes closest, and I really liked 2 Million Stupid Women, but neither really wowed me. We have 8 days left!

This is what is up tomorrow:

Historias Extraordinarias: this movie is a frakkin 4 hours 20 minutes long. Good Grief.
Witch Hunt: Sean Penn's documentary, I am really looking forward to it
Billy Was a Deaf Kid: I love that they've wheeled a couch into the Camera theaters to promote this movie. I look forward to it.

And now it's 1:21am. I need to go to sleep, back to the theaters at 11am.

Five minutes into this documentary about two brothers who have brought the famous children’s game into World Championship status, I wrote down this note, “Is this for real??”

I had spoken to Graham Walker, one of the brothers, through the computer before attending the film. He seemed to be VERY serious about his film. So as I watched these over the top characters on screen, these players who seemed to have taken “taking it seriously” to a whole new level, I felt like I had been had. There was no way this was a documentary. From the “team doctor” to a trophy fashioned out of a wooden hanger and a gilded fist flinging the “bird”, to then hearing about a bidding war between Fox Sports and ESPN over who would show the World Championships (Seriously? ESPN??)… and Hello, I haven’t even told you about the players yet.

On the other hand, there also seemed to be a pretty big effort to make this seem real. Clips from the Conan show, Ellen, the CBS Morning Show and even CNN certainly made it appear real, and the previous World Championships filmed sure had a lot of extras walking around…

Well, folks, this film was about as real as they come. I think I could have enjoyed it more if I had know for sure if real or not because I spent too much time trying to figure out the truth. Honestly, I was only convinced of its realness when the filmmaker stood up for the Q&A.

“Are you a fan of RPS?” he was asked.

“Umm. No.” was his reply, to great applause. He also informed us that it’s the only sport that has no rules against banned substances. Thanks, Cinequesting, for asking that question. People do want to know.

But did I like it? Yeah, yeah I did. We were all laughing hysterically, we just were never sure what we were laughing at: documentary or mockumentary? But there is no denying that the movie was entertaining, and it was actually really well put together. Matti Leshem, executive producer of such hits as “Paula Abdul: Cardio Cheer”, is set up as a perfectly villainous promoter, and there were various colorful heroes from the large group of competitors. Master Roshambollah was in the audience with some friends, sitting right behind me and cheering loudly in all the right places.

It took me a while to figure out exactly what I thought about this movie. I really had to get it into my head that this was all real and not one big joke being played. But no matter what, I can’t deny that I laughed and had fun, and with the crazy mix of characters that show up for these championships, well, you may just find me there as a spectator one day.

Capers - the Movie

I loved this film from the opening credit animations. I’m going to borrow from the IMDB plot summary to explain the details:

Three teams of criminals share the same Brooklyn block, but each exists in a separate genre of film. The Amateurs are trapped in a 1970's anti-hero movie. The Sputniks live in black and white. The Moolies can't escape their rap video life. But they all share a hatred of Connie, a racist local pawn shop owner and mafia widow. So when Connie has a heart attack, each team decides it's time to find out what's inside her legendary safe. Unfortunately they all plan their big score for the same night.

If I had read that description before the film, I wouldn’t have been so confused at first. But even in my confusion I loved the characters and wanted to keep watching them on screen. Eventually all the stories start merging together and you understand that they all want whatever is in Connie’s safe. As the Moolies put it, they “want money and don’t want to work for it”. Unfortunately, all three teams end up working much harder than they expected to get Connie’s safe. I freakin LOVED Connie. More racist than Archie Bunker and with less heart, but like with Archie, you couldn’t help but love her character. Danny Masterson seemed much more comfortable in his role as the head of the Amateurs than he was in Wake. And every time he and his partner appeared on screen walking their little dachshund I let out a little SQUEEEE inside. Dachshunds are to me like Robert Pattinson is to teenage girls.

It wasn’t the greatest film I’ve ever seen at Cinequest, and some people around me didn’t love it as much as I did, but everyone did seem to agree that it was Good, at LEAST. I really liked the use of the different filming styles, even though they confused me in the beginning. I was pretty impressed when the teams started crossing into each other’s stories and their scenes continued to have their own film style even in the same frame. And it had a very satisfactory ending, with a promise of a sequel (except it’s a film festival movie, so a sequel may never happen). Oh, and there’s a “brutal Russian sex scene” that you’re not going to want to miss. Trust me.

Unfortunately, the promised short film never showed, but that's okay, I loved this film anyway. When the film was over I immediately texted my son to try to fit it into his schedule. I recommend that you also try to fit it into your schedule. This will definitely be one of my favorite films this year.

The Village Barbershop - available on DVD

Great news tonight! The Village Barbershop, starring John Ratzenberger, is coming out on DVD on March 3. VB was at Cinequest last year and was one of my favorites. Don't want to buy it? Netflix will have it to rent. It's one you really shouldn't miss.

This is precisely the sort of movie people who no longer go to movies often complain 'they just don t make anymore.' The Village Barbershop is just as warm, humorous and ingratiating as it means to be, with solid work by all principal cast. --Variety

Cinequest - Friday Night

Movie Count: 3 films in 2 days

Extended reviews will come tomorrow, but short reviews are:

Capers: Try not to miss this one. It took awhile to come together for me but I loved it anyway, and I keep loving it more as time goes on. Some interesting filming techniques - a bit distracting at first, but it tied in and worked.

Rock Paper Scissors: This one is hard because I DID like it, I did have fun, and it was entertaining. If you have time for a just-for-fun movie then you should definitely go see it. But I spent most of the film thinking "Is this for REAL? Are they putting us on? This is just a SPOOF of a documentary, right?" But apparently it's for real. So then I was more confused. Still, short review: go see it if you're in the mood for some fun.

For tomorrow:

How Am I Not Going to Love You? (Cómo No Te Voy A Querer)
Two Million Stupid Women
Corpse Run

I also finally met, live and in person, Cinequesting and his lovely girlfriend. We've been Cinequest-reviewing friends for a few years now, ever since the times when we were babbling about movies to ourselves only. Had a long chat with Jason and even met Marya Murphy from CQCentral and the movie Canary. It was a good Cinequest day (and don't tell anyone but I'm overcoming my shyness).

My most embarrassing moment at the Cal Theater last night:

Just before the Q&A ended I felt my cell phone vibrate. Thinking I was getting another Cinequest Twitter message I opened up my phone to see it...

And accidently picked up a call from son, on my cell's SPEAKER PHONE.

"MA? MOM? ARE YOU GUYS WALKING OVER HERE YET?"

AACK!! I immediately dropped the phone into my lap as my son's VERY LOUD voice seemed to be transmitted across the theater (I don't think it really was that loud, but it seemed like it to me).

"MOMM?"

I picked it up, whisper hissed "YOU'RE ON SPEAKER PHONE I HAVE TO HANG UP"

*click*

More "Wake" coverage

Some people besides my teens seem to have loved Wake last night. That's okay, we each have movies that we like and don't - this one wasn't for me. I stick by my review though and remember a past Cinequest movie that also starred Bijou Phillips and Danny Masterson: You Are Here. I actually saw that film twice and loved it a lot more than Wake.

Again, tonight I'm seeing Capers (also starring Danny Masterson) and Rock Paper Scissors, a documentary about people... who play... Rock Paper Scissors. Trailer for it is here. My favorite part is the end when one guy compares the Rock Paper Scissors World Championships to... Woodstock. I was unsure about this one but Liz says she's heard about it and wishes she could see it. So here I go!

Cinequest Opening Night

As far as Opening Night in general though, I thought it went well this year.

The pre-film presentations and talks were short and interesting, even if the promise of a Steve Wozniak appearance only ended up being a film clip. Mayor Chuck Reed was awesome and declared “San Jose – the Capital of Silicon Valley” enough times to make me giggle. Lisa Kim was great, and Christopher Garcia is always my favorite host/interviewer/moderator. It’s always nice hearing Halfdan Hussey talk.

The after film Q&A went very well, with the usual questions about budget and shooting length (my eyes popped when she said it was a four week shoot). Bijou was cute and bubbly and has great legs, and the director was interesting and intelligent. Danny Masterson stole the show with some of his answers.

The after party again, was not for me, but I’m sure a lot of people had a lot of fun. I’m not knocking Cinequest for the party, but we may need to find a much bigger venue next year – Cinequest just keeps growing and growing!

All in all, except for some exceptionally rude people that I’m not used to seeing at Cinequest, I think we have a great start on our hands. I am really looking forward to the next eleven days and SO glad I won’t have school getting in the way this year.

I’ll see you at the movies tonight.

Wake - the Movie

Well, sleeping on things didn’t make the movie better.

I’ll start by saying that the movie wasn’t awful, it just wasn’t great. It gets a solid Good for being entertaining enough, and I heard a lot of laughs from the audience, and my teenage kids really liked it. Bijou Phillips is funny and engaging and has GREAT hair in the film (I TOTALLY WANTED her hair!). Danny Masterson is great in person, but didn’t have a great part written for him. I think the problems mostly fall with the story itself.

The film revolves around Carys, a troubled woman who is unable to feel emotions after the death of her sister. In order to try and feel something she attends funerals, the more sad and tragic the better. While at one funeral she meets the dead girl’s fiancé, and after accidentally stealing the dead girl’s engagement ring she becomes hopelessly entangled with the victim’s family and her web of lies. Eventually, of course, she falls in love with the fiancé – but will her lies bring an early end to their new happiness?

**Spoiler Alerts Ahead** ...not that I think you’ll ever get to see this movie.

1. Since when was assisted suicide legal? Unless this movie was set in Oregon (it was filmed in LA, but may have been set in Oregon), this small little legality throws a major monkey wrench into the plotline.

2. I may have heard wrong, but didn’t the fiancé put his dead girlfriend’s body into a car and dump it off a cliff in the Grand Canyon?? Maybe it wasn’t the Grand Canyon, but the dead girlfriend looked remarkably great in her casket.

3. We are to believe that a grown woman from a very religious, Catholic family would rather arrange a suicide that will appear as accidental death instead of telling her parents she has cancer so that everyone could say their Goodbyes and get closure. And that the family would be totally okay with this when they find out the truth. I’m not buying it.

4. Six weeks after his cancer-ridden fiancé has her “accident”, the “killer fiancé” proposes to Carys, a woman he met at his fiancé’s funeral. Maybe he wasn’t actually a killer, but that guy had something wrong with him. And women – don’t get engaged to a guy who just lost his fiancé six weeks earlier!!

5. Speaking of Carys, a woman who supposedly has emotional issues after the death of her sister, she seemed just fine with me. I never really saw someone who was having issues, other than we kept being TOLD she had issues.

6. Letting Jane Seymour wear this necklace in the film was a big mistake. Seeing it so prominently displayed around her neck was a huge distraction and I think is a big mistake in a film you're trying to get into theaters. I discussed this with my teen daughter, she had never even seen the necklace before but said she couldn't help staring at it. "I didn't know what it WAS," she said. "I couldn't figure out if it was a Z or a snake or what." HEH.

7. Did I miss something else or was there absolutely no closure with Danny Masterson’s character?

Aside from the big holes in the story, it really wasn't a bad film, but it just wasn't fabulous either. Buffy was surprised that I rated it a 3, but I asked her "Do you think people would flock to the theater and pay to see it?" She thought for a few minutes, and finally said "No".

Let's see how far I get since I'm tirrrrrred.
Took Buffy downtown with me to pick up my passes and the kids' tickets before the film. Went to the Hotel Montgomery to get my pass and right away found Jason and Christopher and... Cullen Hoback! Surprise! I had heard he was in SF last week and asked him to come to CQ - I don't know if he planned to come anyway, but he's a great filmmaker and I'm happy to see him around. Hopefully next year he'll show up with another movie.

Took Buffy to Asqew Grill, my favorite place to eat when I'm downtown and then we were in line for the 7pm movie by 5:50pm. We were like tenth in line, but Spike arrived 45 minutes later after they had let everyone into the lobby. GRRRRRR teenage boys. So we were standing in line at the interior door while the poor Cinequest people were trying to control the crowd entering the theater - and this HORRIBLE WOMAN behind me starts YELLING that she wants in, that she saw other people going in so why couldn't she, and just kept arguing and YELLING at the poor volunteer. Meanwhile she inches herself closer and closer until she's completely bypassed me and four other people. CUTTER. She yelled and harangued and wouldn't shut up for ten minutes, I kid you not. Her husband stood there smiling. If you are that woman, and you are reading this: YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF. GAHH. Regretfully, I didn't think to take her picture.

We got into the theater finally, and were off to the side but Cal Theater has wonderful seating everywhere. Buffy nudged me and pointed to the lady next to her with a large purse in her lap. The purse had some side openings and you could see movement inside. She had brought her dog!! Buffy said it was strange that I asked to take a picture of it, but I had to show you - I'm "Press" now, ya know.

I think I'll review the movie tomorrow, as I'm tired and didn't LOVE the movie, but don't want my exhaustion to make the review even worse. It wasn't a bad movie, it just wasn't that great. Oh, but I have to say this: Jane Seymour had a part in it and she prominently wore this damn necklace. Way to completely distract the audience and take them out of the film with your too-obvious product placement. I rated it a 3 but Buffy gave it a 5. Spike didn't vote but said he liked it. I'll review tomorrow.

So then we went to the after party, and it was in a new location this year - I'm really disappointed. In years past they had held it at the Hotel Montgomery, and it was always packed so full you couldn't move. But last year was a lovely evening and we got to hang out on the hotel patio and it was the best party ever (the pink vodka didn't hurt either). There was room to move around and room to sit and hang out. But this year they moved it to a couple restaurants/bars down the street, possibly to accomodate a larger crowd - but it was JAM PACKED when we got there, and we were there before half the crowd got there. There was a band and alcohol and hor d'oeuvres, but Buffy was sad that the chocolate fountain was gone. The main problem was it was just too packed. It was a warehouse packed with people. Buffy took a pic with Nathan Louie and we all just decided to leave. We were sad that we didn't stay at the party, but I can't hang out like that with two underage kids in tow.

Did we all have fun? YES. Are we tired? YES.
Tomorrow I will see Capers and Rock Paper Scissors.

See ya at the movies.

And we're off!

We're all leaving in just a few minutes to get downtown and take care of business before the Opening Night Movie. Wake will hopefully be MUCH better than Opening Night last year. After that, a party at Billy Berk's and Mezcal Restaurant. This year, we'll keep the drinks down to two - I don't feel like dealing with a hangover this year! But at least I get to sleep in, haha.

So, you MAY hear from me tonight, but likely not until tomorrow morning. If you DO see posts tonight ... please excuse the drunken blogging in advance, heh.

TWEET TWEET TWEET

Excellent article about dealing with an audience with their heads stuck in their cell phones texting and twittering. Cinequest is really promoting the entire internet experience (or did we just decide to do this ourselves? Chicken or egg?) and a huge population of Cinequest fans is developing on Twitter. Although I'm participating full force as usual, I've been imagining 30,000 people downtown, all with their heads down typing into their cell phones. What will happen during the presentations? During the different talks and forums? This article addresses the problem, and whether it actually is a problem - or can be turned into a huge positive for everyone involved.

We will see how things go tonight.

Too many good movies this year!

Billy Was a Deaf Kid is one movie I was on the fence about. I loved the screen shot Cinequest put up with the blurb, but the blurb itself didn't hook me so I put it on my "maybe" list. But today I went to the website and viewed the trailer, and now I have to go see it. I'm not the most high-brow of movie reviewers, I just like to enjoy a movie, whether it's Sean Penn's Milk or Kevin Smith's Clerks II, I just want to see a good movie.

It looks to me like Billy Was a Deaf Kid is the kind of Cinequest movie that I like best. It reminds me of my friend Cullen Hoback's movies. Quirky and fun. So now I have to fit that one into my already 30-film long list of must-see movies.

But that's okay. This is what I look forward to every year.

Festival Fanatic

Oh JOY of JOYS, Festival Fanatic is working for me now. Or actually, I can prioritize them on my desktop computer (but not from my laptop), and then choose which I want to see from my laptop (but not my desktop). Computers are whacky, I tell you. But whatever was wrong before, I really don't care, this program is AWESOME.

If you plan to see lots of movies at Cinequest (or even other festivals), definitely check this site out. Even if you're just going to see a handfull, this program may be of some help. Plus, easy links to each movie so you don't have to have a zillion windows open as you decide!

Wow, very difficult choice for me here.
I really REALLY want to watch Historias Extraordinarias. It comes on Saturday at 11am.

But you don't get out of the theater until... 3:20pm. It's FOUR HOURS 20 MINUTES LONG.
I clicked back to the movie site to see if I really did want to watch it... but I DO. I think I will LOVE this movie. But I don't know if I can sit still that long without falling asleep, haha.

I guess I'm going to try it though. Because it just looks too good. *sighhhhh* Maybe they'll serve lunch?

Cinequest Film Trailers

Head over to CQ Central to find reviews, interviews, and best of all, film trailers!!!
Oh, and you'll find my reviews over there later too, but they'll be here first and foremost, so never fear, you don't have to leave.

I'm glad so many people seem so excited, even those of you across the country and in Canada. I'm happy to have met some of you because of Cinequest or because of my reviews, but also I'm glad that nowadays you can eventually find many of the films I review on Amazon or even Netflix. So if you hear of a movie that you really wish you could see but have no film festivals near you, keep your eyes out for it. And of course I try to let you know whenever I hear about one becoming available.

Some of my past favorites that are now available on DVD:

Disfigured Fantastic movie
The Village Barbershop One of my favorites last year
Outsourced One of my very favorites ever
Autism - the Musical Wow, just Wow, you can't say anything else
Monster Camp from my friend Cullen Hoback, I was surprised at my reaction to this movie
Young People F***ing Hilarious

And Sherman's Way, from my friend Craig Saavedra, is premiering on the big screen in LA and NYC next month. Congrats! to him.

In the meantime, go view some film trailers!

You've figured this out already, right?

I just want to clarify, for those of you who haven't noticed, that Cinequest starts tomorrow, I have a pass and will be seeing as many movies as possible. As usual, this blog will be 99% All Cinequest, All the Time until the festival ends on March 8 (My mom's birthday). I feel like this was kind of an abrupt transition into Cinequest reporting this year because until today, I didn't know I was going. But now it's here. And I'm excited. So ya'll are going to hear about it. If you don't want to hear about Cinequest, then tune out until after March 8 - then things will be back to boring/normal around here.

And so Full Time Cinequest reporting starts....

NOW.

Cinequest and the Academy Awards

From the Cinequest site:

Cinequest is also honored that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has elected to recognize the Cinequest Film Festival as a qualifying festival in the Short Films category for the annual Academy Awards®. Recipients of the Best Short Narrative and Best Short Animation Awards will qualify for consideration for an Academy Award®.

You go Cinequest! I'm so proud of you!!

GOODNESS!!!

So many good movies on the Cinequest list. I refused to look at them before because I was certain I wasn't going and didn't want to get excited. So now I'm 24 hours from the Opening night party and I haven't got my movie watching schedule together yet. I'm going to be working hard on that Thursday morning I guess, or at midnight tomorrow.

There are a lot of Mexican/Spanish-language movies, which makes me happy, and there are a LOT of Documentaries. Here are some movies that I think sound like fun (but I don't have my schedule yet, so I don't know what I'll be able to see):

Gotta Dance (documentary) Old ladies hip-hop dancing. I'm totally not missing this one
Raging Grannies (documentary) MORE old ladies, this time with causes to fight for.
Lifelines Because I have loved Jane Adams ever since Happiness
How to Be... Starring ROBERT PATTINSON, so if you're a teenage girl, be sure to ask your parents for a ride to downtown San Jose.
The Least Among You Starring Louis Gosset Jr, and a personal appearance at Cinequest too
Ready? OK Gotta have at least one gender questioning story
Killer Poet I've always been obsessed with serial killers and murder stories, so I can't wait for this documentary
Garrison Keillor: The Man On the Radio in the Red Shoes (documentary) I'm not a huge fan of Garrison Keillor but if you are, you'll probably love this
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (documentary) Again, I'm not a fan, but if you are - come see this film!
Home Sorry, but I'm not ready for that one. There's no way you'll find me in that theater, but It's sure to be a great film.

This list is getting too long. Can I list ALL the movies? hahaha... Well, those are the film's that have caught my attention at this moment. If you're anywhere near San Jose, please take a look at some of them and try some out. If you see any two movies you're sure to have found at least one outstanding film.

I'll list some more later.

Rock Paper Scissors... Really???

Rock Paper Scissors is a documentary that will play at Cinequest. This is the description:

Diving headfirst into an extreme subculture that has taken a simple game to unbelievable heights, Mike McKeown’s vérité style tracks the evolution of Rock Paper Scissors (known as RPS) into a legitimate sport of skill and strategy, worthy of training and competition. Culminating with the World Championships, this intimate and hilarious look at the sport and its devotees navigates a terrain built of comical strategies, fascinating arguments, and heated competition. One thing is abundantly clear; RPS is much more than a game, it’s a lifestyle.

I just don't know what to think about this. Do I want to spend 88 minutes watching Rock Paper Scissors? I don't know whether to cross it off the list or be totally excited.

Witch Hunt and Sean Penn

Witch Hunt is a documentary to be shown at Cinequest that I am really looking forward to seeing. Executive Produced by Sean Penn, you all know I will seriously lose my shit if he happens to show up at the screening.

A girl can hope, right?

Stars at Cinequest

And who else will be at Cinequest this year, ready for interviews?

Danny Masterson
Bijou Phillips
Ellie Kanner
Blanchard Ryan
Julian Kheel
Louis Gossett, Jr
Kevin Pollak
Diablo Cody

Will YOU be there?

PRESS PASS FOR CINEQUEST!!!

I am absolutely OVER THE MOON with happiness right now. Here is my exciting news, that I didn't want to jinx by announcing before:

I am getting a free PRESS PASS for Cinequest!!!! Now I don't have to worry about spending money I shouldn't be spending, and I can still spend two weeks doing the one thing that makes me happy every year: Seeing as many Cinequest movies as humanly possible!

And this year will be school and essay writing FREE. No more days of work and school and sleepless nights typing papers up while I nod off during the movies. I get twelve days and nights of free movies!!!!! And I get to review to a bigger audience! OMG this solves the whole entire Cinequest/Economy problem this year! I LOVE you Cinequest, and maybe donating all that money in previous years gave me some good karma for this press pass, I don't know, but I will be happy to spend the next twelve days and nights of my life with you.

Please join me at Cinequest if you can, I guarantee you will have a good time and meet some fabulous people. Opening night is tomorrow, and it's for sure now: I will be seeing you at the movies!!!

Please oh please pick me

I'm seriously going to die if I don't get a very special email about movies today...

Preparing for Cinequest

I'm starting to put together a Cinequest schedule on the small hope that I'm going to get a very nice surprise in my email today. I'm going to post some movies that I'm already getting excited about, in the hope that some of you will start to get excited too. Remember, movies are $10 each, but $5 for a student ticket.

Historias Extraordinarias
Wake - Opening night movie! Starring Bijou Phillips, Ian Somerhalder, Jane Seymour, Danny Masterson, Marguerite Moreau
Lightbulb
How to Be... starring Robert Pattinson
The Last Lullaby Starring Tom Sizemore
Witch Hunt, reviewed here

Oh gosh, there're just so many! Okay, I'm excited, I'm EXCITED now!!!

Confessions of a Shopaholic - the Movie

When I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic last weekend there was one trailer I was really surprised to see: Land of the Lost. O. M. G. I loved that show when I was a kid. I loved it so much I used to pretend my bowl of Grape Nuts was the Land of the Lost. Of course, the show had dinosaurs, and anything with dinosaurs had my full attention when I was a kid. This movie has dinosaurs, but it also has Will Ferrell: a guy who I think is generally funny, but is blowing it with some really awful movies. This particular movie doesn't look like it will suck though - so you just might see me at the theater.

I've also been seeing posters for Race to Witch Mountain, starring the Rock, and if you are my age, you will remember this series of movies with love too - I even had comic books about the kids from Witch Mountain. Kim Richards (Tia Malone) was probably my first girl crush (and I just looked her up, she's also in Black Snake Moan which is currently on my DVR - I know what I'll be watching today!). She has a cameo role in the new movie. I probably won't get around to watching this movie, but if reviews come out well, then it's definitely a show to take your kids to.

Oh, did I just skip right over the fact that I saw Shopaholic? I'm not ashamed, just like I'm not ashamed to have read the books and have the audiobooks on my iPod. Scott calls them my "pink books", I call them the fluff I read between semesters to clear out the obsure 16th century dramas that clutter up my brain. Isla Fisher was perfect as Rebecca Bloomwood, and the clothes were totally cute. The movie does not follow the books perfectly, but is close enough. My only real complaint was it ran a little long for me. It combines a couple books together and so it went just a couple plot points too many, but I really don't have many complaints - it does well for what it is: a fluffy, girl movie. I give it an A- and the warning that you shouldn't drag your boyfriend to see it.

I just watched a tape of the opening act from the Oscars, and it was GREAT. If I had watched the beginning last night and seen this act, it may have made me fall a tiny bit in love with the Oscars. And overall, I thought Hugh Jackman did a great job last night. Just wanted to give credit where credit is due!
If you missed the opening act, be sure to watch it at the link above, and watch it entirely through.

Also, to clarify my thoughts on Joaquin Phoenix, word "on the street" is this is all an act for some upcoming project or mockumentary, Dave Letterman appearance included. So what irritates me is having to watch him play a fool for How much longer?? so that he can put out a movie he thinks we're going to pay to watch. I'm not paying a dime to see one more minute of this ridiculous behavior. I guess that's why it irritates me even to have Ben Stiller poke fun of him, because it's still giving him attention and free publicity.

Overall, I thought the pre-Oscar hype for Slumdog was not deserved. I loved the movie, and you should all see it, but I never thought it was good enough to, pre-Oscars, be expected to make a sweep of awards. I saw Milk soon after Slumdog, and it was a much better movie. But Milk was not the "feel good" movie I guess, so it didn't get the publicity.

I missed the first half of the Oscars, I tuned in just in time to see Ben Stiller giving more publicity to Joaquin Phoenix's year-long ridiculous publicity stunt. That soured me right off, but then we had to have Beyonce do a HO HUM tribute to film musicals. I'm sorry if you all loved the Oscars, or if you love Beyonce, but that was terrible and I would be very happy to never see or hear Beyonce ever again. Kate Winslett has also been all over my television recently and I'm tired of seeing her too - however I didn't see her film, so I won't judge her award. I will, however, say that I'm glad I won't have to see any more of her for awhile. Maybe we should chalk all this irritableness up to that time of the month - oh, except it's NOT.

I am glad that Wall-E won. I loved how they presented the supporting/actor/ress awards. Slumdog won best picture, okay fine, I'm over it. But let's rewind five minutes to the best actor award.

Sean Penn gave an incredible performance as Harvey Milk. You never even saw Sean Penn in the role, it was just Harvey Milk. I saw The Wrestler right after Milk (or was it right before?) and it was a good movie, it was okay, but I also didn't think it was incredible. I love Mickey Rourke, and I hope they give him more work, but I'm not up for giving acting awards for getting your life together. Mickey Rourke didn't deserve the best actor award. And yet it seemed all sewn up and for sure, right? Mickey won Golden Globes and every other award this season, of course he would get the Oscar too.

So when DeNiro and Hopkins et al came out on stage, my out loud words were "Here's the moment when Sean Penn gets robbed." But I was prepared, and calm, and basically resigned, as I'm sure all the nominees were but Rourke.

And the Oscar goes to... SEAN PENN. If they didn't put the words on the screen I wouldn't have believed my ears. I screamed, something. And then I just started bawling. They had done it. The voters had actually seen the film and given it to the actor who deserved it. I KEPT bawling. "I can't believe I'm CRYING," I said through choked tears. Buffy turned away from the computer screen and asked who that was. "Buffy, it's SEAN PENN, he played HARVEY MILK!!!"

She didn't even recognize him. I mean, he doesn't look that different in the film, but I'm telling you he lost himself so completely that if you were a 17 year old unfamiliar with his work, you wouldn't realize that Sean Penn had played Harvey Milk. And that didn't take makeup or special effects. Buffy was amazed and surprised and so happy.

So that makes up for everything, for me. I mean, what I saw wasn't bad, it was okay. Beyonce is not the only singer that America and/or Hollywood has. Joaquin Phoenix should be ignored. Slumdog Millionaire was not the movie to end all movies. Mickey Rourke seems to be a great person and I'm sorry his dog died. But the Academy gave the Best Actor award to an actor who absolutely, positively deserved it. And that makes me happy tonight.

Also, great speech, Sean.

Sadly, I STILL don't know for sure if I'm going to Cinequest - although I'll probably make a couple movies, Opening night for sure. But the Stock Market is KILLING me. I still have money, but I can't justify taking it out right now. It's such a small amount for a pass, but I just really don't know what to do. I've been very careful and very good with that money, and I have to weigh carefully what I want to spend it on. With two more years of Masters tuition coming up, and Buffy probably going to a University, I need to save that money. AARGH. It frustrates me most that this would be the first year I didn't have reading and writing and classes to stop me from attending as much as possible. And I've been getting actual publicity requests to see movies and interview cast and crew. I'm torn between doing really great Cinequest coverage this year or letting it slide...

On the other hand... good writing practice... yes, yes, maybe I could use this to my advantage... HMMMMMMMMMM. Maybe talking this out just made up my mind.

I took Buffy to see Coraline last week and we both loved it. However, it was way more creepy, crazy, and scary than we had expected! Does that equal bad? I don't think so. AND it was rated PG (I think more for the overweight, big breasted stripper than the scariness) so take your very young child there at your own risk.

We got into the pretty crowded theater, and as usual with animated movies, it was packed with young kids (mostly girls) who were chatter-chatter-chattering through the previews and even into the beginning of the movie. After that though, there was quite the silence through the rest of it. Myself, I was unexpectedly horrified and completely creeped out by what was happening, I can only imagine what the kids were thinking... ("She wants to do what with WHAT? WTF!!!") Because that's what I was thinking.

And at first I thought maybe this was too much, too much horrifying ideas for young children. But when that movie ended, Buffy was not the first one to break out in applause, and she turned to me and exclaimed, "AWESOME! I LOVED that movie!!!" That seemed to be the overall opinion of all the young girls in the audience.

And I thought back to Grimm's Fairie Tales, and even the old Disney movies. Kids love horror. They love The Scary. I think dealing with The Scary on screen helps kids figure things out in real life. I'm not talking Freddy Kreuger, I'm talking Evil Stepmothers, dealing with the death of Bambi's mother, the horrors that happened to Dumbo's mother, the atrocities in Pinocchio, and even that wicked Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys.

I don't have the educated knowledge to explain WHY kids love this stuff, I just think back to my own love of those books and movies, and how overall those movies were so so so so SOOOO much better than a lot of crap that is out now. The Scary, and the dealing with The Scary, is what makes these movies great. The Scary is there in real life for every child - there are really Wicked Stepmothers and even Wicked Mothers, there is really death and loss to deal with, and there are really drugs and alcohol and circuses and hunters out there. Maybe reading these Grimm tales and seeing things played out on screen helps kids deal themselves.

I don't know. I'm getting waaaaay too far into this. I'm just saying: This movie brings The Scary, so be prepared. But also be prepared to love it along with your kids. Also, the movie is technologically stunning, and we didn't even get to see it in 3D. Buffy did this weekend when she saw it again at another theater and she said it was "AMAZING". But I have heard that after this week there will be no more Coraline 3D because the stupid frakkin JONAS BROS will be taking up all the 3D theaters.

People please. Take your child to see Coraline before the Jonas Bros come to a theater near you. Jonas Bros = Crap, Coraline = The Awesome.

I know it's strange, but you haven't heard anything about Cinequest from me this year. With the economy how it is, I had a hard time justifying taking money out to buy our passes this year. But I've still been thinking about it every day, and more so because Cinequest starts on February 25!! But I haven't been so excited about it this year for some reason, and this made me perplexed because for the first time in 4-5 years, I don't have school and don't have anything holding me back from being at the theater 24/7 if I choose to do so. But I think my brain recovery from school has just leaked over into Cinequest too, because I just didn't want to deal with it.

But I couldn't help it, the bug got me.
I'M GOING!!!

So be prepared and get ready, in ten days you'll start seeing the Cinequest posts again. Please Please Please, anyone near San Jose should really try their hardest to come see some movie, I think you should see two at least. If you buy tickets to only two shows, you have really good odds of seeing something amazing.

So... see you there folks! Don't count me out! The reviews will start soon!!!

I just finished this movie, and sorry, but it did NOT pass the movie review, haha. It wasn't QUITE as bad as House Bunny, but it was headed in that direction. I thought the acting was okay, and I always like Jason Segal and Johah Hill, but the writing was pretty bad even for this type of comedy.

Saving graces: Russell Brand's character "Aldous Snow", and by far my favorite part, the Dracula puppet show. I would rather have seen 2 hours of Dracula puppet show than this movie.

I want to rent a movie I've seen many times, but I cannot remember the name of it. Please help me if you remember!

It's a spanish language movie, a fairy-tale type, about a girl whose grandmother taught her to put love into her cooking. She falls in love with a boy but cannot marry him (I think he marries her sister) and she marries someone else too. In the end of course, they end up together, but tragically. I don't know if this is good enough for you. It's making me crazy! But it is in Spanish, and putting love into your cooking played a big part of the story.

Does anyone remember it?

I had to send back Run Lola Run because it was skipping.
I watched 10 unimpressive minutes of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the DVD froze, then the DVD player kept spitting it out.
I don't know if it's a problem with my player or the movies. I'm going to be mad if my DVD player isn't working.
I just put in Burn After Reading, but I have to start work in 30 minutes and I'm not much in the mood for a movie anymore.

BOO! BOO to scratched DVDs and possibly broken DVD players!!!

My Netflix movies this morning are:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Burn After Reading
Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run is one of my all time favorite movies and always gets me back in the mood to run again. Hopefully a viewing of Lola today and the premiere of Biggest Loser tomorrow will get me back into things. Damn final papers! They forced me to quit the best running of my life and I've been out of habit ever since! But now it's time to get back into it...

I don't even know what to say about this movie. How do you ruin a movie with a singing Johnny Depp???
Snoozaroonie.

I sat on the couch this morning drinking coffee and watching House Bunny on DVD. I always thought it looked cute so I wanted to see it no matter what the reviews said.

Well, it was cute, but it was also dumb. Dumb and kind of poorly made; the direction and editing were really amateurish - not that the story was any big brain boggler, but still.

I won't bother reviewing it, cuz you probably already saw it or decided you won't, I was just disappointed and wanted to say so. I still think it was a cute idea, and they were on the right track, they just needed to rise above things a little more. Like, it was almost at the level of a kid's (pre-teen) movie, and could have even worked as a kid's movie, but then there was a bunch of trashy stuff thrown in too, and it went just a little too far with it. So you have an amateurish movie that's too adult for kids, and then you're left with this disappointing mess.

Did anyone else see it? What did you think?

Next on my list (of movies I would never be assigned as a school project): Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Yeah, I know, if I lower myself to watching these types of movies and reading these types of books, I'm setting myself up for disappointment, hah. I just need to clear my head of Homer and Dante and Milton and it's going to take a lot of trash to clean it all out before I can get to that middle ground. I'm getting there though!

Scott and I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" today and it was beautiful.
If it's playing anywhere near you, you should see it too.

To make up for Bolt, I made Scott watch Outsourced with me, a movie from Cinequest that my daughter and I had fallen in love with. Plot: Todd Anderson is the head of a Seattle call center whose entire operation has been fired and outsourced to India. Todd is sent to India to train the new employees.

I love the movie because in the beginning you see India through Todd's eyes; you see stereotypes, crazy cab drivers, cows in office buildings, horrendous art... but it is not long before you are seeing America through India's eyes, and laughing harder at your own self and country and ways than you were at India. The movie shows you the beauty in "tacky" and teaches you that you are indeed a "schmuk". Nothing I could say in a simple blog entry would get across the beauty and humor and lessons that are in this film.

"Did you like it?" I asked Scott when it was over.

"Well," he said slowly, "Thank you. That's what I have to say. Thank you for showing this to me. I REALLY enjoyed it."

He was sure this one would make it to theaters - in reality, it didn't. I see on IMDB.com that there are two theaters showing it this weekend, Varsity Theatre (Ashland,OR) and Drexel East (Columbus,OH). This is one of those movies for which you feel SO LUCKY to have had access to Cinequest, because so many people would never get to see such a fantastic film.

But you're in luck, because you can get it now on Netflix. Or you can buy it from Amazon. I recommend you just go out and purchase it, and I am making a rare guarantee that you WILL LOVE it.

Bolt - The Movie

Yeah. We saw Bolt.

It was okay. I will say that most of the kids in the audience seemed to really like most of the movie, but they were all thoroughly confused about what was reality and what was not. Not real life reality, but in the movie Bolt is an actor on a TV show and a regular dog during the day. The kids weren't getting that regular/Bolt could not do what actor/Bolt could do any more than Bolt understood it. And then they bring in a double for Bolt... OMG it was nonstop questions from every child in the audience - "Why that not Bolt?" "Why he not the real Bolt?" Why Penny think he the wrong Bolt?"

And then the plot is your basic dog lost from home and needs to travel across the US to get back home - IS THERE NO OTHER DOG PLOT IN THE UNIVERSE????

Bolt was cute, don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a dog like Bolt. But the only thing that really got laughs out of me was the hamster. That hamster was FUNNY. He kept getting left behind and I'd sit there and think, "Bummer, this is going to be torture without that hamster."

So. Yeah. Too many words spent on another formulaic animated dog movie. If you have small kids, go ahead, take them. They'll love Bolt and you'll love the hamster. But you might think twice about really young kids, because they aren't going to understand what's going on.

Scott wants to see Bolt!

What has happened to my boyfriend??? I may have to trade him in.

At least he didn't say Twilight.

Don't get yourself blocked, consider yourselves warned

Hey! Wake up!
Ya'll are falling down on the job!
I asked for your recommendations on which movie I should see this weekend (give me two!). And no one is answering yet. What, are you all WORKING or something? heeeee.
I'm thinking about these:
Religulous
W.
Changeling
Zack and Miri

First person to recommend Twilight gets blocked from this blog.
;-)

Friday I get to Aptos and Scott wants to go see "Appaloosa" which I had never heard of, at all. I looked it up on the computer and it's a frikkin WESTERN. I tell him, "Hello, you go see "Burn After Reading" without me and now you want to take me to another stupid western?????"

We stayed in and watched a dvd of "In Bruges" instead.

Wow.
!!!

I loved it, Scott loved it, and we both loved Colin Farrell. I cannot believe I didn't see this movie earlier. It's probably one of my top ten favorite movies EVER. I was hooked as soon as the voiceover started in the first minute, but within 5 minutes Colin utters these words (in his heavy Irish accent): "Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."

And you have to actually hear him say it, but I was in LOVE with the movie from that point on. This is a movie you could spend the rest of your life quoting.

Excellent. Just Excellent.

So then I relented and went to see "Appaloosa" with Scott on Saturday evening. And you know what? That was a really good movie. I have to hand it to them, the plot was different than any I had ever seen before, and that's saying something. I'm not even going to tell you what it is, but this was the craziest "love story" I have ever seen. For a western, the bad-guy plot was incidental - it was the whole "What the FUCK are they going to do with that woman???" part that held your interest. Of course, Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson and Jeremy Irons were the stars and Viggo especially held MY interest. Renee Zellweger was a big bucket of ugly in this movie, far as I could tell, but she played her part hilariously. And the ending? Was PERFECT.

I left with a smile on my face, and very happy to see it. I've never seen one preview for this movie and it's only playing on one theater over here - but if you can see this in your town, I definitely recommend it.

So... this is a really horrible movie. And yet we laughed. And mostly we hated ourselves for laughing. Because don't get me wrong, it was BAD. But they made it just funny enough in parts that I couldn't hate it or feel like I wasted my time.

Do I recommend it? NO!!!!

But when it was funny, it was really, really funny. It just really, really sucked in the parts in between.

edited to try to save Catherine from misery: This movie is not bad in a good way! It is bad in a bad way! There is truly NOTHING to recommend in it. Somehow we ended up laughing at some things, but mostly we really hated ourselves for thinking any of it was funny, because the movie really is really and truly BAD.
There, I've done all I can to try to save you all!!

edited again: Turns out both my kids loved the movie. Doesn't mean I was wrong, just means my kids have NO SENSE in their heads. Dumb! Dumb Dumb Dumb!!!

Awesome, just fantastic.
And Heath... I love you so much. Why oh why...

Ya know, I just saw a bunch of review comments for the movie, and I have to say...

Get a life.

I mean, have some fun once in a while!

This movie is not, by any stretch of the imagination, believable. Not in any way, time, place, whatever, it's not believable.

Is it THE MOST FUCKING BADASS FUN and EXCITING movie you've seen in a long time?
YES.

Before going to the theater I had heard that it was definitely fun and full of action, but that you had to suspend your disbelief. So I did that. The movie starts out in cubicle land and for five minutes you're wondering if you walked into the correct theater.

Then it switches scenes, and there you are presented with the most preposterous set up EVER, and yet it was SO FUCKING FANTASTIC that I couldn't help but jump up and down in my seat clapping my hands.

And the first time Angelina starts shooting up a convenience store wearing a sweet little white summer dress with that crazy scowl she has (go ahead click on the link, I'll wait for you)...

I clapped my hands again and yelled "YeeeeeAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!"

So that's my review. You should go see the movie. It's rated R and for good reason, but if you're 17 and above, JUST GO SEE THE MOVIE. You will LOVE it, I promise.

You'll want to be Angelina Jolie when you grow up, that's for sure.

I feel it is my duty to tell you that you must all get your butts over to the theater this weekend and buy a ticket to see "Wanted" with Angelina Jolie.

Holy crap that was a good movie.

It was 1000 times better than I even imagined. It has a little unexpected "Office Space" (complete with red stapler! HAH!) and healthy doses of "Matrix", "TombRaider" and "Fight Club" mixed with the best parts of any action movie you can think of.

And Angelina Jolie is the biggest badass EVER. As if you didn't know. But she out-does herself here.

As soon as the end credits rolled Buffy, who will never admit to liking any movie that I have forced her to go to, turned to her friend and said, "OMIGOD I LOVED that movie."

And that about sums it up.

We saw Kung Fu Panda today, on advice from my favorite movie reviewers, Scene Unseen. I'm not that big on animated films, but when Scene Unseen says a movie is good, they are always right. So I dragged Buffy and her two friends with me to see it. None of them wanted to see it but weren't going to turn down a free movie.

And we laughed SO HARD during the whole thing, and all of us agreed, that was one good movie.

So go see it. There is no charge for the awesomeness of Kung Fu Panda!

Oh Lordy, someone please give Colin Farrell a sandwich, extra cheese, please, because whatever movie role it is that made him lose this much weight has just sucked the hawtness right out of him. Egads!!!

So I just finished watching the entire movie but I haven't finished bawling yet. I'm glad I didn't see it at Cinequest and I'm glad the kids aren't home to see me, because I'm totally crying. And still recommend the movie.

So it turns out many of the kids were not as functioning as Wyatt and Henry, there were some kids with some really severe problems. And it was said that according to Wyatt's test scores he is "far from" being titled "highly functional", which is pretty unbelievable considering what we saw on the screen. I just want to steal that kid for myself and keep him far far away from any "bullies".

Even more heartbreaking were the stories of the parents. Beyond the disappointment of knowing your child will never be "regular", many of them must care for their children 24 hours a day and will have to continue for the child's entire life. It was unimaginable what they go through - many parents have small pockets of time when their children act like this, but to have the uncontrollable behavior be a mostly unchangeable part of your child's life would be overwhelming for me - as it is to many of them. The movie detailed divorces and separations and marriages hanging on by a thread - usually with the child as the glue.

It was heartbreaking, it was heartwarming, it was way beyond what I expected it to be when I was at Cinequest. And truly, if you have HBO please try to watch it or tape it today or tomorrow. You won't be disappointed.

Oh yes, we're back to the movies all right.
The Bank Job was probably good to see right after Cinequest. Scott and I were trying to find something to watch and there wasn't really anything good in theaters unless you're between the ages of 2 to 12. Which we're not.

On the other hand, I'm up for any film that has Jason Statham in it. We debated this issue for awhile... Scott isn't impressed with Jason's recent films ("War": we're looking at you) but really? If Jason is in it, I'm happy just watching him. So we went.

I liked it a whole lot and so did Scott. There are absolutely no car chases, no explosions, and not really even any guns until the very end - but no shoot em up. It was more of a thinking person's heist, and it was really interesting watching the story, which is based on true events. As the movie played out I realized I knew many of the details, but I'm not sure where from, perhaps Rolling Stone had a story about it once long ago. At any rate, I was entertained and you all should go see it.

That evening Scott had the SciFi channel on and guess who was in the cheesy movie of the night? Jason Statham! I don't know what it was, from his IMDb page I would guess either "Red Faction II" or "Ghosts of Mars". It was a crappy movie and at one point Jason is trying to convince his costar to sleep with him, she said not even if he was the last man on earth. I started giggling hysterically, because the first thing in my mind, and the first thing that almost came out of my mouth was, "I would and I'd do it right NOW!" But um, not appropriate at the boyfriend's house, haha.

So anyway, go see it, just don't expect action/adventure. It's about a bank heist, and there are some pretty good characters in it - and lots of talk of "villains", which I thought was both hysterical and charming.

So it's over now, and I'm glad to have my life back and I'm looking forward to next year all at the same time.

That said, I think this was the best Cinequest ever, and this seemed to be echoed throughout each theater in which I sat.

Out of some 22 movies that I saw, there were very few I didn't like. I wasn't fond of "Silence Before Bach", but I think it was well-made and I just wasn't in the mood for it at that moment. I outright did not like "Eden Court", the opening movie, and still do not understand how it managed to become the opening movie. To tell you the truth, as the contributor of a lot of money to the festival for quite a few years, I really would like the answer to that question. I wasn't fond of "Karl Rove I Love You" but it wasn't bad for a festival movie - in fact, I think it only pales against all the other outstanding movies I saw.

To think that out of 22 movies, I can only remember three that I didn't like, that is pretty amazing. I remember in years past where if I saw three really good movies out of 22 I would have been thrilled. But today, I think if I wanted to list my favorite ones, I would have to name almost all of them.

Well, let me try. These are my very favorites that I saw this year, not in any particular order:

Sherman's Way ***
El Camino
Village Barbershop ***
Disfigured ***
Young People Fucking ***
Goodbye Baby ***
This Dust of Words ***
It's Better that Gabriela Does Not Die ***
Art of Travel
Night of the White Pants ***
*** = my very favorites

Looking over my film schedule I see I also wasn't thrilled with "The Metrosexual" or "La Sangre Illuminada". So that makes five out of 22 films, and I say that still isn't bad.

So I came home right around 4:30pm intending to get ready for closing night - but I was exhausted. So we decided to skip the closing movie and just go to the party - but by that time I was ready to sleep off Cinequest. The time change that morning had not helped matters.

So that was the end for us. I was sad that I wasn't able to say goodbye to some people like Nathan Louie and Jason, and I never did meet Cinequesting, but there's always next year. Or even sometime this year. Anyway we had a blast, I loved reviewing the movies this year, it was great to have so many visitors to the site this year... and now it's time to prepare for next.

I'll see ya at the movies, ya'll. The movie entries are now...

Fin.

Karl Rove I Love You - the Movie

Today is Tuesday, and I saw the movie on Sunday. Some of the movies I saw during the festival I decided I liked more after a few days went by. This movie had the opposite effect - I think I didn't really like it. Keep in mind it was the last movie I saw at the festival, which makes it the twenty-something movie in 12 days. So if you thought I was dozing through movies before, you better believe I was tired by the time I saw this one.

To save my own brain time, this is what IMDb.com says about it:
Election Year, 2004. A documentary on the "unknown supporting actor" takes a surprising turn when the lead of the film (Dan Butler; "Bulldog" from the television series "Frasier") becomes smitten with the idea of playing Karl Rove, President Bush's notorious senior advisor. Initially bent on bringing Rove down, as Butler gets deeper and deeper into his role, he actually falls in love with Rove.

It was funny and I laughed quite a few times, and the audience laughed quite a lot, and I loved Julia Miranda, but I believe the audience was a little confused here and there, and I am admitting to being one of the confused ones.

I thought it was a movie. Then it appeared to be... a mockumentary? or a documentary? or a movie about the making of a mocku/documentary? I don't know??? It was difficult figuring out what was real, what was not real, was that really Karl Rove, did he really write a letter, was anything real, or was it one giant joke?

In the Q&A afterward Julia Miranda explained that she loves movies that make her feel happy, creepy and sad in every scene. And they definitely did that, but I'm not sure I liked the feeling all the time. The "intervention" scene became more than a little uncomfortable, moreso because it wasn't even clear who was in on the joke and who wasn't.

It only became clear (to me at least, but apparentely not to everyone in the audience) towards the end of the movie that none of this was real when more really over-the-top scenes came - and then I felt more free to laugh, knowing this was all a big joke.

I will agree that the idea was a good one but I don't think the outcome of the idea worked. I think it went a little too long for what it was and could have been cut to an hour. And I think making it clearer just a little earlier that this was all a joke makes it easier to get through.

But then again, twenty-something movies in 12 days. The sixth one in 24 hours. I was ready for the festival to be over. So if you saw it and liked it, I'm not going to argue with you, you are probably right.

I've never visited a movie website before and found a direct quote from one of my entries listed on their review page.
That was a surprise and pretty awesome too.

By the way, "Shermans Way" won the Audience Award at Cinequest, tied with "Village Barbershop", another of my favorites. They both deserved it.

I still have one more review to go, and then my summary of Cinequest. But that will have to come later.

Okay, here was a movie that really was one of the best. Still not perfect, but really really good. 18 year old Melissa Brooks leaves home to live in New York with her gay brother (Yay! Finally more gays!). She doesn't want to go to college so she ends up trying to make it as a stand up comic. But most of the movie is about her relationship with her brother and his friends, and a new boyfriend that she met in Narcotics Anonymous (where she goes not because she has an addiction, but to get over her stagefright). A very upsetting act happens towards the end of the film, but this movie about comedy correctly portrays life as often being very very sad. Unlike some of the other movies I've seen this year, where the surprise comes totally out of nowhere and feels out of place, this movie did it very well. And though the movie takes an even sadder turn at the very end, the final scene was emotionally powerful and well done.

Unfortunately, the only weak point I felt was Christine Evangelista who plays Melissa. She is gorgeous and the three teenage boys I brought give her two (or three or six or ten) thumbs up, but I thought her acting was not always as good as it could have been. Saying that though, her performance in the last final scene was spot-on, and a bad actress could not have pulled it off.

Overall, I'd give this one a very strong A and I wouldn't be surprised to see this out in theaters.

Night of the White Pants - the Movie

This was one of my favorites of the festival and I think it has potential to wind up on a screen near you. It wasn't perfect - but it was better than a lot of crap that's out there. Plus, Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson (from "Michael Clayton") stars in it, so hopefully that helps it out.

It's the last hours of the festival and I'm running out of steam...

Anyway, you should keep an eye out for it because it really was hilarious. Also, Laura Jordan, who played one of the main characters, was great. Totally hot, playing a drugged out drunken slut - and yet, it worked. She stole the scene whenever she was there.

I'm think the rest of the reviews are going to be short ones, but I'm about out of energy. After tonight it's time to go back into hibernation for another 11-1/2 months.

Cinequest - Final Day

It's Sunday morning and that means it's the last day of Cinequest.

I already can't wait until next year.

Today I'll only be taking in two final movies. In the afternoon I have a choice between two movies that have been highly recommended to me, The End and Goodbye Baby. It's a really hard choice, knowing that there may be no chance to ever see the one not picked. However, while sitting in the theater last night getting ready for Night of the White Pants a random lady stood up and turned around, asked me if I'd seen Goodbye Baby, and pronounced it the best film of the festival. I took that as a sign, if some random lady randomly chose me to tell that to, then that is what I must see. We discussed more films for a little while, and I told her that another friend had also told me Goodbye Baby was the best film of the festival.

We shall see. But I will keep my eye out for these movies coming out on DVD. So should you.

Shelter Me - the Movie

I shouldn't even bother reviewing this one - I fell asleep about ten minutes into it and woke up 1/2 hour later. It's an italian movie and stars Maria de Medeiros who was Bruce Willis's girlfriend Fabienne in Pulp Fiction. It's about a lesbian couple, Anna and Mara, who end up bringing home a Moroccan boy who has illegally immigrated into Italy (via their car). This was my last movie of the afternoon and I dozed on and off through the movie. Pathetic! But from what I saw, it was very very good. It was a little sad and a lot touching, and I recommend it just based on the little I saw combined with the fact that Cinequesting liked it. You can generally trust Cinequesting to give you a good review.

It's also one of the only (if not the only) movie that featured a gay couple, which I thought was odd for Cinequest. The theater was filled with gay couples - as it always has been when Cinequest shows a movie featuring gay and/or lesbian characters. Past festivals have had a selection of great gay films, both comedy, dramatic and documentary; I really don't know why the pickings were so slim this year.

This Dust of Words - the Movie

After the Shorts I ran right back into line to get into the next movie, This Dust of Words. I had sadly missed this last weekend and was really glad I had a chance to see it today. I was not disappointed.

It is the story of Elizabeth Wiltsee, a Stanford graduate and English major with an IQ of 200. As a young girl she taught herself to read ancient Greek and other languages, and even translated Homer herself to make sure she had an accurate translation. She was a prolific writer but never got published. And one day, she just went away.

It appears that she must have suffered from some sort of mental illness, but I don't believe it was explained (or maybe not known) exactly what it was. At any rate, she separated herself from her family and friends, became paranoid, and eventually showed up on the steps of a church in Watsonville, homeless. The documentary is told through Elisabeth's writings and interviews with her family and the parishioners who knew her. Many of them were very honest about their fear of the angry homeless woman. And many of them became her friends, at least to the point that she would let them. It appears that she was homeless because she wanted to be outside, she did not want to be inside any buildings. She often was mesmerized by animals and birds she saw, and many people had seen her talking to the Watsonville welcome sign as if she were speaking to God.

Eventually she leaves Watsonville after saying that she is "going home" and six months later her body is found floating in a lake many miles away. From what I understand, it is believed that she just stopped eating and walked herself to death. She also had $7000 in a bank account.

I was fascinated by this story. I felt in a way that I understood her a little, at least before she became really far gone. But I was not sad when the film explained that they had found her body. I felt like Elizabeth really had finally gone home, to a home where she had wanted to be. I felt like she was finally free like the birds she used to watch, and that her mind, which used to race all the time, was finally free to rest.

I give it an A+, and you should see it if it ever shows up on TV or a festival near you.

You can read more about Elizabeth Wiltsee at these links:
This Dust of Words website
Stanford Magazine
Santa Cruz Sentinel

I was really tired today. Lack of sleep is catching up to me. Even though I had no papers due, I still was in charge of three boys age 17-18 staying with me in the hotel last night, and even after knowing me for several years it didn't occur to them that I would notice immediately if they left at 2:30am. *ahem* They're straight on that now, but I'm tired.

So anyway, I was sleepy during the shorts, and maybe didn't enjoy them as much as I should have, but I did rate five of them Good and one Excellent.

El Pasajero - I liked this one a lot but it was long, and long shorts get me antsy. A taxi driver tries to rob his passenger, but the passenger tries to get him to sell his gun to him instead. They end up inside the passenger's house drinking, talking and even dancing the night (New Year's) away. It was an emotional ending and was very good. I believe the director/writer said he wrote it after (his father I think) came into almost the same situation. I gave it a Good for being too long, but thinking back now I should have given an Excellent.
Tony Zear - Cinequesting liked this more than I did but I fully attribute this to it being the final short of the lot and I was ready for A NAP at this point. My crankiness gave it a Good.
The Phone Book - Made up entirely of phrases, names, addresses and phone numbers out of the phone book, it was a very cute short that went on entirely too long. Suddenly there was a flash of the "validation man" character from a short I had seen last year (called, of course, "Validation"). The connection was too much for a coincidence, both films had the same quirkiness and light-heartedness... and I remember the Validation short going a little longer than needed also. Sure enough the shorts were 2 of a five-episode piece he had made. I gave it a Good because I felt it went just a couple minutes too long.

Shorts 7 "Life Lessons" Part Two

Sizzlean - this one I gave the Excellent to, I'm not sure why, but there were four very serious little-kid actors who did a fine job, and it ended up being all about how your family is whomever you're with. They were getting a "Good" until they got my heart strings at the end.
The Stone Child I almost gave it an Excellent but I wasn't entirely sure I understood what was going on, then realized I just really liked the characters of the boy and his father. But if I don't get the movie, I can't give it an Excellent. Keep in mind I was sleepy, folks.
Crickets I've always had this problem with giving art (literature, film or visual) lots of raves and kudos just because it deals with a sensitive subject. Telling the story of sad or emotional things that actually happened (like war) just means that you told a story with emotional content, not that the art you made about it was emotional. There's a long personal story behind this that I won't go into here, but I believe in my stand. So I am very stingy with giving good reviews to things like this. Crickets does have war subject matter but it focuses on the war reporter. At first this was heading for a Fair, mostly because of my little war-as-art rule book. I mean, anyone can take a man, film him in an artsy-fartsy dreamlike fashion and have him spout comments about the war --- and we're all going to get all emotional and buy it, because we ARE all emotional about the war. That said, I ended up giving this one a Good, and if not so tired I probably would have given it a Excellent. It was the last two lines that saved it for me.
Man: Where are we going?
Lady: You're a writer, make something up.
My English Professor-self chose to interpret this in my own way... and I'm not going to write an essay about it here. I'll just say, that last line was enough to win me over, and I give them a free pass on the war-as-art train. Well done.

Another Glory Boy Days review

Another review from MetroActive also notes the Kevin Smith similarities. It also made note of some other "homages" it made, and here is what MetroActive said about that:

"We know the director knows and loves classic movies. But he’s also accidentally invited us to compare his work to the masters, and that’s something you don’t want to do when you’re starting out."

I agree.

Cinequest - for Saturday

I didn't make it to Speed Dating Friday evening. I was trying hard not to doze off during the three movies that I did watch, and what really sounded good was going to Askew and getting some Thai Salmon and jasmine rice and taking it to my room at the Hotel Montgomery and eating it while watching TV. So I did. And I'm not sorry. Plus, theater manager Steph told me he had heard mixed reviews about it. So I would rather have a sure thing which is Askew Thai Salmon than take a chance on a so-so movie.

Tomorrow's plan is as follows:
Shorts Program 7: Life Lessons
Speed Dating OR This Dust of Words
Shelter Me (on advice from Cinequesting)
take a dinner break and then
Night of the White Pants

I should be nice and tired of movies at that point which will be good since there's no more Cinequest after Sunday. *sniff*. I remember last Sunday it had already seemed like it had gone on forever. Now that I have my school papers done and can actually watch the films I don't want it to end. It looks like my movie total at the end of the festival will be only 21. But that's okay, because they have almost all been excellent and I have had the most fun of any Cinequest so far.

This movie was heavily promoted at Cinequest, possibly because it was made by a San Jose State University student, and shot in and around San Jose. The San Jose Repertory Theater was packed with eager viewers and they all seemed very pleased when it was over. I've seen the movie referenced as the next "Swingers", "American Graffitti" and "Dazed and Confused". I disagree with those comparisons.

Did I like it? That's a tough one to answer, because I DID like it. But I'm not sure the reasons I or anyone else in the theater liked it will transfer over to anyone else. We were excited to see characters we know in a movie shot at locations we know. Was it a good movie? Here is what I have to say: I think this movie shows the most potential for future fantastic movies out of everything I have seen this Cinequest.

It didn't take long before I realized that the movie it was most reminiscent of is Kevin Smith's "Clerks" - another first film that went the festival circuit. There were many similarities - the grainy film, the amateur unfocused filming, amateur acting, young people going through a crisis, it takes place over a 24 hour period, and quite a bit of some very quick, smart dialogue. The dialogue, though not up to "Clerks" or Kevin Smith level, most impressed me as a clue to keep an eye on this writer/director.

Then came even more similarities. There's no QuikStop, but there is Willow Glen Liquors where many characters come and visit with the clerk. Outside against the wall is the hangout ala where Jay and Silent Bob are always to be found. There was even a night scene with a character breakdancing while the others stand and sit against the wall - the same thing happened in Clerks.

But then came a scene that to me crossed over the line of "reminiscent of" and went straight over to "sort of copying". The scene is not something I want to recap because it is extremely gross, too much so for this blog. But if you have seen Clerks you will remember the "Snowball" scene (and if you don't then maybe you should watch it again). So they didn't talk about "snowballing" but they spoke about another kind of shocking sex act, which then sets off the boyfriend, which causes a fight, etc. Taken straight from the script of Clerks. If I was the writer/director, who mentioned that he is constantly reworking this film, I would reshoot that argument and create something totally different. Because there is nothing wrong with an independant film paying homage to Kevin Smith, but you don't want to be accused of straight out copying his movie.

But aside from that, I really did like it. One character claims he and the others are all living their "Glory Boy Days". But what the movie is really about is the point when you realize that your Glory Boy Days are really over. It's like the first mid-life crisis you have. Despite what I have said through this review, I really really did like the movie - not for the movie itself, but because I think it shows incredible promise for even better movies.

Should you go see it? A definite Yes, and then you can make your own decision.

Young Single and Angry - the Movie

Young Single and Angry. The movie starts out with the main character remembering her cousin's wedding back in the, well, I guess it must have been the 80s, even though it looked like a 70's wedding to me. She tells us how she was told by her mother that a girl's wedding is "the most important day in her life".

She then proceeds to chase that dream. Gag me.

I saw this film immediately after watching The Metrosexual so I was a little cranky already, but I got super cranky with the three main women in this film as they desperately tried to fulfill their lives by reaching the female's Holy Grail: A wedding. I mean, this IS 2008, right? Are we still all doing this? For REALS???

I will say this: It was often funny, it was often sweet. Jamie Anderson is terrificly hot. Overall I was entertained during most of the film and I laughed out loud a few times, even though I mostly thought they were all acting sort of patheticly. Throw in a little poopy humor and I wanted to smack the main character and bring her home with me for some intervention in Women Power.

The final 2 minutes of the film turn everything upside down, but it is so abrupt and unexpected that I almost missed it and was confused for a second. I mean, for 83 minutes I'm dealing with women desperately seeking a man, and suddenly out of nowhere that's all thrown out?

I would give it a 3+ out of 5 stars, or a 4 out of 5 for a film festival movie because it is entertaining. I would definitely recommend it for a film festival.

The Metrosexual - the Movie

This is probably the most disappointing one I've seen yet in that I can't really find anything to recommend it but I had really thought it was going to be funny. Instead it was just boring.

I'll admit I was a little tired when I saw it, having not had a whole lot of sleep after writing my paper last night. But still, not funny. The next biggest problem I had with it was that the main character was a metrosexual for about ten minutes throughout the movie. There were some random scenes with him driving his car where he looked like a metrosexual, but otherwise he was just a sad sack who couldn't get a girlfriend. And never dressed quite to metrosexual standards, and that hair... I'm sorry, but no. It was more like he was a sad wannabe metrosexual.

And folks, I live in Silicon Valley, hell almost everyone reading this right now lives in Silicon Valley. We know us our metrosexuals.

Again though -- just not funny. There were very few laughs throughout the showing, and though I wouldn't say it was AWFUL, I just can't find any reason why you would want to spend 90 minutes watching it.

Enlightened Blood - the Movie

La Sangre Illuminada. I liked it. You probably won't. I have some sort of soft spot for films from Mexico and I'm not sure why, but they always appeal to me. It definitely bordered on the "too weird" line, but because I could pull a little sense out of it, I give it an okay. Jason gives a great synopsis of it so I am going to be lazy and not bother explaining something that's not easy to explain.

I will say that everyone leaving the theater with me seemed to dislike it at least a little, so I don't feel quite right saying that because I liked it then you should all try it too. I will say though that the story had an interesting idea and if you're determined to watch it you just may get something out of it.

Oh, also it showed a man stabbing himself through his nasal cavity with a screwdriver. So there's that.

Cinequest! Friday Night!

2 movies down, 2 more to go... and that's just for today. Full reviews later, I only have ten minutes until the next one.

The Metrosexual was... disappointing. Not that funny, not that metrosexual. Maybe I would have liked it better if it was advertised not as "Metrosexual" but just as "sad loser with no interpersonal skills". But it wasn't awful.

Young Single and Angry was pretty funny. There were a couple problems here and there, and mostly I was just cranky about these four people who were angry that they weren't married, and that they were actually buying into the 1970's ideal that the main character remembered from her childhood. But... they fixed it in the end, so that gave it about 100 more points in the last 2 minutes of the movie. I recommend it, but only as "a Cinequest movie", meaning it's not 100% perfect.

Full reviews of all today's movies tomorrow.
Now I'm off to Glory Boy Days and then Speed Dating.

Get info on these movies by visiting the Cinequest site.

The Hotel Montgomery is going above and beyond what is required to make things up to me from last week. I'll definitely have to recommend them again if all goes well through the weekend. Honestly, I'm not high maintenance, I just want the keys to my own room and not get a wake up call at 5am insisting that I had ordered a taxi. But so far, so good, so if you need a room downtown tonight - Come on over to the Montgomery!

And the best part of this weekend is that I have NO PAPERS TO WRITE. It's really really nice to not feel pressure to bring my laptop and type papers up in the theater. I just have to read some things over the weekend, and I can do that no problem. It's been a tough ten days watching movies AND dealing with school (AND real life) so it's really really nice to just sit back and watch movies without worrying about anything.

See ya at the movies!

Young People Fucking is one of those Cinequest movies that you can't help but enjoy. It doesn't matter if it's slightly flawed, or if one of the featured couples was boring, because overall it is really funny and interesting and just an enjoyable film.

The movie is divided into six chapters:
1. Prelude
2. Foreplay
3. Sex
4. Interlude
5. Orgasm
6. Afterglow

We are presented with five different couples:
1. Friends
2. The Exes
3. The Couple
4. The First Date
5. The Roommates

Each of these couples ends up going through all six stages, mostly to hilarious and some unexpected results. Obviously the married couple is going to be boring - they already haven't had sex in three weeks. Only... it turns out to be one of the most hilarious sections of the movie. I loved the twist at the end of the First Date couple (and seriously, both halves of that couple were pretty easy on the eyes). The Friends section was pretty hilarious throughout and starred Carly Pope. You may know her as Garbo from "Dirt", but I know her best as Sam MacPherson from "Popular". She's grown up to be damn hot, I'll tell you that.

I didn't enjoy The Exes that much, but I loved the Roommates which featured the funniest threesome I've ever seen.

At Opening Night we were told that there would be "entertainment" before some film showings, but I had not seen any until this film. A very funny comedian named Gretchen entertained us for almost 1/2 hour. I was very sad that I could not understand what her last name was so I can not pass it on, but we enjoyed her and it was a nice intro to the film.

I took two friends with me and they thought it was HI-larious. One friend marked the movie as "Excellent" on his voter card before the movie even started. He said they deserved it for the name of the movie alone.

There are no more showings of this film at Cinequest, but if it shows at a film festival near you (or comes out on DVD) I definitely recommend it.

Spike just home from watching this movie with his friends. After rating the Hungarian film Miscalculation a great big "What the fuck??" with a side of "Dude, don't take me to those kinds of movies," these 17 and 18 year old boys have declared Sinking of the Santa Isabel "A really good movie! Not the best, but really, really good!"

Take that for what it's worth out of the mouths of boys that age.

Tomorrow my hopes are to see Young People Fucking and possibly Xiang Zi (The Case).

Cinequest in the future...

I can't wait until I'm a professor. Then when Cinequest rolls around I'm just going to assign all the students to read The Old Arcadia while I head off to the movies for twelve days.

No movies tonight

Sorry, but I am being a responsible adult today and giving up precious movie time to work on this 1500 word essay discussing the production details of The Quene's Majestie's Passage, The Four Foster Children of Desire and The Lady of May, revolving around the issues raised by the layers of mediation between the event itself and the act of recording it.

Again, I know you'd all love to write it for me, but I have to do it myself. There are more movies I want to see this week so hopefully I get a lot done this evening so I can see movies tomorrow. If SJSU really supported Cinequest they would give us two weeks off, that's what I say. Heh.

Also, Hotel Montgomery kindly sent me an online customer satisfaction survey which I promptly filled out listing everything that went wrong. There were more problems than I even listed on this blog, but my last stay was so outstanding that I am sure they are going to rectify things by my stay next weekend. We shall see.

Hope ya'll are enjoying movies at Cinequest without me!

This is the only movie I saw today as I was a bit rundown. Came home and took a nap. We'll be back tomorrow!

I loved the movie. Starring John Ratzenberger from "Cheers" and Shelly Cole from "Gilmore Girls" this is a movie I think could do well in theaters - if only it had a big name star. That's the sad demise of so many good movies - No star = no distribution. I would say I loved this one as much as "Sherman's Way" and either of these movies could have replaced "Eden's Court" as opening movie. I'm still not quite sure how that decision was made, but anyway... There's another showing Monday evening and I definitely recommend it.

Catie - You would love this one!

Cinequest photos!

I am WAY too lazy to link each of these photos to each of my entries. So just click on over to Flickr for now, and either scroll past the SJSU photos I took today, or click on the Cinequest album on the right.
I think it's easier to see if you just go to the page after the SJSU photos.

D-Tour was actually pretty cute. If you are a Tenacious D fan, or a Jack Black fan, you will probably really like this documentary - but if you are not, or don't know who Jack Black or TD is, you probably won't. There is another screening tomorrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was moved from the California Theater to the Cameras. I was a little surprised that the Rep was barely half full. The people who showed up were pretty excited though. It was only about an hour long, and though I felt it was slow in the beginning, once their actual movie bombed the documentary started getting good. I guess everyone loves a loser, eh?

My boys were hoping for a Jack Black appearance and Spike insisted we sit only three rows back - yeah it's close to the stage, but a little too close for the screen. His friends quickly bailed and went up to the balcony. However, film viewers were not too disappointed when the film was over because although Jack Black didn't show, Kyle Gass and Jeremy Konner (director) were there for a Q&A and we were right up in front for it. I got several pictures of them both, and I took one of Spike with Kyle also. Pictures will be uploaded when we get home Sunday evening.

So, review: If you're a fan - go see it. If you say "Tenacious What?": Don't.

BigBoss and his wife said The Pussycat Preacher was actually really good, and the Pussycat Preacher herself was there. Turns out she's the same blonde that the boys had run into in the hotel hall. "Is there a porn convention in the hotel?" one boy had asked. Anyway, BigBoss said it was good and there's another screening on March 5.

On my way to stand in line...

I'm leaving in about 15 minutes to get to D-Tour at the Rep. I'm figuring arriving about 1/2 hour early will be good - only because I have my express pass. Today Cinequesting put up a poll about whether people should be allowed to save seats. I say Absolutely Not!!! Because they are seating people with high priced passes along with people who have bought tickets there is no way to know when they have sold out - no one knows how many "passes" will show up. And space for some of these films is at a premium - if you want to see the movie, you need to show up early and get your butt into a chair. Today at The Art of Travel it was obvious the theater was going to be packed but people were still insisting on saving seats. People were lined up along the walls waiting for seats, even though there were many empty chairs in the audience. Finally the moderator came and said "No can do" and had everyone push into the middle. Then he gave a very short lecture about how some people who want to see the movie have actually arrived on time and are waiting to be seated while some people don't care enough to actually get there. And you know, if you arrived on time to that showing you have no reason to be offended. It's a film festival, People, by its very nature it is run differently and you need to accomodate that.

As for D-Tour, all three of the boys I have with me are Ultra-Excited about this film. I have not heard any hint that Jack Black will show up, but the boys are ready. Two of them said if he is there they will throw themselves at his feet and beg to be adopted. My own boy of course knows better than to say this within earshot of Mom. But I am happy that they are excited, and happy that I can expose them to all kinds of films here at Cinequest.

And I am off! There will probably be no review until tomorrow morning. Good Night!

Write reviews for IMDB.com

So I learned something today.
During the Q&A after The Art of Travel (Oh, and sorry ya'll but I couldn't get a photo of Brooke Burns for you. My camera takes really good pictures in low light, but it showed only black in that theater)... okay, so during the Q&A the director asked us to please write reviews on IMDB for these movies, that they really help in getting distribution for the film. I spoke about this with Thomas Whelan, the director, after the film. I told him that I have written an occasional review for a film on IMDB before, but had no idea it actually helped it. Actually I thought I was wasting my breathe (or finger muscles?) because I knew no one would ever have a chance to actually SEE the movie, so what was the point? But he explained that filmmakers can use these reviews to convince the studios that people really DO want to see these kinds of movies, that we really do enjoy them and WILL pay money to see them.

So I promised him I would, and I'm definitely going to do it for all the other movies I enjoy at Cinequest. And I'm just asking you Cinequest and film festival readers to please do the same. I hope he continues to tell audiences this, because I would have written IMDB reviews of some other movies long before this.

The Art of Travel - the Movie

I liked this movie, a lot. I can't say I loved it, and it wasn't fantastic, but everyone around me agreed: we still liked it, a lot.

Christopher Masterson plays a 19 year old who dumps his fiancee at the altar (why was he getting married at 19 anyway???) and decides to go find himself by having a wild adventure from Nicaragua all through South America. I didn't really buy the appeal of the first adventure he embarked on: Let's hack our way through the South American jungle all day, every day, for over a year. And I absolutely disagreed with the decision he makes towards the end of the film. But that didn't make this a bad film - a movie is a piece of art just as much as a painting or a piece of literature. We don't have to agree with it, but it's good to see different ideas. And honestly, I sat there in the theater thinking: Why can't they just put these kinds of movies in theaters?? I would much rather watch this than most of the crap they've been putting in theaters. Making every movie end (or follow a plot) in a way that most viewers want to see is what makes most movies these days mind-boggling boring. I love these Cinequest movies that make you think along with entertaining you.

BigBoss from my old job and his wife sat with me in the theater. Wife couldn't figure out what to grade the movie, a 3 or a 4. She marked down 3 just as BigBoss said 4. So I put 4 on mine to even it out. I really felt it was more of a 3.5. It's a movie you wouldn't be sorry you paid money to see, that's for sure.

Hotel Montgomery

1:50pm I just looked out my window and saw Catie and her husband walking along by the Camera Theaters! Now THAT was a coincidence! But my room is too far away to yell at them.

I just want to state that, although my room is nice and clean and the bed is as comfy-comfortable as the Hotel Montgomery ever has, there have been some problems.

1. First they charged me double price and put me in the wrong room (only one bed, and notes on a desk that were clearly for another guest!). This problem was fixed, but not until I had lugged all my stuff upstairs and then back again and then back up to the new room.

2. Then I'm supposed to have some little gift in my room because I joined their silly little Joie de Vivre club, but so far... NADA.

3. The phone in my room rang sometime around 5am this morning - it was the front desk letting me know my TAXI had arrived. I definitely did NOT order a taxi, much less ask it to arrive at 5am.

4. The coffee in their rooms SUCKS.

Okay, that's it. The beds are comfy though!

It's Better That Gabriela Doesn't Die - the Movie

Mejor es que Gabriela no se muera
I loved it. Not the best movie of the festival, but very very funny. In Mexico, a man gets hassled by a cop. When the cop discovers the man is a writer for his favorite telenovela, he lets him go - on the condition that the writer tells him what will happen. Well, after the cop then goes and blabs to everyone he knows that the main character, Gabriela, will marry the villain - the actress who plays her quits the next day! So her character now has a terminal illness instead of a wedding, and the writer has a problem on his hands.

The movie is hilarious in parts, although there were a few times that all of us in the audience thought there may be some serious violence (the cop is not very happy to have been shamed in front of his friends, co-workers AND mother-in-law), no drastic violence occurs and the movie keeps its comedy intact. The last 20 minutes are laugh out loud hilarious, although I'm not sure of the significance of the last 5 minutes of the movie, overall I thought it was a WHOLE lot of fun. Anyone who has watched a telenovela (even if you don't understand them!) or a soap opera will love this movie.

*****
Overheard last night in line:
"Young People Fucking" is a great movie
"The Silence Before Bach" was very disappointing (no kidding!)
"The Art of Travel" was one of the best movies ever,
And Christopher Masterson is not very tall. Awwww.

Plan for Saturday

Okay, I guess I'm leaning towards the following for today:

Mejor es que Gabriela no se muera
Art of Travel
Otis (if it is showing)
Maybe Shorts 4
D-Tour: a Tenacious Documentary

"Mejor es que Gabriela no se muera" revolves around a Mexican telenovela, so there's no way I'm missing that one. "Art of Travel" stars Chris Masterson from Malcom in the Middle and he's here for the premier and 16 year old Buffy is absolutely set on seeing it (or seeing Chris most likely). Otis stars Illeana Douglas, who I love, but it's not listed on the website any longer. And of course D-Tour stars Jack Black. I haven't heard about him showing up but it is the World Premiere, so you never know, and I know Spike is for SURE going to see it.

Hopefully this schedule will allow me to work on some essays or at least catch up on reading. Stay tuned for reviews - or just get yourself over to downtown San Jose and come see some of these movies!!!

Day Three

Current Movie Count: Five full length, 10 Shorts, 3 days. Pretty good, eh?

Tomorrow on the list we have:

Mejor es que Gabriela no se muerta
Art of Travel (or)
Half Empty
This Dust of Words
Otis (if it is showing)
Maybe Shorts 4
Maybe D-Tour: a Tenacious Documentary

That's a lot of movies. I don't know if I'll get to them all.

Friends at Cinequest!

So I was walking over to the theater to see Sherman's Way and I hear my name being called and I turned around... and CatieCake was there! With hubby Andy! They have their Cinequest passes (Yay!) and were on their way to see The Village Barbershop, which I have on my list for Sunday Morning. Unless of course, she doesn't like it. THEN, they were also going to stay and see Disfigured. Yayy! I hope they like it. I think they will... but it's easy enough to tell all of you, who are mostly nameless and faceless, to go see it, but if someone I actually KNOW goes to see it, and then they don't like it... uh oh. Heh. We only had time to say Hi, and I introducted them to Nathan Louie - the official Cinequest greeter, and then I realized my movie was at the Repertory Theater so I had to get the heck out of there.

So I look forward to hearing if Catie liked either / or of the movies!

El Camino - the Movie

This is another movie I definitely recommend, maybe not as strongly as Sherman's Way, but it's definitely good. This one really is about a road trip. A young man dies of cancer and three of his friends decide to take his ashes to mexico. It's a bit of a depressing movie, but not in the way that makes you want to drive off a bridge after it. I would say the writer/director did a great job of bringing the movie to a believable, non-depressing ending. It was just the kind of ending that life really does bring - that is to say, nothing ever ends until you die. The writer was inspired when a friend of his died and he wrote this to kind of work his way through her death. I could definitely see this as that type of project - it's like a way of trying to figure out what our purpose is, and sometimes that's a clear answer but sometimes it's not. Sometimes young people create their own problems... but sometimes there are serious issues behind their sadness and depression. I liked it.

Definitely thumbs up. Go see it, but not if you're in the mood for a happy one.

Sherman's Way - the Movie

Awesome movie, pretty flawless, enjoyable, funny - and it should have been the Opening Night movie, for SURE.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and it seemed like the entire audience did too. Very likable characters, believable character growth, Excellent actors, Excellent writing. Again, I don't like spoiling what movies are about so I won't go into details. The movie description keeps referencing "road trip" but like the filmmakers said after the movie, this was more like a "treadmill trip". I felt like it was sort of a road trip pitstop movie. Meaning... There's these two guys see, and they go on a road trip see, but then they have to stop at a small town for a few days and that's where the majority of the film takes place. I'm not sure why Lacy Chabert is credited so highly in the movie because she's in it for all of 2 minutes. But Brooke Nevin is in it and she was pretty damn awesome. She was there along with all but one of the cast, also the writer and director. Also, Enrico Colantoni, from Just Shoot Me (and I hear also Veronica Mars, but I wouldn't know) was a co-star AND was there, and I got pictures of him, and I probably never mentioned that when Just Shoot Me was on, I had THE BIGGEST CRUSH on him. I had no idea he was going to be in this film until the 80 year old lady sitting next to me kept arguing with her husband, then hit me on my arm and said "Hey! Did you ever watch Just Shoot Me?" Me: "Yes." So the little old lady points three seats over and says, "Isn't that the guy??" and I'm like "OMIGOD YES THAT'S THE GUY!!!" Heh. Yeah, Danny Glover and Michael Keaton are in town and I'm slobbering over the photographer from Just Shoot Me.

He was well and truly handsome. And ya'll can't have him.

But you should see the movie, for SURE.

Disfigured the Movie - Part One

Who know MovableType had a limit on how much you can fit in one entry? Anyway, here is my sort-of review of Disfigured, in two parts:

I've decided not to write any more about Disfigured, other than that you should all go see it, because there's just not much to say without ruining it. When I read the blurbs about films in the Cinequest handbook I only read as far as 1) something sparks my interest or 2) I read something I definitely don't want to see (child abuse, pedophiles, German movie). I don't read any further because I just want to enjoy every moment of surprise when I watch it. That's the sucky part of regular movies these days, you've practically seen the entire movie after watching all the trailers and tv previews.

So here is what I will say about Disfigured: It's the kind of movie you feel very lucky to have seen at Cinequest because there is probably not a mass market appeal so there is no other way you could have seen it. That doesn't mean it's not an incredible movie - it just means that no Hollywood executive will accept that the public might want to watch a movie about a fat girl and an anorexic girl without casting Eddie Murphy in the role of the fat girl. It’s what makes Cinequest so fun, because you get to see things you never would have otherwise. For instance, let's look at two movies from past Cinequest years:
Andrew Jenks, Room 335: one of the most incredible movies I've ever seen, anywhere, hands down. College student Andrew Jenks decides to do a documentary from the inside of a retirement home. He really has no plan as to what his movie will be about, he just has this idea that he thinks may be interesting. The next thing you know, his life is changed, the residents' lives are changed, and most certainly the lives of everyone who saw this film are changed. Andrew makes great friends with some of the residents who the viewer also comes to know and grows to love. There's no explaining the power of this movie - and yet it took two years to get to HBO (and I totally missed that it was finally showing!) with no fanfare whatsoever.
Monster Camp: Made by my friend Cullen Hoback, it's another unexpected documentary. Cullen falls in with a crowd of "LARPers", Live Action Role Players, who all get together at various times to wack each other with sticks and geek out completely, and of course spend all their home time playing World of Warcraft. Losers, right? I think Cullen changed our minds about that. I mean... maybe some of them were losers... heh... but overall it made viewers realize these people were not freaks, they just had a hobby like all the rest of us do. Just because we don't understand the appeal of their hobby, that doesn't mean they're wierdos. In fact, Cullen got caught up enough in it during filming that he ended up taking part in one of the "battles". I was lucky enough to get a DVD of the movie, which we share with everyone we know (and I scored one for Catie too, but haven't had a chance to give it to her yet!).

Disfigured the Movie - Part Two

Both of these movies left everyone in the theater in tears, either from emotion or just from laughing too damn hard. But no film studio will pick either of these up because they won't be able to make $25 million on them. Lucky for you all, Monster Camp is coming out on a few Indie Theaters this Spring, so hopefully you'll get to see it, and maybe some of you saw Andrew Jenks on HBO.

Anyway, Disfigured is a movie like that. It was incredible and the writing and acting blew everyone away. It won't change your life like Andrew Jenks, it won't make you pee your pants laughing like Monster Camp, but it will change your thinking, about yourself and about others - fat AND skinny. So that's all I'm going to give you about Disfigured. If you have room in your schedule to see it during Cinequest, then you should see it. If it's scheduled for a film festival near you, then you should see it.

And now I'm off to see Sherman's Way starring Michael Shulman (Party of Five), Lacey Chabert (Not Another Teen Movie), and James LeGros (Sleeper Cell, Ally McBeal). Who knows, some of them may be there. I'll bring my camera just in case. (And promise to get the pictures uploaded Sunday evening!)

I'm sitting here in my room at the Hotel Montgomery listening to a band play out on the patio. I think it's funny that the desk clerk said "We have a nice quiet room in back for you," and then I end up facing right out onto the band. Personally, I don't care, I'm not here for quiet, I'm here for movies. But why say I have a "nice quiet room" when I clearly do not?

So I saw The Silence Before Bach... and I left halfway through it. It's not terrible, it just... doesn't really have a plot... and not a lot of excitement... and is just a lot of people playing Bach, and a lot of watching a single person walk down the stairs, or watching him brush his teeth, or watching the train go by, or the river... So there's nothing wrong with that, I've seen much worse movies, but I'd probably like it better on a rainy Saturday afternoon with a bag of popcorn when I had nothing else in the world to do, or maybe just playing on my TV at home while I did housework. It's hard for me to grade this one because it is what it is, which is just not what I want to watch when I need to stay awake for two more movies. But that's not necessarily a bad movie, you know what I mean?

So I left the theater and got some chinese food (oh gosh, the Asian Buffet is just not very good!) and came up here to eat it and listen to the band. I leave in 30 minutes to see my next movie.

Cinequest - Day 3

Today is going to be a flurry of trying to check in to the Montgomery Hotel in time to run across the street and get to my first movie at 4:30. Then sometime after his date Spike will arrive to watch some really late movies and Buffy will be dropped off after her school dance. Hopefully this weekend will run smoother.

Tonight's plan is:
The Silence Before Bach
Sherman's Way
El Camino

I was going to watch Commit instead of "Silence" but the Cinequesting review pushed me away. Also I didn't realize Silence was a movie from Spain, so I'm looking forward to it now.

Reviews up late tonight or tomorrow morning!

It's almost midnight and I need to get some sleep, but before I do I want to let everyone know that Disfigured is one of the best films I've seen at Cinequest, Ever. It was nothing like what I thought it was going to be, and the audience was completely wowed. To quote one of the viewers, "This is only the second movie of the festival, and I'm not sure how anything else is going to beat this."

You can still see it on these two dates, and if you can make it, I definitely recommend it:
February 29 9:30pm
March 2 1:30pm

I took 16 year old Buffy and her male friend, thinking this was going to be a "comedy" (I don't know why I thought that since the description clearly states "drama"). Once it began I thought they were going to be bored to tears - except for around halfway through when the very nekkid sex scene began... I was pretty sure they were going to kill me after that, or at the very least blame me for all their future psychological problems. But at the end, as we left the theater (after Buffy took a photo of me with star Deirdra Edwards), the friend said: "That was a really good movie. It almost got me at the end. I had a little tear. It didn't fall though, I caught myself... but it almost got me."

We also saw about ten of the student shorts, and as usual, they are more awesome than the regular shorts. So I recommend those too. I'll write more about all of them tomorrow.

Food ate: One tomato mozarella ciabatta sandwich from Starbucks with a small vanilla frapucchino, some popcorn with parmesan garlic powder, and a diet coke.

Buffy attracting attention all over the place with her bag again, even getting notice from the manager of the Camera Theaters himself. It really is a cool bag though.

Opening Night Movie and Party

Hangover is finally abating, so let’s get the reviews going:

Movie: Eden Court
Goodness. Why start off the festival in this way, making me go back on my word of loving all the movies when this movie really was pretty bad??? I hope this is not a sign of things to come with this year’s festival, because it certainly did not get the festival off on the right foot. Usually the opening and closing movies are the very best films of the festival, and most of them make it to the mass market big screen. This movie, though the writer/director seemed like a really nice guy… it is not going to make it to a theater near you, no way no how. The funniest thing about the movie was that it actually was set in Nebraska, so just like my earlier post, I sat and started thinking that maybe this movie really would be better set in New York with explosions and Angelina Jolie. Certainly couldn’t have hurt it.

I mean, the problems with this movie were countless. If you have a comedy and want to stick in a drunken best friend, you can’t make her a drunken, slutty loser friend who is also a bad mother. There’s not much comedy in that. And I don’t know if Kimberley Williams-Paisley was acting the part of the wife in the way the writer had envisioned, but if so, dude needs to go interact with more women. She constantly slipped back and forth between ditzy and intelligent, loving and hateful, irresponsible and yet the only responsible member of the family. The whole movie was all over the place, and like the character of the wife, the storyline slipped too many times between comedy and tragedy, heart warming and disgusting.

Review: Thumbs Down.

After Party: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I had the most fun at this Opening Night party than I’ve had at any previous ones, but it could be because my son has had his drivers license for a year now so I was able to have a few drinks. It definitely was less crowded than previous years, possibly there were less people or maybe the good weather just allowed a lot of us to mingle outside.

As soon as we walked through the doors we were presented with table after table with drinks set out just asking to be drank. I had to oblige, they were too pretty! I passed the table of pink vodka and went straight to the table of a dark colored liquid with cherries in them. I figured, Must be some kind of cherry drink! *BZZZZ* Wrong! From what we could tell, it was straight whiskey. Not really my thing, but… it was free and there were cherries waiting for me at the bottom! So, drink number one: check!

My daughter hung out at the chocolate fountain, and my son and his friend wandered around waiting for real food to appear. I’m not entirely sure if they found any – I know Spike had some toast with mushrooms on it, and we were all served many chicken shishkebobs, and I did manage to find a table with sandwich fixings but the bread was gone…

But I do know I decided to try one of the pink vodka drinks when the whiskey was gone. Now that drink I can get behind. I wish I knew exactly what drinks these were so I could give them a shout-out, but I have no idea. I just know that pink vodka = good. Drink number two: Check!
So the two boys and my daughter and I all hung out on the patio, chatting with various filmmakers and Nathan Louie, and the well-known Jason. Pictures will come soon - I did get some good ones this time! And eventually my pink drink was gone and I wanted another. Drink number three: Check! And mom gives up the car keys.

So of course the party seemed awfully fun, to ME, but the kids were also having fun and so were the boys, and so were a lot of people I talked to that night. It was really nice not being packed in like sardines, the music was nice, and it was just a pretty fun night.

Buffy was actually quickly becoming the star of the party as she brought along the purse I had bought her for her 16th birthday. Every time I turned around she was surrounded by men who were just fascinated by her and her purse, and she carried herself very well talking to them. For the record, they weren’t skeevy lecherous men, they were just various filmmakers and recognizable Cinequest attendees who were fascinated by the bag. I was just surprised that she had enough poise to handle conversations with so many strangers.

Finally we all walked back to the parking garage and Spike drove us home. It was a good night – until I woke up this morning with a raging hangover. Heh.

Tonight Buffy and I will be seeing Disfigured and possibly Commit.

The only drinks drunk tonight will be Starbucks and Diet Coke.

Great Night

Awesome party last night leads to massive hangover this morning, and also having to delete drunken after-party posts from this blog. heh. I'll just say there were free drinks: I had one whiskey with cherries and two of some pink vodka. They were delish. Not so much this morning.

I'll post more later.

So I have to remember to eat fresh, crunchy vegetables, drink Tang for vitamin C, try not to over-do the parmesan powder on my popcorn – and take some walks in the sunshine for Gawd’s sake.

I remember last year at Cinequest, I think it was the final weekend and I decided to finally skip a movie; the day was beautiful, we were staying downtown, and I decided to go for a walk. It’s amazing how the lack of sun can affect you, you don’t really realize it until you’re crammed into a dark theatre for all waking hours for 12 days straight.

This year, I’m going to make sure I get some walks in the sun. Because there are a lot of movies I want to see.

I was thinking this morning about why I love Cinequest so much, even when I see a crappy movie, or even when I see a few crappy movies in a row. Even if only 2-3 out of the 20 I watch are good, I still feel like I had a great time, and I still want to pay the money next year. Why is that? If I go to the theater to watch a Hollywood movie and it’s crappy, I’m pissed. I want my money back and I want the hours of my life back. But it’s different with Cinequest. And I think that’s because of exactly what it stands for.

The movies you see at Cinequest were not funded by Hollywood studios – the filmmaker had to bust his ass raising money to make this movie, or max out the credit cards, or take out loans. All to make this movie he believed in. These filmmakers aren’t (usually) making money back on the films, and most know they never will. This is all money spent on a single love. Additionally, there is no Hollywood studio head poking their nose into the project: “Let’s take it out of Nebraska and set it in New York! And instead of farmers we’ll have... giant talking robots! That explode! And we need a love interest! Try to write in Angelina Jolie and I’ll call her agent right now!” So what you get at Cinequest is the single pure essence of what the filmmaker had in his head, and not an amalgamation of what “The Industry” wants you to see.

And so when you see a movie at Cinequest, or when you see several (because you can’t just go see ONE), you are left with a feeling of magic. You are transported back to the very earliest time of film when it was all new, and everyone was just figuring out what you can do, and it was all done out of a love of the process itself – and getting your idea or your story out there.

And truly the process of filmmaking is again all about figuring out what we can do, because of all the many advances in technology – computers, special effects, new technologies that you or I or most of the film watching public can never even comprehend, but also the many ways of viewing the films now. We can go to the grand California Theater to watch a movie, or you can stay home and watch it on your TV or computer, or you can watch it on your iPod on the bus to work. Most of this technology wasn’t available even five years ago. Cinequest really exemplifies this and even has technology forums, writing forums, and filmmaking forums to share the new and exciting information and get it out to the public.

Magic. The pure essence of cinema. MOVIES!!

And so when I review the movies we will see, these movies I know many of you will never ever see – and who will tune out for the next 12 days wondering why I never have time to write during the other 11-1/2 months but suddenly have all the time in the world for two weeks of the year – *ahem*... When I write my reviews I’m probably a little softer than I would be if I had seen them in a regular setting. It’s not because I know “they tried hard”, or “they made a good effort!” It’s because the magic and the love and the commitment of the filmmaker (and the actors and the crew and everyone else involved) all shine through these movies, even when the point or the story or the message kind of falls flat or just flies right over my head. You still get the feeling that you just watched something very special, and you still know you are one of the lucky few.

I know most of my regular readers will tune out for the next twelve days, but I also know I have local readers who only show up during Cinequest. That’s okay. Opening night is tonight, Wednesday evening, and Spike and friend and Buffy and I will be there bright and early to see the first movie, then we’ll head over to the Paragon Bar for the Opening Night Party (with chocolate fountain!) where we’ll be bumping shoulders with people we won’t come to know until each evening’s movies go by. We’ll be meeting filmmakers, actors, writers, famous people, film students, and many, many people who just love movies.

And like it or not, I’m going to be typing about it.

More news and announcements from Cinequest including a list of some actors expected to appear.

People - if you are going to be anywhere near San Jose in the next two weeks, come to the film festival!!! You will have so much fun!

For Catie:

I will try to post our movie-watching schedule maybe this evening, if I can figure out how to do that. In the meantime, for Catie and anyone else interested in Cinequest, go to the Cinequesting blog for many reviews and previews of the films. Most of the films they have listed are on my list. In fact, most every movie showing is on my list except for any Eastern European film - I'm still traumatized by watching a film of some girl running through the subway while carrying her miscarried fetus. So no matter how good a movie may seems, it was an easy way to cut my list a little shorter. I may miss a good one, but then again, I won't be seeing another movie with a grown man pushing his dead grandmother through the city in a wheel chair covered with a polar bear rug.
I'm just saying.

My priorities this year so far are:
Disfigured
Enlightened Blood (La Sangre Iluminada)
Glory Boy Days (this one has Number One priority)
Its Better If Gabriela Doesnt Die (Mejor Es Que Gabriela No Se Muera)
The Metrosexual
Speed Dating
The Substitute (it's Danish... I'm hoping that's far enough away from Germany that there won't be any dead feti or grandmothers)
The Village Barbershop

Click on the links in each of those pages to see a still from the film and a better description. Those are only 8 of the movies I'm hoping to see - and there's still the opening and closing films, which are usually the best and most often shown in theaters later.

Who needs Sir Philip Sidney

I just spent quite a few hours making our new Cinequest movie-watching schedule for this year. It isn't anywhere close to complete yet. But it so far includes the watching of 29, that's right, 29 movies in 12 days. Now that, my dears, is crazy; Britney-Spears-Insane even. Ding Dang! We got movies to watch Ya'll! I think I finished 20 last year, but I'm not sure - but this year they all look so good!!!!!

In fact, there were so many Super-Good sounding movies to watch, I may not go see Michael Keaton or Danny Glover, as much as I'd like to, I would rather watch movies and seeing them would cut into my movie-watching time.

We have been stocking up on food for Cinequest. 12 days of popcorn and Starbucks can leave you feeling really wierd, as Catie can attest. At the end of those 12 days you start to CRAAAAAVE crunchy vegetables and some vitamin C.

So we have: fresh turkey breast, swiss cheese and tomatoes so we can take sandwiches for dinner. Some good old fashioned, All-American powdered TANG so we can get unlimited vitamin C in the morning, and this year we are adding carrots and celery/peanut butter to our list. One cannot underestimate the intense craving for crunchy fresh veggies that comes upon you after twelve days of popcorn and diet soda. I'm totally serious here, your teeth are there for a reason.

So anyway, hopefully we can get through this year. I have two essays due over the twelve days, and I have one essay mostly completed. I hope to write the other one over the weekend, before the theaters open (heh). One Spanish exam due hours before Opening Night. And of course hundreds of pages of books to read that will be done sitting on the stairs at the Camera 12 Cinemas.

So again - the lady on the stairs with the books and Starbucks, that will be me. I look forward to meeting everyone again!!!

OOH! OOH! I just remembered, I have my new camera now, so I can finally take awesome photos to show you all just how great and exciting Cinequest can be!
Although John Leguizamo has mysteriously disappeared from the Cinequest calendar (bastard!) we'll still be seeing Danny Glover, Michael Keaton, John Ratzenburger and more. This time I'll have good pictures to prove it instead of those far away, dark, fuzzy camera phone pics.

So! So! Excited! Don't want to read Old Arcadia! Don't want to write essay on stupid Queen Elizabeth speeches! Definitely don't want to study for my Spanish exam! Want movies!!!!!!

The Oscars

Well there just wasn't much to say about the Oscars last night. Everyone was pretty, everyone who won pretty much deserved it. No drama, no really huge fashion Don'ts. So... not much to say.

Except for Nicole Kidman... I know she supposedly has this flawless white clear skin... but does she really look like a plastic mannequin?? I can't believe that anyone's skin all over their body is that solidly white and smooth, with no wrinkles, creases nor one single mark (not even a freckle??). She must have slathered some body make-up all over her, and that's just as gross as the orange self-tanners.

Of COURSE I'm watching the Academy Awards (while trying to write up an essay)!!!
I just worry that non-Californians watching this show will think that ALL of us Californians are as orange as the people I'm seeing on my television screen. Holy Moly, I don't get the appeal of orange self-tanner. I'd rather be pasty white.

But I am happy to watch this awards this year as I think I have seen every single movie up for an Oscar except for: Juno, Atonement, Transformers and Persepolis. So I absolutely have opinions, and I'm excited to see who wins.

Also, the last couple years the Oscars have been on during Cinequest so I don't always get to see them. This year... Cinequest starts Wednesday!!!! Get ready for movie reviews for films you'll probably never get a chance to see! I know you all are so excited to hear that again!

And now I go back to writing an essay.

We saw "There Will Be Blood" last night, I loved it. Scott wasn't sure what to think, and there were quite a few unexplained parts, so neither of us is clear about everything that happened, but I definitely loved it.

"I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! I DRINK IT UP! SLUUUUURRRRRRPPPPPP!!!!!!!"

bwahahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaa Loved it.

Also it had the best last line in a movie, Ever.

Yes, you all should see it.

I took Buffy and her friend to see "I am Legend".
I thought it was about the last man on earth,
I didn't know it was a freakin scary movie.
Stupid freaking scary flesh eating zombie scary movie.

It was good though. Had some logic problems, but overall, good.

I took the kids to see Beowulf.

*Sighhhhh...*

I should have known, I should have listened.

A stand alone good movie? Maybe. Followed the book? Not even CLOSE.

Note to young people: if you are assigned the book, don't go see the movie instead... you'll be screwed.

Last year at Cinequest we saw an awesome movie called Blood Car. I didn't want to see it, the previews were horribly gory. But Spike saw it and convinced me it was hilarious so I saw it - and LOVED it. It is gory, but in such a funny way it's not realistically bloody at all.

So anyway, I just got a notification that it is coming out on DVD on November 6, at Amazon.com AND Netflix. So this is me telling you, SEE this movie. Put it on your Netflix. You will not regret it!

This is Netflix' description, and it is pretty accurate:

This gory satire of horrifying dimensions from director Alex Orr is set in a world where gas prices have reached $40 a gallon. Responding with good old-fashioned American ingenuity, a kindergarten teacher invents a car that consumes human blood. An absurdist take on the world's current addiction to oil, Orr's debut feature evokes both screams and shrieks -- followed by uncontrollable laughter.

Like I said, it is bloody, but it is REALLY funny. REALLY funny. So I hope you all get a chance to see it and comment me back that you loved it.

We saw "3:10 to Yuma" last night and it was REEEEEEEEALLY GOOD.
You should see it too.
And Ben Foster was AWWWWESOME.

The Buff and I saw "Joshua" tonight. Creepy as hell. CREEPY. CREEEEEEEPY. The kid is Damien's first cousin creepy.

It was good though, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a horror flick, but it was not. Very very similar in tone (and plot) to a 1960's/70's psychological thriller, i.e. The Omen and The Bad Seed. No gore. Just nervous horror.

If it's playing near you and you like movies like The Bad Seed, this one is for you.

Here's a break for you...

The outtakes from the Will Farrell "Landlord" video I posted awhile ago.

That kid is so cute!

A short film starring a guy I'm not that fond of (Will Farrel) and... a very mean LANDLADY.

Scott and I watched The Descent on my dvd player in Volcano this weekend. It scared the S*** out of me. I almost had to sleep with the lights on when it ended.

On the other hand, I rented The Black Dahlia today and that has to be on my top three very worst movies of all time right now.

"Grindhouse"

I just read news that Grindhouse came in fourth and only made $11 million this week.

Let me be clear, this movie is not for everyone. On the other hand, it had Scott and me in stitches, and there was a 60 year old couple in front of us who were having WAY too much fun. The entire theater was applauding and laughing hysterically and having a great time.

Violence, Yes. But a little more cartoony than usual, I thought. In Robert Rodriguez's movie when you shoot someone apparentely a GALLON of blood shoots out of you. It's hard to take that seriously. There was lots of heads blowing up, and the cannibal zombie disease did some horrilby disgusting things to you. But this is horror from the 70's, it's not realistic "Saw" stuff. It was fun.

Buffy would disagree, she didn't like Rodriguez's movie as much as Tarantino's. Actually, in our group of six, three of us preferred Rodriguez, three of us preferred Tarantino.

Kurt Russell was awesome in Tarantino's movie. I just disliked the entire first half of it because it went so sloooow. Once the action started happening though, Tarantino's movie was awesome.

I thought it was really creatively done, Rodriguez especially took every opportunity to replicate the 70's horror films. I totally appreciated it. It was a much needed 3 hour break from the seriousness of life.

Rose McGowan was awesome. I always liked her anyway, but she earned major points for this movie.

I don't know, what can I say? It's violent, there's half nekkid chicks with machine guns, it's violent, ... and it's awesome. It's not for everyone, but if you even half like horror films, if you love oldies, if you love films, you should go see this movie. It didn't even feel like three hours, and for me, that says a lot. I HATE when movies approach 2 hours. But this one was great.

Out of the six of us, it got a huge thumbs up. So I recommend it, and you should go see it.

But don't bring little kids, it's not for them. Teenagers, yes, but not little kids.

Yes, you should definitely go see it.
Great family, some humor, scary monster. Can't ask for more than that.

We're about to go see "The Host". I wasn't that thrilled about it but then I just saw the trailer online, and it looks GOOOOOOD. Movie Fun! Now I can't wait!!!!

We are honestly relieved it's finally done. I have been furiously typing up a research paper for Archaeology since Sunday afternoon. We elected to skip the final movie, which none of us were really interested in (and heard was not that great), but did go to the After Party. I sat with a lovely couple who talked film and movies with me for two hours. The conversation eventually progressed to Spike's film career and looking at pictures of their grandson. Good times - no, really! But then, Spike and his friend left the building to get some fresh air - and the bouncer wouldn't let them back in because they are only 16. HEH. Eventually I got their voicemail that they were trapped outside, but instead of rescuing them I told them it really was time to get home. Back we went, and I was up until 1:30am typing my paper.

This morning the cat got me up to let her outside, and when I hopped back into bed I saw the clock - 7:00am!!!!!!!! I have to be in Weight Training at 7:30!! I actually did set my clocks ahead for daylight savings, but then I FORGOT TO SET MY ALARM!!! DUH! and DOH!

So I hear Monster Camp won an audience award for Best Documentary, which thrills me to no end. And Blood Car also won an award. The actual awards are not listed yet, so I don't have the complete set of them.

These were my very favorites of the festival:

The Namesake
Outsourced
Monster Camp
Blood Car
You Are Here
Full Grown Men

The Namesake should be in theaters any day now, so you can all see that. And You Are Here was picked up and should be out in the next year. I would bet big money that you'll soon be seeing Outsourced and Blood Car too. Keep your eyes open, because they were really great films. I don't know if Monster Camp will ever get to theaters but if it makes DVD you HAVE to see it.

I am no longer sure how many films I saw this year, but it was quite a lot, close to 30. I am amazed when I talk to people who saw FORTY movies. I think that if I had no job and no school... I still could not watch forty movies in 12 days. That's insane. And you quickly feel like a mole with a very flat butt. And a tummy overfilled with popcorn. But we had a very good time, and the great movies we saw definitely made the bad ones worth it. And speaking of bad films - the Shorts Programs were very disappointing this year.

But I was thrilled that CatieCake came to the festival with her wonderful Hubby, I was thrilled that we were able to bring the kids' friends with us and that they had such a good time they brought more friends with them. I was SO SO SO SO thrilled to see fellow students in the ticket line, especially when I found out that they had come because they had seen all the Cinequest cards I had left around the English Department. I also left some for Monster Camp in the geeky breakroom at work, and most of them disappeared, so who knows how many people came to Cinequest because of me? I'll definitely grab more cards next year and pass them around.

We really had a great time, and having the hotel to sleep in made the weekends even more fun. I made it through school, but it did hurt a little. When I finish this post you probably won't hear from me for quite awhile as I catch up. Thanks to everyone who emailed and commented and especially to all those who took a chance and came to Cinequest.

And now I hit the bed. I'll see ya'll in class.

Goodness, today was a good one for movies.

I brought the kids to see You Are Here even though I already saw it. I loved it just as much the second time around, maybe even more. The kids both loved it too. It's definitely in my Top Five from the Festival.

Then Spike brought us and a few of his friends to see Blood Car. The movie was advertised as a comedy and Spike told me it was a comedy. But when I visited that website and saw the trailer, I saw an extremely bloody horror film. Spike just kind of chuckled, re-confirmed that it was a comedy, and said that the trailer just showed every single bloody scene. I can't say I believed him.

The movie was great. The movie could easily become a cult classic in the Evil Dead style. It was awesome - and not that bloody, although there certainly was blood, but it was not scary in any way, not really gross (most of the violence is completely off camera), and very very very funny. I was cracking up the whole time - but it was also GOOD. And remember sweet little Anna Chlumsky, from My Girl? She co-stars in it - and she's still sweet and very pretty.

I really do recommend this movie - now, it's not for everyone, but it is a great campy cult-like horror film ~~ if you like the Evil Dead movies you would totally appreciate this film.

Then I saw A Dog's Breakfast. This was a hilarious movie about a man who doesn't like his sister's new fiance, then believes the fiance is trying to kill the sister, so the man tries to kill the fiance. Got it so far? Well, he doesn't succeed. Because the fiance kills himself when he accidently falls off a ladder. Man has a guilty conscience and tries to hide the body. But the damn dog keeps dragging it back to the house. And on and on and on. It was very funny and very well acted, and gave an open nod to "The Tell Tale Heart". Also, if you watch Stargate Atlantis - you may find yourself confused. Every character in the movie is from Stargate Atlantis.

And finally, Trained in the Ways of Men. This documentary went over the background and case of Gwen Araujo, a transgendered teen from the Bay Area who was brutally beaten and strangled by four men who were surprised to discover she was a biological male. It was truly heartbreaking, and I was glad I brought both my kids and one of Spike's friends with me. Both of my kids loved it, and the friend (a male) said it "freaked him out". I asked him why, and he said "It just gave me a whole lot to think about." Which is exactly what it should do. There was just no way to come away from this movie thinking that Gwen a) had no right to call herself a female, or b) deserved what happened to her. Much of the story was told through interviews with Gwen's mother, her family, and all the attorneys involved in the case. Gwen's mother was in the theater and got a standing ovation. The theater itself was completely packed.

It was a very well done documentary and an important story that deserves to be told - I am sure it will be picked up by some television station and shown in that manner - you should all see it when it comes out.

Now I am getting ready for bed, and the kids are still at the theater getting ready for Long Pigs - I think it sounds disgusting, but teens are teens. If they want nightmares, let 'em.

And tomorrow ends this marathon of movies - I'm pretty ready for that!

Cinequest - Saturday

On this, the last weekend of Cinequest, we are going to see:

You Are Here ... I am taking both kids to see it because I think they'll love it.

Blood Car ... I'm taking Buffy to see it, and she'll probably love it, but I swear if it's not a comedy my son is going to be SORRY.

A Dog's Breakfast ... I had thought about seeing this one earlier but saw something else instead. They've added another showing and word seems to be good, so we're taking advantage of the extra show today.

Trained in the Ways of Men ... a Documentary on the murder of Gwen Araujo, the transgendered teen who was killed a couple years ago not too far away from us. Most people in our area remember the murder well and I anticipate the theater to be packed.

Tomorrow:

Animated Shorts
Documentary Shorts
The Closing Movie and Party

We saw two Great movies today - Me, my daughter and her friend (a boy).

First:
The Curiosity of Chance

This is a teenage movie set in the 80's in the John Hughes vein - but with a gay character as the star. Although slow to start out (it is missing the quick and snappy dialogue of John Hughes' films) it quickly gets up to pace and is hilarious and poignant at the same time, without ever being sad. The three teens I brought went CRAZY over this film and gave it a standing ovation. Truthfully, gay teens don't get to see mirror images of themselves on film like this - oh yes, you have the serious films, and the gay porn, but you don't get just happy, fun, gay teenage movies. My three teens were just dieing for more and wouldn't stop talking about it until the next movie started.
It wasn't just for teens though, and it appeared that the audience who was mostly older adults also loved it.

Outsourced
I loved this movie probably more than the Opening Night movie. It's about an American who is told his entire department is being outsourced to India - and now he has to go train all the replacements. The movie laughed at the natives he meets, laughed at their customs, and then turned around and laughed right back at America twice as hard. It was very well done and funny too. We had to leave when it ended so I didn't hear if it had been bought yet - but it was a movie that looks straight out of a studio, and is ready for a theater with no flaws that I can think of. I thought it was perfect, and if you get any chance to see it, I do recommend - you must!

Tomorrow my plan is: Maskot and Midnight Clear. That plan may change, but so it is for now.

Today is the first time this Cinequest that I HATED a movie.

American Losers

We were supposed to see Making It Right but we got our Starbucks snacks first and then realized it was playing at the SJ Rep where they don't allow food. So we made a quick change to this one instead. Big mistake.

This is what the blurb about the movie says:
American Losers chronicles the lives of two New Yorkers on the fringe. Kimberle is a member of an aspiring band who moved away from the Bible Belt to spread her wings and give her dream a living chance in the glow of big city lights. Kevin is a shut-in of sorts on the threshold of jump starting his life after a series of stumbles. He lives in the woods north of New York City and has returned to school after initially dropping out of high school over 20-years-ago. By society’s norms, they are “losers”, but through Ada Bligaard Søby’s lens they become larger than life heroes—wise, humorous, slightly manic individuals just trying to grab their piece of the American pie.
But that's not what it was about. They were both the most annoying people EVER, people I would never choose to be friends with, but I was stuck with them for an hour of my life.
The girl was an aspiring rock star, yes. She also had racked up thousands of dollars of credit card bills that she no longer even opens. She seemed quite proud of that. And the debt wasn't from things like food, or diapers, or electric bills ... No, she got a new credit card and went to go buy a new pair of boots - and she was going to limit herself to spending $1200. For a pair of boots. Because she wanted enough to also buy makeup and pantyhose. Okay, that? Is stealing. She has no way to pay that money back and no desire to pay it back and no intent to pay it back. Yes, she is indeed an American Loser. And although she was never shown using drugs and I don't think she was - she had the brain cells of a long time user.
The man was a barely functioning genius. You see these people all over school, students who are indeed geniuses, of the type that live in their own world and can't seem to adapt to ours. It's difficult for them to make friends because they have no social skills. You never see them as professors because they don't have the attention span or discipline to correct papers. In his case, I wouldn't call him a loser - he was going to school and doing well and seemed to have some way to pay his bills. Or at least he wasn't advertising that he wasn't paying them. I don't fault him his genius or his eccentricities, but I wouldn't spend a lot of time with him.
And yet there I was stuck with the two of them for an hour.
Thank gosh it was only an hour long.

I can't recommend this movie in any way. Neither one of the characters was a "larger than life hero" in any way at all. All three teenagers I brought with me agreed it was a wasted hour of their lives.

However, the short before it, "Marrying God", was absolutely incredible. So you could always go in, see the short, and then leave to see another movie. That's what I would recommend.

Cinequesting has many reviews up now and from the movies that I have also seen the reviews are pretty right on. So if you're attending Cinequest you should check out that blog also!

Film Count...

That makes fifteen movies/programs since Wednesday, and including shorts I have seen 39 films since Wednesday. Overall this year has been even better than last year.

Cinequest - Tuesday

Dimension - I gave this a "Good" rating. My daughter gave it "Excellent". It was an awesome idea (God gives you the chance to change any three inches of your life - three inches taller, thinner, "longer", some people chose a 3 inch stack of $100 bills, some made life saving changes) but it was halfway poorly executed. By this I mean that the first half of the movie was ALL OVER THE PLACE. So many people walked out of the theater, and I thought that was kind of strange because trust me, I've seen much worse movies. But halfway through Cinequest we lose interest in waiting through bad movies. Anyway - it was all over the place, and too slow, and the sound was not great. But the second half he pulled it all together, the ideas and themes came through, and then it became a totally awesome movie. It was also poorly filmed - almost every student film I've ever seen has been much better quality than this.

That said, the Director was there for questions, and again I was surprised by his age but this time for a different reason - he was older than I am. It turns out he had this idea on his last day of college, but went on to become an environmental engineer. After ten years of that he became a bartender. Then he finally decided to make this movie. The sound problems were due to them not knowing what they were doing - it was truly a do-it-yourself film school in the making. So we're talking no real film school, twenty years of doing non-creative things, and then a sudden desire to make this film that gives a great message.

It really was a great idea, and like I said my daughter gave it an excellent. But I could not in good conscience, given the other truly excellent movies I have seen at Cinequest, ignore the fact that the first half of the movie was really bad. And the quality and other problems. So I give him a "Good" and wish this guy well (I truly do) and hope he comes out with some more great stuff in the future. Given that this is his first film, I would definitely go see his next ones.

I am happy to report that we are NOT going to Cinequest tonight. There's this little midterm in Archaeology on Wednesday that I thought was NEXT week (oops) and a pretty long story (Lysistrata) that must be read by Wednesday, and Spanish homework that is due tomorrow. Also, we are tired. I am exhausted, personally. So one day off, and the rest of the week's schedule won't be a problem.

So ya'll are on your own. Have fun!

We saw:

Bigga Than Ben - Very good.
The Doorman - Hilarious.
Urban Explorers - Very interesting documentary.

But I'm too tired to write at the moment, so I'll fill you in tomorrow. Right now it's off to bed.

Cinequest - Saturday

This was a very great, fun day, with so many good movies and lots of old friends to watch them with.

Spike and I started out with Shorts #1/Mirror Mirror, and those were FANTASTIC. I loved them all - all except one very short one that was, you guessed it, French. It was very short though, so I could forgive them. Also, being infested by skinheads is a funny idea, but it doesn't play well for 15 entire minutes. Every other movie was AWESOME though.

Full Grown Men. We all liked this movie a lot. Everyone who saw it really liked it, it just wasn't what we expected. I think probably because Alan Cumming is listed in the cast along with Amy Sedaris who is even showed in the ad for it. So everyone was expecting something really funny. And it was more of a very thoughtful, sweet and troubling, journey into adulthood for this man who should have grown up years before. I think everyone really loved it and recommend it, we all just had to take a step back and think about it first. When you are expecting a comedy and instead get handed something semi-serious, it takes a moment to re-evaluate the film.

All the Days Before Tomorrow. This was a really great movie that involved a lot of talking and I was reeeeeeally tired. I sat next to the writer/director's mother and she was very proud of her boy. But I was just too tired to really love the movie. Spike said he thought it was great, so you should go by his approval - I thought it was good, just too tired to enjoy it. Also, Alexandra Holden was in the theater, and she is way way way beautiful in real life. She was just adorable.

MONSTER CAMP. I am putting this one in Bold and CAPITALS because if you go to Cinequest you should see this movie. It's not the best movie there by far, but it is the movie that I enjoyed the most - and it seems everyone in the theater really loved it too. It's a documentary about people who LARP - or who Live Action Role Play. You can watch the trailer HERE.
It was hilarious, but it was great too. I went there to laugh at the silly nerds, but you can't help but come away from it thinking - So what? So they have a hobby that gets them out of the house, it's no different really from me being addicted to school, or my family being addicted to movies, or others being addicted to football. At the same time, Cullen shows a few players who maybe need to put a little more reality into their lives - two players are in their fifth year of being a Senior in High School. Actually, this was one of my favorite conversations in the movie:
Player #1: He's just jealous because I have more time to play World of Warcraft.
Player #2: That's because I have a JOB.
Player #1: Yeah, but you don't have a LIFE.
Player #2: That's because I have a JOB.
Cullen Hoback is the director of Monster Camp, and last year he brought his film Freedom State to Cinequest. You can see the preview for that film here - but it doesn't do the film justice. At any rate - if you can get to Cinequest or Seattle Internation Film Festival in May or June, or Swansea Bay Film Festival when it comes out, try to see this movie.

Spike also saw Seven and a Half and Blood Car, and he loved them both. Blood Car is actually a COMEDY, which I had not realized. I am going to try to see it next Saturday.

So after all those movies, Spike went to see Shorts #6/Mindbenders and I went to the Marriott and crashed since it was after midnight.

Today was FUN FUN FUN.
I saw two great movies and two okay movies. Yes, I changed my schedule and was able to fit in FOUR movies today. My old boss Jim was there too, the one who used to loan me his Cinequest passes when I couldn't afford them myself. Now I joke with him that my name is above his on the contributor list. But he and his wife were at the last film with me and we had a good time chatting about what we saw. So let's get this started. I'll go from worst to best.

Not Good: Imitation: It wasn't horrible, it just wasn't great. It was slow, confusing, irritating sometimes, and left you with no one to root for. Plus, WRONG ENDING. If this is on your list and there's something else you want to see, skip this one. It wasn't as bad as the French short film, it just wasn't really good.

Good: Mas Que Nada en el Mundo (More than Anything in the World):
This movie was really really good, it just wasn't something that made you feel good about the world when you left. Single mother who isn't really taking very good care of her daughter, but it is obvious that the mother does love her. The girl who plays the daughter however was FANTASTIC. That girl could act rings around Abigail Breslin AND Dakota Fanning, and she's gorgeous too. I wish she was American so she could be in more movies I could see. The movie is unfinished: there are no end credits, the sound editing has not been done, and the one scene that required special effects still had the green screen visible so there was no special effect. It was kind of funny, but you knew what was supposed to be there and sometimes this happens for Film Festival movies. I didn't think the ending was terribly realistic - the daughter only THINKS she fixed everything, so really nothing was changed. If you don't mind seeing a very mildly disturbing film that has incredible actors (mamma, daughter and her friend), I do recommend this one.

Best Foreign Film of the Day: Courthouse on the Horseback I loved this film. I'm going to take the description right out of the Cinequest site: Winner of the prestigious Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival, and based on a true story, Liu Jie directs the story of an old circuit court judge, whose dispensation of justice for the various squabbles and transgressions he finds are reminiscent of Mark Twain in both their fairness and humor. I thought it was great, it was a very nice surprise and the first really good film I saw so far. This is the kind of festival film the rest of the world really misses out on - a nice quiet foreign film (from China) that is really really great.

Best Film for a Fun Move Ride: You Are Here. This was a direct rip-off of "Go" complete with requisite British bloke, dangerous drug dealer, and the multiple view point. But it was a REALLY fun movie. I totally loved it and so did the whole audience. The good news is, this one will have at least a one week showing in LA and New York, which means it could be picked up cross-country and will at least go to video/DVD. So keep your eyes out for this one - or go see it if you're at Cinequest. It also had a great cast: Katie Cassidy, Bijou Phillips, Adam Campbell, Lauren German, Patrick Flueger, Chris Lowell, Danny Masterson, Michael Biehn

Word on the Street (In Line for the movies):

Bad: Hitler Meets Christ
The Pacific and Eddy

Good: The Doorman
Swedish Auto
The Prince of Soap
Tick Tock Lullaby
Rail Yard Blues

On my schedule for tomorrow:
Shorts #1: Mirror Mirror
Tick Tock Lullaby
Full Grown Men
Trouble with Romance
Monster Camp

I'm not sure I'll have internet access over the weekend so you may not hear from me until Sunday. But if I can get on, I'll post for ya'll.

More movies for today...

As long as I don't have a stroke watching the Dow Jones CRAAAAAAAASH I just made plans to go see one more movie tonight: You Are Here at 9:30pm
That will make three movies today, and a total of six in three days. I count Shorts Programs as 1 movie each, but if we broke them up into seperate films that makes 22 films in three days.

I had to come back real quick because I just watched a trailer for a movie that Buffy and I plan to see next Thursday.

Curiosity of Chance

Click it, and enter for the trailer. We are DEFINITELY seeing that one. Awesome!

Cinequest Update for Thursday!

First of all, my friend Leslie tells me her cousin is the director of Full Grown Men and that we all should go see it. Full Grown Men was already on my calendar for Saturday at 3:45 - and there's a Star next to it so I know it's one I REALLY want to see. How could I not? It stars Alan Cumming! And Amy Sedaris! And Debbie Harry! ...So you should all go see it too!

Next - I saw CatieCake at Cinequest! and Hubby-Andy! We watched the Shorts Program #2. I can't say I was overjoyed at the films... half were really good, but half were bad, and the last French movie was REALLY REALLY BAD. Like PLEASE GOUGE MY EYES OUT AND STAB ME IN THE NECK TO PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY bad. My apologies to the filmmaker, but... No. It was torture.

But we did get to see a movie about a couple who are a perfect fit as he sniffs the chair she sits on and she punches him. Rewind and Repeat. Over and over. Yes, you had to be there. Plus, after the movie about the alcoholic mother, and the one with the old guy in the laundromat who dreamed about war while staring at a young mother, and the kid who fell out of the sky when he was four and then lived in a crackhouse where everyone lived unhappily after... The chair sniffing couple was GREAT.
OOH, so was Car Jacking Granny. I mean, the title says it all, right?
So if you're planning to go to Cinequest, I'm not really sure if I can recommend the program. The middle films were great, the first three were depressing (but not necessarily bad) and the last French film - well, the program is over at that point, so feel free to leave.

I also saw Shorts Program #8, the Mexican Shorts. This was also a 50/50 category. There was a boring scary movie, a boring cartoon, a pretty good movie about a snail regarding cancer and AIDs and how people are connected and consequences and so forth, another boring, boring, boring... Okay, then finally we get to La Leche y el Agua, a touching fairytale. Mexico does great fairytale movies, that's for sure. Then there was a great funny one called Vecinos. And finally Volver, Volver. This one was okay, then got a little boring... but had a great payoff at the end. So the program was not a total loss, but besides those 3-4 that I liked the others were just okay. At least I can say there was no tortuous French movie here (obviously).

Back to that French movie that I'm just not going to get over for a while... The entire thing was shot out of focus! So... bore us to tears with some drawn out nonsensical too politically deep story line that I never followed at any moment in the film, and then make sure to never quite hit that focus switch too. Death to French ferris wheels, that's what I have to say.

I just re-read this post and it obviously makes no sense at all if you haven't seen these movies. That's okay, "It's my blog and I'll blog if I want to." I just didn't have a lot to say about these shorts.

Tomorrow on the schedule: Mas Que Nada en el Mundo and All the Days Before Tomorrow. Both look really really good, and if you click on the link for All the Days you can see a trailer, which also looks really good. Starring Alexandra Holden, who I kind of like a lot. We shall see!

And now to bed so I can get to work nice and early. And watch movies later. And Catie should be able to verify that I was actually being a good girl and reading Medea when we found each other. I am being a good student!

Oops, forgot to mention...

The Namesake is coming out in theaters, I believe Mira Nair said on March 9 it will be released. So keep your eyes on the lookout because I definitely recommend this one.

CineQuest - Movie #1

"The Namesake" - I loved it. I love Mira Nair movies, like I said earlier, Monsoon Wedding is one of my favorites ever. She was at the theater tonight and was lovely. I like Monsoon Wedding better, but only because it's an overall happier movie. The Namesake was not depressing, but it had its sad parts. It was about Life, and Love, and Loss, and living and loving while dealing with loss.

First person we saw there was Nathan, second person was Jason, and third person was Jim, my old boss. It was very funny. And those pictures were taken last year, yet would have been the same pictures if I had taken them this year. Jason sat in the first row, we sat right behind them. Nathan was "Official Greeter" again.

And it wouldn't be Cinequest without technical difficulties. Last year there were really bad sound problems - this year was worse. I don't know if it was the speakers or what, but we all missed a lot of dialogue and it was sad because, especially at the end, we're pretty sure we missed something important. However, Cinequest viewers understand this festival is put on by volunteers and we are more patient and tolerant than most. The noise problems just barely crossed the line at "unacceptable", but there were no riots. Overall, good time was had by all.

Tomorrow: "Cortos de Mexico" and Shorts Program #2 "Ties and Expectations". Buffy already got herself grounded, so I'll be attending by myself tomorrow while Spike is in school.

Email from CineQuest

Dear Maverick Movie Fan:

We are thrilled and proud to officially launch Cinequest film festival 17! Join us in the Revolution of discovery and empowerment as thousands of film fans and artists will connect for our 12-days and nights of excitement and fun. Please note we're sold out for Opening Night! That signifies our best line-up to date.

Don't miss out on our exclusive films and events that may sell out! Electric guests and events headline our Revolution of Empowerment during the festival's first weekend:

Connect with empowering stories from J.J Abrams (Lost, Alias) at Day of Distribution
Meet Maverick Spirit recipient Christine Vachon, a woman who broke down barriers and forged an incredible career.
Let music stir your soul at Stewart Copeland’s (The Police) Maverick Spirit Event, as he discusses sound in the world of film. Cinequest is also please to screen Copeland's directorial debut, Everyone Stares: The Police Inside and Out.
As if that’s not enough, Minnie Driver will be be honored for her acting and surprising talent as a singer-songwriter.
Join us in the Revolution and be ready to be empowered. For tickets and more info click here!

Enjoy,

The Cinequest Team

Cinequest... 5 more hours

I feel like we should have stocked up on our carbs last night - that is the feeling you get before attempting to watch as many film as humanly possible over 12 days. So far I have only been assigned one 4-5 page Archaeology paper due during this time - but we'll also be reading Medea, Lysistrata, and Plato. And learning some subjunctive form in Spanish. Oh yeah, I'm horribly screwed, haha.

If you attend Cinequest, I'll be the woman standing in line with her nose stuck in a school book.

Spike invited a friend from his film class to go to opening night with us. Spike feels like he is really Hot Stuff right now because we have the special super-duper passes that get us into everything, and since I bought four, he gets to bring some lucky friend with him every night.

He had to write an essay for his communications class and he talked about wanting to be a filmmaker. He said when he saw his first Shorts Program at Cinequest and saw everyone laughing and happy, that's when he knew what he wanted to do. I would rather he wanted to go into business, haha, but if he's doing what makes him happy, then that makes me happy. Plus - FILMS! We love em!!!

So my embarrassing little Cinequest schedule has already been posted up at the Cinequesting Blog, haha...

I CAN'T WAIT! I can't wait to race back and forth from work downtown back to home to pick up the kids back to downtown to find a parking space, I can't wait to stand in the hellish line at Starbucks to get coffee so I can stay awake for just one more movie, I can't wait to see Nathan, I can't wait to see Jason, I can't wait to stuff myself with popcorn, I can't wait to see Monster Camp and Outsourced and all the shorts, and to stay at the Marriot and wander downtown (with my nose in a book) and re-meet everyone we saw last year. I can't wait to see my son so happy meeting all the film makers. Good times, ya'll.

Cinequest is the Best.

Cinequest starts tomorrow!!!

Opening night movie is "The Namesake" directed and produced by Mira Nair who also did Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding. Monsoon Wedding is one of my very favorite movies ever, so I can't wait to see this one.

Most of the movies I'll be seeing over the next twelve days (we have over 30 on our schedule) you will never ever have a chance to see. But I'm going to talk about them anyway, because it's my blog and I can if I want to. Also, I was surprised last year at how many people from Cinequest found this blog last year and made friends with me.

Plus - you never know what movies you WILL be able to see. Last year we saw Thank You for Smoking and Water, both later available in theaters and DVD. And several of the movies actually became available on DVD later.

The funnest part of course is the shorts. It's always very cool when Oscar time comes around and I know I am one of the few people in the world who actually SAW some of those shorts! Last year at Cinequest we saw Maestro, which was nominated for an animated Oscar this year. And last year's Oscar winner we also saw at Cinequest. So that's pretty cool.

This year CatieCake is going to Cinequest too - I hope she sees some good movies since it was my babbling that convinced her to go, haha. I even told my Spanish professor about Cinequest - they are having a Latino Film Showcase this year - and now the class gets extra credit if we go see a film in español. YAYYYYY. And Spike also gets credit in his film class for going to Cinequest.

We had to make up a spreadsheet to organize our time for the 12 days...

I haven't even told Scott this, but we even booked a room downtown for each Saturday night so we can stay up for even the midnight shows and won't have to drive home. Scott may send us to movie rehab if he finds out...

Anyway, Tomorrow = Movies, and for eleven days after. Be prepared to be bored or interested, but either way, that's where I'll be.

I just saw Jim Carrey on the Today Show regarding his new movie "23" and he said something about the letters in couple's names adding to 23 if it's a good match. I don't know, I wasn't paying any attention, haha.

But my name and Scott's name do add up to 23. So that's good I guess. It was interesting at the very least, heh.

I interrupt Christmas Eve to tell you all:

If you have not yet seen Little Miss Sunshine, go out and rent it IMMEDIATELY.
This has to be one of my very favorite movies of all time right now, and so wrongly named.
I certainly had no intention of seeing any movie called Little Miss Sunshine, but when I gave in and actually saw it... FANTASTIC. It's not a smarmy little sunshiney movie at all, but it is terrifically funny, and sad, and poignant, and real, and finally, at the end, so stupendously hilarious.

That is all. Go back to opening your presents.

Saw Lady in the Water today and we LOVED it. Clerks it's not, but that's comparing apples and ....Twinkies. Anyway, I loved it - it's not the horror movie the previews want you to believe, but instead it's a huge mythological mystery. Really awesome.

And it's fucking hot here in Aptos. As hot as San Jose. I told Scott I want my money back, I come here for peace and quiet and coolness, and I got gypped. Weather.com says it's 85 degrees here, I call foul, it's in the 90's at least.

Also, I've lost so much weight my shorts are hanging below my hips. In theory that's great, but it leaves me with nothing to wear this weekend except a) pants (NOT!) or b) shorts that I have to hang on to as I walk.

Such problems, eh? Summer class ends Friday. Then I get a month off before University starts. Yayyyy!

Well.
It's not for the masses, that's for sure.
It's very Clerks-like, lots of monologue-y scenes.
It has very, very inappropriate discussions -
--- that will have you rolling on the floor.
It begins awesomely, it ends super-awesomely.
I loved it, the kids loved it, Spike saw it three times today, I'll be seeing it again.

If you like Kevin Smith, DEFINITELY go see it.
If you don't like Kevin Smith, DEFINITELY do NOT go see it.
If you've never seen a Kevin Smith movie, you just won't enjoy it as much.

I super loved it. It won't be a hit, because it's just too Clerks-like, and Clerks is not a movie for the masses. But Kevin had to have known this when he made the sequel, and chose to make a satisfying movie aimed at his fans.

Bravo, Kevin Smith.

It's Kevin Smith Day

Nothing going on today, working working, school school, blah blah blah...

But I'm getting off early to take the kids to.... CLERKS II!

Snootchie Bootchiessssss!

I've been having a good week with Netflix this week, so I thought I'd share some movies you really can see today.

"The Importance of Being Earnest" I loved. I only rented it because we're studying Oscar Wilde in school and I wasn't really expecting anything of the movie, but I loved it so much I'm looking forward to studying Wilde now. It was hysterical, plus - Rupert Everett and Colin Firth. Does anything else need to be said?

"The Transporter" I know I may be the last person on earth to see this movie, but if you didn't see it yet, GO SEE IT!!! I loved every single second of this movie, I have the sequel on the way, and I have a new crush.

"Hudsucker Proxy" I had heard some good things about it so I tried it. I don't think this one is for everyone, and the ending was almost... too hokey to believe, but I liked the rest of the movie enough to go with it. I mean, if you're going to cheat with an ending... I guess you can get away with it if you have a good movie behind it. ANYWAY - I loved it. However, you have to be into that old 40's style movie, almost a broadway musical without the singing kind of thing. It's hard for me to describe it, but anyway - I liked it.

And finally, last night I watched "White Oleander" and was blown away. I can't believe I never saw this one before, it was SO GOOD. But also depressing, very very depressing, and sad... And Michelle Pfeiffer plays an evil bitch who needs to be put away for life, but Alison Lohman is one of the best actresses Ever.

And now I go get more coffee.

So don't forget: Thank You for Smoking comes out this weekend in limited release, I've seen it, and it's really good.
Tomorrow is Walkout on HBO. I saw it, you should definitely see it too.

And that's it for now.

I know these haven't been the most interesting posts these last 12 days, but it made me feel good when I found out that actually quite a few of you were taking notes for your own festivals, or were inspired to attend one some day. If you luck out with the movies (90% of this years movies were great) you can have a lot of fun. And even though you can't share these movies with your friends because they'll never see them - it's still fun to see some incredible films that no one else will get to see.

Then again - you all have the chance to see the following:

Thank You for Smoking (in theaters on March 17)
Edmond (Netflix Wait list)
Walkout (HBO March 18)
Water (Netflix Wait list)

And I forbid you all to rent The Ape.

And Cinequest... is OVER!

I can honestly say you won't see me in any movie theater any time soon, and the Cinequest volunteers looked like they are ready to go home and sleep for a week... but we had a fantastic time this weekend.

We saw "Puzzlehead" which was good in that slow, dull foreign film kind of way - it was a USA film, which was funny, but it was good. Nothing to crow about, but it wasn't bad.

THEN... we got to see Edward James Olmos. And we thought we were going to see a PREVIEW of his latest movie, but we actually got to see the entire movie... "Walkout", oh gosh this movie was SO GOOD, and it's bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it again. And the good news for you? It will be on HBO March 18 - and if you have HBO you should see it. Also - it stars Michael Pena, AGAIN, this guy is all over the place now, eh? And of the three films I've seen him in, this is his very very best. After the movie they brought out Edward James Olmos and his son Bodie (cutie pie) for an interview. Fabulous fabulous. I brought Spike there for a reason, and it was fulfilled. First of all, Walkout was a movie about the chicano school walkouts in 1968 in East LA - and all of Spike's grandparents on his father's side were living in E.LA at the time. So this is his history. And Mr.Olmos said something that hit home with a lot of people there - "Education is the one thing they can't take away from you. When your mind is educated, it's educated. They can't take that away."

That was by far the best movie of Cinequest, and the best time I had there. And Spike and I were front and center row. Too bad our cameras suck, heh.

Finally, time for the awards. All my favorites won!!!
Best Animated Short: John & Michael
Best Student Short: Son Up
Best Documentary: ANDREW JENKS, ROOM 335
Best Feature Film: A tie between "A Gold Bracelet" and "A Columbia"

Then it was the closing movie, "Water" by Deepa Mehta, and that was fabulous. Colorful, sad, uplifting, emotional. The whole thing. I'm sure this will be in theaters at least in limited distribution, and for sure it will be on Netflix eventually so you should all put this on your list.

And then... PARTY PARTY PARTY!!! At Blakes Bar and Grill, food food food, wine-soda-coffee, music, dancing, directors and actors all over the place - Spike and I had a blast. I spent a lot of time speaking to the director and actors of Freedom State, and it looks like at the very least there will be DVDs available on the website, so keep your eye on it.

So that's the end. As much fun as we had, Spike and I are glad it's over. Spike is glad he can go do whatever he wants to now, or nothing at all - I'm looking forward to a homemade meal and some couch sitting time. We're ready for a rest.

This year Cinequest was by far 100 times better than any I had gone to before. Our passes were worth every dime spent, and we got our money's worth out of them. I personally saw 17 movies and went to two parties, Spike saw 21 movies and went to three parties. We have t-shirts, dvds, posters and a great Cinequest bag. Met some fabulous people and are pretty well acquanted with downtown now. At 11pm we said our goodbyes and went home to bed.

Good bye 2nd & 3rd Street parking garage.
Good bye Camera 12 Theaters.
Good bye Nathan.
Good bye crazy Jason.
Good bye Starbucks.
Good bye beautiful California Theater.
Good bye Calliope Man who never stops playing.

See ya next year!

Just checking through some other GOOD movies we saw this year...

Thank You for Smoking, Edmond and Water are all on the waiting list at netflix. I know Thank You for Smoking is actually going to be in theaters in a couple weeks. If you don't catch any of these in theaters, definitely put them on your Wait list at netflix.

But stay away from The Ape.

NOT recommending

I just discovered that The Ape - that horrid horrid film I saw Friday evening, is available on Netflix.

Do NOT rent this movie. And if you refuse to listen to me and do it anyway? Don't say I didn't warn you.

Stink. Er.

Cinequest

I am ready to never see the inside of a movie theater for a long long long while.

"Edmond" was a pretty great movie, but it didn't take long before it became very clear why this was on the film festival circuit and not in theaters... Based on David Mamet's play of the same name, the racial undertones... I'm sorry, the racial overtones.... let's cut to the chase here, Edmond is a racist. And as he is kicking the living bejeesus out of a black pimp, throwing the n-word all over the place, I wondered how this would go over in a theater in East San Jose. I mean... I wouldn't want to be there... And in the interviews after, William H. Macy and Stuart Gordon (the director) told of several times during play productions when fights had broken out. No kidding. I wonder why. This wasn't a "Crash" type movie, it was just a movie about a racist, and it was terribly difficult to watch... and yet it strangely worked.

If it makes it to the big screen, find a way to watch it. But be safe, heh.

The 48 Hour Film Project was not as good as last year, and I slept through most of the second half.

And now we go see... (Final Day! Final Day! Hurray!) The O Tapes or Soundman, Puzzlehead, Interview with Edward James Olmos, and the closing movie Water by Deepa Mehta. I can't wait to see it, first of all I loved Bollywood Holllywood, and also it appears there was quite a controversy over the film.

First of all, my body is starting to wear down. There's really only so much time you can spend in a dark theater - hours every day, day after day, night after night, still go to work, living on quick food and Starbucks... before you start getting sick. I'm hoping I can hold through tomorrow evening, the end of Cinequest.

Yesterday was not a good day for movies.

The short "Bunny" was bad. Basically it was about a spoiled rotten little girl who screamed the entire time because she lost her stuffed rabbit, and her stupid stupid mother who drove around all night looking for it. I'm sorry but Kid, you're bunny's GONE, it's GONE it's DEAD you're not getting your damn bunny back, now shut the hell up and go to sleep.

The full length featuer, "Zooey", was good. About a prostitue who's not only hooked on heroine, but she's married and her husband drives her to work. Heh. And a true story. So you know there was no good ending to that. But though it was a disturbing story, the movie was good. Not great, as the actors were not the best. I mean, they were good, but the girl who played Zooey wasn't up to what needed to be done here. But we all liked it.

The next short, Project Huxley, was great at the beginning and end... but then the entire middle chunk was the puppet monkey dressed for Shakespeare and doing Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech. Okay, that? was boring. With a capital B.

And the next movie, The Ape, good god give me back those two hours of my life. Many people walked out during the film, but I'm a sucker and kept hoping the movie would be saved somehow... but then I fell asleep... and when I woke up they were doing the same damn scene... and it went on forever.... and the movie never ended....
And it sucked.

On top of that, there was an assistant, some fat old RUDE lady, who was berating one of the Cinequest volunteers about making sure everything was done right, and there better be a projectionist in the house (and DUH, yeah lady, it's a THEATER see, and there's a projectionist RIGHT THERE) and then kept yelling RUDELY at her about making sure the sound was right blah blah blah and you know what? She was yelling at a volunteer. In front of the audience. This volunteer lady didn't have to be here all 12 days, but she was, every single night, with no pay, just helping out. As for the RUDE LADY, that movie would have been better if the sound had been turned all the way down so we could just fall asleep.

Right now we're on our way to see "Edmond" with William H. Macy, followed by meeting Willian H. Macy, and then three hours of the 48 hour film project.

I know you've all been dieing to hear the latest update on movies you'll probably never get the chance to see, but until Sunday this is my life, and this is my blog, so just deal with it.
:-D
But remember: Clerks, Garden State, Napolean Dynamite and many others, all started out on the film festival circuit, so you never know.

Last night we saw Freedom State and hit the jackpot again. This one along with "A Columbia" I think have the best chance for the big screen. Although you know I am in love with "Andrew Jenks, Room 335" I don't know if it will make the big screen. It should at least be on cable, and the DVD should be available. It's too good to not let people see.

Anyway, Freedom State. Shot beautifully, and the characters were played by such likeable people. You just didn't want it to end because you were in love with watching these "crazy" people in their adventures. And a real message of love and living happily. Again, the director comes out and he's all of 16 years old. Okay, he can't possibly BE 16, but he certainly looked it. I am amazed that so many good movies are being made by kids who can't be out of their early 20's. Anyway, view the trailer and keep your eye out for this one because I think it may make it.

The only criticism - it was slow in the very beginning, and it was almost too quirky - but everyone I spoke with agreed that the movie itself was so good that we didn't care about the quirky parts we didn't understand - we loved watching it anyway.

Dirty Mary, the short before this was okay. It had a great plot and was pretty hysterical, but again, editing. No one wants to listen to the drunk girl screeching at the bar, and no one wants to listen to so much screeching on screen either. If the screetching was cut down, the rest of the movie was pretty F-ing hilarious. And if you're a girl and ever wore your stained granny panties and neglected shaving your legs to assure you didn't bring a guy home after a date, then you would totally love this short.

Tonight: Zooey preceded by a short called Bunny, which appears to be directed by a woman who's worked on several Tarantino films.
And after that we watch The Ape, written directed and starred in by James Franco, who you may recognize from Freaks and Geeks or Spiderman. This is preceded by the short "Project Huxley", which is a movie about a stuffed monkey, and you can't miss with that, eh?

Tonight's movie: Freedom State
(visit the page, you can view the trailer)

I think this one will be good, it's about a housewife who checks herself into a crazy house to learn how to be more crazy herself. Then the patients hijack a bus and go on an unauthorized field trip to find the edge of the world.

Sounds good, eh?

And the short preceding that film is Dirty Mary, which looks... um... interesting... !!

Malibue International Film Festival

Anyone live near Malibu?

Andrew Jenks, Room 335 has just been admitted to the festival. Go see it if you can!

Cinequest

Still on a roll with the good movies...

We all three decided to see In a Day and it was a very good, fluffy-happy romantic movie with a happy ending. This can be a nice break when you're O.D.ing on independant films. It wasn't the most fantastic movie in the world, but it was very watchable and enjoyable, and more important, the writing was incredible. It was dialogue driven - it focused on two main characters who just talked to each other throughout the entire film, and it was really well written. So while this particular movie was not a 10, I think the writer is going to do really well in the future.

And then we all stayed up to watch the special added viewing of "A Columbia", and we are all three SO GLAD that we did - even Buffy was in love with the movie. We didn't get home until midnight, and it was worth it. The star (and hot guy) of the show was actually Terrence Bergeron, not writer/director Ryan Byrne, but Ryan co-starred in it and Buffy elected him to be the hottest. Those two are very very lucky they weren't hit over the head and stuffed into our trunk to be brought home with us. It was truly an incredible movie, about two guys who take a trip to Columbia and have adventures and fall in love - it was a lot like Swingers, and also like that movie it was based on a true story.

Surprise of the night - the main character in the movie was suffering from Crohn's disease - that's what my mother had, and it was her birthday yesterday. SPOILER -- the main character dies from it in the end and so that was pretty traumatic, but it really worked in the movie and I really loved it. Yeah, it made me cry, but I got over it, and I loved it.

So then during the Q&A period after, we found out that Terrence - the incredibly HOT but also incredibly fantastic actor - this was his first real acting gig. And then... Ryan... picked up a camera for the first time 3 years ago. Those two men are definitely the Vince Vaugn/Jon Favreau of their generation and you should look out for them in the future. Especially Terrence, because... *drool*

Most hilarious part of the night - Ryan explaining that he didn't really recommend flying to a foreign country where you did not speak the language to try to shoot your first ever film. But Ryan and Terrence? You guys did a fabulous job. GET YOUR DAMN WEBSITE UP! This is Silicon Valley! If you have a website we will promote you to the world!!!! (Darn slacker kids!)

Tonight Spike is going to see Shark in the Head
And Buffy and I will go see one of two (we haven't decided yet):
On the Other Side (Al Otro Lado) or In a Day

THEN,
Spike and I are going to try to talk Buffy into staying for one more, a special additional showing of "A Columbia" which we were invited to see by the movie's writer and star Ryan Byrne - the hottest guy I have seen in San Jose (or anywhere else) in a long long time. Therefore, I want to see the movie. Heh.

More Cinequest

I spoke with several people last night who had also seen "Gods and Gays" and they were all in agreement -
TOO LONG, NOT EDITED PROPERLY, NO CONTRASTING VIEWPOINT.

I just got madder and madder after watching the movie, not just because I wasted 2 hours of my life in that theater, but because she had such a great idea and did nothing with it.

In other news, Buffy has agreed to volunteer at the Assisted Living Center by our house. So I will call today. Really, volunteering there is just the least I can do to thank Andrew for making this movie.

PRODUCERS! SOMEONE! BUY HIS MOVIE AND DISTRIBUTE IT!!!

Cinequest

Last night we saw the Animated Shorts with Scott.
As usual there were great films and bad films, but overall they were great.

One (Mysterious Geographical Explorations of Jasper Morello) was nominated for an Academy Award this year but didn't win. That one was the kids' and Scott's favorite.

Speaking of Oscars, another nominated short we got to see last year, which again, was the kids' favorite then.

Anyway, they were all really really good and again I wish there was a way you could see some of these. Just to give the tiniest bit of publicity to them, my favorites were:
John & Michael (A very tender love story about two men with Down syndrome (animation) 11 minutes)
Bingo
The Legend of the Scarecrow (The life of a scarecrow changes radically when he decides to become friends with a bird.)
Maestro
Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot
And I also really enjoyed "The Boy Who Feeds Cats" - dir. Craig and Andrea Brookes

By the way, if you're going to make a creepy movie about a scary doll baby who sucks on its arm and generally gives the audience the heeby jeebies, maybe don't make it TWENTY FREAKIN MINUTES LONG because honestly? Your movie sucked. Spike and I both agreed we spent the entire movie wishing the baby would just GET EATEN ALREADY so the movie would finally end.

Other than scary freaky doll baby though, the shorts were great.

Well, a bad movie was bound to be found eventually, my luck was running way too well - I'm just surprised it was this movie.

"Gods and Gays" really sucked.

It's not that the movie was so horrible, but good it wasn't. It was like a lesson on how to NOT make a documentary.

I mean... Editing. I think you learn this in Movie Making 101. And English 101. Edit the damn interviews, we don't need to hear every word. And... Viewpoint. Show some different ones. This movie would have been much more powerful if we could have heard some of the hateful things that "Christians" say directly from their mouths. Teach the audience something. I learned nothing. Spike learned nothing. Not to mention, there is SO MUCH FOOTAGE available of the horrible things gays and lesbians have gone through in the name of Christianity - why was all this left out? Only a few soundless clips of Reverend Phe1ps protesters - nothing emotional, nothing powerful or horrifying or anything to make you feel. Explain what Exodus and Life Source are - spokespeople from these organizations were interviewed, I have no idea what these organizations are.

The first hour of the movie I just felt that it was too esoteric for the average audience - there was nothing of value in this film to anyone unless you were a gay or lesbian. And the only offering it had to them is just being able to hear other gays and lesbians talk about the same thing they also must have gone through. But I wonder if the gay and lesbian couples in this theater (which was packed) got anything out of it themselves. It was just kind of dull. I was really really curious what the majority actually thought after seeing this. All the people around me were stretching, putting on jackets and checking their watches that last 30 minutes, so I don't think I am alone.

It felt like the quality of a Public Access TV Show from early Saturday morning. After an hour of the movie I thought if this had been on TV I would have already changed the channel. At that point I would have rated it 7 out of 10 stars. By the time it finallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly ended it was down to a 5 or 6. This showing was sold out and there was a huge line of people who didn't get in. There's another showing Friday at 9:30 and they added another on Saturday morning. I wonder if those shows are going to be packed after word gets out from this audience.

Dear Movie-Maker,
You had some really interesting people that you interviewed. Jason Stuart and both pastors were fantastic. But editing should be your friend. Show different viewpoints. Teach the audience something. Show the other side - Especially with a subject like this where the other side can be so incredibly insulting and hipocritical. You had a great theme. But you didn't fly with it.

I went home very upset at the waste of my time, and the wasted effort of this film.
I could be wrong, it could be everyone else in the theater loved it. But I kind of think they probably agree with me, it could have been so much better.
So yeah. I don't recommend it.

Tonight we're going to see "Gods & Gays" at Cinequest. Buffy is bringing a friend. Spike screwed around today and knows he should be grounded from Cinequest for the night, but he also knows I want him to see the movie so he probably gets to go. Darn smart kids.

I'm still glad "Crash" won the Oscar, no matter what the news says. Brokeback Mountain was a really good movie, and it was a very well made movie, and Ang Lee got an Oscar for directing it. But just because it is a "groundbreaking" movie, and just because it made us all cry and was a fantastic love story, that does not mean it was the best movie. And giving the Oscar to another film does not mean the US is against gay films (there are many other things that prove the US is against gays and gay films, but giving the oscar to Crash is not one of them). I honestly don't understand the backlash I keep reading about Crash, that it's an undeserving film. I've watched that movie over and over again and I still enjoy it. I'm not going to apologize for this, I think Crash deserved that Oscar absolutely.

I still can't stop thinking about how great "Andrew Jenks, Room 335" was, and what an impossible shame it is that most people won't see it. He says they have spoken to HBO and some other options, but have not heard back yet. I am so disappointed that the kids didn't get to see it. I want a dvd so damn badly. I will just keep an eye on his website and blog, and hope that I soon see he has finally sold the movie or is selling dvds.

Okay, let's let go the movie talk for a minute or so.

This is the first year that I have actually seen almost every movie nominated for an Academy award and it's one of those days that it really SUCKS to not have television.

However, I just got an email that Crash won best picture. And that makes me want to cry.
Okay, maybe I'm still emotional over "Andrew Jenks, Room 335" but I think Crash was awesome, and though I loved Brokeback Mountain, I think Crash was better. I'm just really happy - and surprised.

Cinequest

I have really lucked out this year, and the pass I paid for has been worth every dime.

The comedy shorts were ALL fantastic, and worth every minute.

Little Athens is a movie that belongs on the big screen - if you ever see it available, go see it. They were lucky enough to get some fantastic actors (Hurley from Lost, Michael Pena from Crash) before they became stars, DJ Qualls is in it, and every other actor is amazing. It was a "Crash" type story for teenagers and was about situations we have all gotten ourselves into. It was great.

But today was the best yet. "Andrew Jenks, Room 335" is a movie that needs to be available to everyone. It's a documentary about Andrew Jenks, a 19 year old who was allowed to check himself into an Assisted Living Center for a month and filmed his life there. He made friends with some incredible seniors, he introduces us to some truly wonderful people - and I don't think he even realizes what an incredible, caring person he himself is. I think he probably changed these seniors' lives as much as they changed his - and in return it will change your life too. I met him after the movie and just... good gosh this guy is amazing. I almost didn't go see it because of scheduling problems, but I feel so incredibly lucky to have been able to - I just wish the kids could have worked this one into their schedule. I offered to buy a dvd from Andrew, and as soon as they're available hopefully I'll have one.
Go to http://AndrewJenksRoom335.com and view the trailer. Wait for the entire thing to load. I'm tearing up just watching it now. Gosh I just wish there was some way for you all to SEE THIS FILM. And then go volunteer at an Assisted Living Facility. As for me, we have one within walking distance of our house and I'm calling tomorrow. It would make some great Community Service for Buffy, eh?

I am really really impressed this year. I'm not just having a fantastic time - these movies are some of the best I have seen.

Tonight I believe I'll go see the Comedy Shorts and also Little Athens (starring Jorge Garcia and DJ Qualls).
Fun Fun Fun!

Cinequest

So last night we didn't even get home until midnight. But it was gooood!!!!
We saw three hours of student short movies, and they were fantastic.
Very wierd seeing the movie makers come up on stage and realizing most of them were...
well, students.
Like 19, 20 years old. And they had made these fantastic films.
But the sad part is, no one will ever see these films. And there were some really good ones. So I hope lots of these kids make it and the world can see what else they can do.

The movie was really good and very funny. I believe it's having a limited release in theaters in a couple weeks, so if you get a chance you should see it. Buffy was thrilled to see that Adam Brody was in it, and I was thrilled to see Rob Lowe - and he was a hilarious character. Aaron Eckart was fantastic.

Party after was at a BAR. I called up Cinequest yesterday specifically to ask if it was an appropriate party to take a 14 year old girl to, not to mention a 15 year old boy, and they said YES. So we squeeze into the lounge which is pretty much standing room only, and I see a long table filled with buckets of bottles of beer, free for the taking. Waiters are cruising through the crowd, some with trays of little bits of food, but most with glasses of free wine. Lots and lots of wine. However, the kids did have a good time. There was a band, and an incredible amount of wealthy looking people that they loved looking at.

And then they found the chocolate fountain. Buffy definitely got her ticket's worth out of the fountain. There were strawberries, pretzels, eclairs, marshmallows and lady fingers to dip. Yummy. And a mess all over the place. We had little skewers of teriyaki steak, teeny tiny cheeseburgers and little... celery with salmon? or something?

I had no wine but I did pay $5 to get a coke and sprite for the kids. We left at 10:15. It would have been a great party if we were all three adults and no one had work or school the next morning. But the kids had fun and we all had some fun family time.

Tonight: Student Shorts at 8pm.

Tonight is Opening Night and Gala!

"Thank You for Smoking" directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J.K. Simmons, Robert Duvall. Party after, and sometimes (usually) the director or a star or two will be there. Next weekend we do get to meet William H. Macy at the premiere of his movie "Edmund" but I don't know if he'll be there tonight.

Spike and I are really excited - and Buffy is too cuz since she is grounded and all it looks like I have to purchase a $50 ticket and bring her. Dang kids. Heh. But I saw the trailer for this movie a few weeks ago, and it looks really good. I'm happy and I'm happy we have money to go do these things.

This week's movies:

Bridget Jones 2
Parent Trap
The Rundown
The Village
The Importance of Being Earnest

How's that for variety?? There's bound to be SOMETHING I like in there.

I hate when my Netflix movies don't arrive at Netflix right away.
HellOOOOOO, I have no cable, I want my movies!!!!!

What do you know, Coffee and Cigarettes shares the same director as Broken Flowers!
I am quite amazed, because I thought Broken Flowers was much much MUCH better than C&C.
But what a coincidence, eh?

Requesting a movie about Harper Lee next...

This was a big movie watching weekend.

First, Scott dragged me to see Capote, a movie I had no plans to watch, ever. But I went, and within 5 minutes I was LOVING the movie, and by the end of the movie I wanted to do more research on Capote AND Harper Lee. I had actually not known anything about Truman Capote, and thought this was going to be a movie about a stuffy, boring old man. I had no idea that Capote was the exact opposite of a stuffy, boring old man. I actually didn't like him a whole lot, I found him very irritating and arrogant, but he was still interesting and I really really loved the movie. I definitely recommend this movie.

So then I came home to watch Coffee and Cigarettes. My god. No, really. Who liked this movie? I was bored to death in 20 seconds, when it was obvious these were neither scripted conversations, nor real interviews... what were they? Made up as the actors went along? Adlibbing by actors who were not skilled in adlibbing? After five minutes I started fast forwarding to other conversations to see if there was anything better.... there wasn't. I shut it off. Possibly the worst movie I have ever seen and would have been the biggest waste of time ever if I hadn't just shut it off before ten minutes were over.

So then I put in Broken Flowers. This is where I hopefully make up some points with Catie, because I absolutely loved Bill Murray in this movie. However...
*** SPOILER AHEAD ***
So I watched the movie, and honestly, I LOVED the movie, just adored it, all the way until the very en- ...
Oh wait, there WAS NO ending. It didn't end, it just... stopped.
And I am taking a stand here and saying - this is a cop out. This is writer's laziness, this is not art, this is not good writing, this is laziness. I really, really hate when they do this in movies and it seems to be turning into a fad lately. The only movie I have ever seen this work in is 25th Hour with Edward Norton. By stopping 25th Hour when they did it forced you to not only make up your own ending, but also wonder what you yourself would do, what decision would you make? It forced you to take up a moral and ethical discussion in your mind and with the people who watched the movie with you. In Broken Flowers it just... left you. With no answers. The entire movie is about him looking for the mother of his son and his son too, and to leave off without any answers at all is just.... laziness.
So I am left in a quandary here, because up until the credits rolled I was ready to whole heartedly recommend this movie. I really loved every minute of it... but that non-ending pissed me off. I just can't recommend it like that because it left a sour taste in my mouth.

So all, what did you see? Any of those three movies? I would definitely love to hear what you think about any of those three movies.

And now, we dance: "I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT! SHE LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT! HE LIKE TO..."

DVD status so far:

Corpse Bride: Was not impressed. It's only 75 minutes long, so that was wierd, but it also had the story quality of a television show. I would expect to see something like this every year as a holiday special or something (which holiday, I have no idea). It was cute, don't get me wrong, but theater quality? I'm glad I didn't pay to go see it.

Madagasgar: Loved it. The beginning was okay, but I was CRACKING UP at the rest of it.
"I'm steak! Me me me me me me me me!!"
"Excuse me... but you're biting my BUTT."
"Oh, that's OK. I've got a bigger crown. It's got a gecko on it. Look at him shake! Go, Stevie, go!"
"Well, this sucks!"
"I like to move it, move it / She like to move it, move it / He like to move it, move it / You like to... *move it*!"
I danced around the whole house last night like a lemur singing that song, "I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT! I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT!!!"
Spike said I was CRAZY. HEEEEEE...

Like Water for Chocolate: I don't know if I talked about this one yet. But I loved it. I did have some problems cheering her on to be with... whatshisname, I thought she should be with the doctor. But I still loved the movie.

Final Answer

Charleen just told me that she has no idea what we were doing when we went to see The Goonies. So I'll tell you.

We were all about 18 or so, and the Ex and I had just broken up for the first of, oh, probably 200 times that summer. This first time he told me that, oh heck I don't remember what his damn excuse was, but it happened to be the day before he left for his Senior trip to Hawaii. And his excuse was some innocent sounding thing, that's what I really remember.

So Charleen and I decided we would spend the night at her house, and get up early in the morning to go see him at the San Francisco Airport.

So we went to see The Goonies that night at the drive-ins. I didn't watch it real closely because I was in the back seat of the car wailing "Why oh why does he not love me" crap, stuff like that. Then we spent the night at her house, got up very early and drove to San Francisco. Where we saw that he was back with his previous girlfriend. He definitely looked more scared to see us than we were upset to see the girlfriend, that's what I remember.

So anyway, we scared him and sent him off to Hawaii, and then got back in the car to drive home, but Charleen feel asleep in her seat and I got on the freeway going the wrong direction and we were halfway to Oregon before we realized what was going on.

So. That's my Goonies story. Charleen said she definitely remembers that day, she just didn't remember we saw The Goonies that night. But that was definitely it.

Okay, you ready for the answers now?

1. Princess Bride
2. Crash
3. The Goonies
4. Wierd Science
5. Dukes of Hazzard
6. Like Water for Chocolate
7. The Laramie Project
8. The Incredibles
9. Run Lola Run
10. Wedding Crashers
Bonus: Swingers

Great job everyone!

Wow, I'm proud of you guys so far! Murphy - I always expect you to do well!

Charleen - Your specific question is... What was going on in our lives when we went to see The Goonies at the drive-ins?

Wednesday Movie Quotes!

All right, we haven't done this in a long time.
Let's see who can figure these out:

1. That's right. When I was your age, television was called books.

2. She had these little stubby wings, like she could've glued them on, you know, like I'm gonna believe she's a fairy. So she said, "I'll prove it." So she reaches into her backpack and pulls out this invisible cloak and she ties it around my neck.

3. Dad! Dad! It's my marble bag. The Fratelis forgot to check it. I emptied out all of my marbles and put the jewels in. We don't have to leave the boon docks!

4. We need more input. We gotta fill this thing up with data. We gotta make her as real as possible, Wyatt. I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to aerobicize.

5. You know what's gonna happen. They're gonna get caught and get thrown in jail. Then I'm gonna have to shake my ass at somebody to get them out.

6. Don't say that. As my youngest daughter, Tita will care for me until the day I die. She won't marry.

7. My son, Matthew, did not look like a winner. He was rather uncoordinated and wore braces from the age of 13 until the day he died.

8. I also brought Mozart to play while he sleeps to make him smarter because leading experts say Mozart makes babies smarter? And the beauty part is the babies don't even have to listen ?cause they're asleep! You know, I wish my parents played Mozart when I slept because half the time I don't even know what the heck anyone's talking about!

9. "What if I were in a coma, and the doc says, 'One more day?' "
"I'd throw you into the ocean... Shock therapy."

10. Tattoo on the lower back? Might as well be a bullseye.

BONUS: You're so money and you don't even know it!

Okay guys, Go for it! I wanna see some answers here!

So let's get started with some non-school talk, shall we?

I rented "Orlando" the other day, because I have to read the book for school (okay, so I mentioned the "S" word) and I have to say,

That is the DULLEST movie ever. I hope the book is better, I really do.

But then I rented Run Lola Run yesterday... and I loved it! WOOOOO! Run, Lola, Run! Keep running! Faster! Further! I loved it. I loved it so much. I want to be Lola.

Okay, well, the Lola with the $100,000 and no dead bodies, not any of the other Lola's.

And for this weekend I have:

Wilde
Like Water for Chocolate
The Dukes of Hazzard (shut up)
The Worst of American Idol (shut up again, you know I don't have TV)

So... it should be an interesting movie weekend. Hey, I have a range there at least, right? A Variety. I am well rounded.

Heee.

While I'm on a roll with complaining...

Netflix has been taking over a week to send me my movies. I get six movies at a time Folks, but last week I only had one movie for two days, and then went an entire week before receiving ONE. At this point I have four. It's been ten days and I only have FOUR of my six movies. This has suddenly been going on for the last two weeks and I'm getting pissed off. As soon as I get my Britney/Kevin TV Show DVD I'm putting my movies back to 3 at a time. No use paying extra money if I don't have any DVDs to show for it.

"Don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter."

I rented "Crash" yesterday.
You should rent it too.
That's all I'm going to say.

Or... if you already saw it, tell me what you thought. I give it an A+.

David Lynch lover that I am, I watched Mulholland Drive last night, forgetting that I had tried to watch it a couple years ago and couldn't get through it.

I did better this time, I got through it at least.

But good gawd, he over David-Lynched himself with this one, didn't he? I had to look it up on the internet this morning just to see what the hell that movie was about. I mean, 2 hours of watching these characters trying to figure out who the amnesia girl is, and then suddenly everyone has a different name and is playing a different character. WHAT-e-ver.

I mean, I get it now, after reading an explanation on IMDB. But should a movie really make you work THAT hard to figure out what is going on?

I will say, it creeped me the hell out even though I didn't know what was going on. I was well and truly scared, and that doesn't happen often - David Lynch does have a knack for that though.

Anyway, do I recommend it? No. But if anyone else out there has seen it, I would be interested in hearing what YOU thought of it.

We saw March of the Penguins and it got mixed reviews from our group.

I loved it.

Spike, almost 15 and loves penguins, said he really liked it.
His friend, 14, said it was "the most awesomest movie ever."

Buffy pretty much hated it and said "it SUCKS" until the baby penguins were born. Then she said "It was fine."
Her friend fell asleep during part of it. And wasn't impressed.

I mean, keep in mind that it's a National Geographic documentary. Not really any different than what you would see for free on TV. Except that these are beautiful birds in awesome scenery, so that makes a great showing for the big screen.

If you love penguins, or you have patience to sit through a NG documentary, go see it. If it's action you want, skip it.

Still, I loved it.

Although I would never ever ever want to be a penguin after I saw what they go through every year.

Oh my gosh, my son - who LOVES penguins - told me we need to see this movie but I didn't know it was going to be so great. Not that we've seen it yet, but I just went to the site, and then I watched the trailer, and I had tears falling down my cheeks just watching THAT. We are definitely going to see it now, and I cannot WAIT. Wow, it's great they awesome movies like this are still made.

I watched Requiem for a Dream last night. I have no idea how it ended up on my Netflix list, who knows, but I had NO idea what it was about. If I had known, I probably wouldn't have been interested in putting it on my list.

I think it was one fantastic movie. Not a happy one mind you, but one of the most accurate depictions of drug abuse that I've ever seen.

I'm just curious, have any of you seen it, and what did you think of it?

Scott rented this movie last night, Dark Blue with Kurt Russel, and ya know what? It was about as bad as I expected. I couldn't believe Scott was so shocked that it sucked.

It sucked, Folks. Don't rent it.

Cinequest is here!!!! WOOOOO!
And my boss gave me two passes again, I just LOVE my boss! Last night I took the kids to see the animated shorts series which was just fantastic, and today Scott and I are taking off and watching movies all day. Saturday we're also going to the movies all day. I just LOVE Cinequest.

Also, Welcome Back to Meeeeeeee.... after having no internet or computer for over a week, and only grabbing a few minutes on the campus computers every day and having noooooooo connection from Thursday to Monday (the HORRORS!) I finally have my computer back! All nice and fixed and new memory and everything! Thank you Computer Guy!

But then... Scott and I will be leaving the kids alone with it all evening... should be broke again by the time I get home... ah well.

We saw it, and I'm glad we did. It was really good. Not in the "Top Ten Movies of All Time" category of good, but it was an enjoyable movie, no major holes in the plot, a good story, and some really great characters. Plus, the angel Gabriel was HOT. Yes, I recommend it.

Okay, I'm still watching episodes of "The L Word", which is, okay, not the very greatest show, but different enough to warrant watching. Plus, Jennifer Beals.

Monsters Inc. LOVED it!!! ALMOST as much as Finding Nemo, but pretty close. Wow, again, had no interest in the movie when it was in theaters, but there ya go. Loved it.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I know I would like it if I sat and watched and read the subtitles. But when I'm at home I just can't sit there and do that. I have to do a million other things at the same time, therefore I have no idea what it was about, and no interest in trying again.

Still have In The Bedroom and still trying to finish Princess Mononoke.

Scott and I went to the movies today and saw, umm... Curse of the Flying Daggers (???) or something like that. I was in LOVE with the scenery, and can't deny loving an army of women who throw daggers all super cool and all, but I wasn't so loving the rest of the movie. Scott did though, he really loved it. It was just the whole love triangle thing, the fight to the death over the dead woman, the... well, you get the picture.

If you enjoy those Chinese Mythology movies, go for it, you'll love it.

Give me Kevin Smith any day, lol.

Okay, here is my Netflix Movie Update. Please write back with comments and suggestions for more movies:

The First Wives Club is one of my very favorite guilty-pleasure books. I love that book. How could a divorced woman NOT love that book? So I finally rented the movie. And within 15 minutes I had that disc sealed right back up in the Netflix envelope and out on the mailbox. How could they take such a good book and completely destroy it? Bette Midler played the only character remotely faithful to the book (and was wonderful). Ya know, making minor changes is one thing, but to try to re-create the book on completely different characters is a whole 'nother thing. The one thing making the rental worth it: Seeing a very young Victor Garber playing quite a dorky ex-husband.

Waiting to Exhale. ANOTHER waste of time! At least I sat through the entire movie, but GOD. Whitney Houston was terrible, the movie was poorly made. I did like two of the women and Gregory Hines is always A-Okay in my book, but overall it was another waste of 2 hours.

Finding Nemo. I never had any desire to see this in theaters but my kids made me rent it from Netflix. I wish I had seen this in theaters!!! I saw it three times over the weekend and ended up having dreams about Nemo and Dorie. That's when it's time to send the disc back, heh.

Dirty Pretty Things. HATED it. That's all I have to say about that one.

As you can see, we are on a very bad streak. Scott and I did see Meet the Fockers and absolutely loved it. And next on the Netflix list we have:

Get Shorty
Shattered Glass
About Schmidt
Tortilla Soup
Princess Mononoke

Any other suggestions? Or comments on my hatred of your favorite movie? Hee.

Okay, first I was all loving Gigli, now I have to say that Stepford Wives has just cracked me right up. LOVE it. And I wasn't real impressed by Garden State. There were moments that I really liked, and any scene with Natalie Portman in it was wonderful, but overall... not thrilled.

Stepford Wives though, that was hilarious.

Watching Napoleon Dynamite right now. It's totally a Welcome to the Dollhouse for boys.

Last week we saw this movie called "Pieces of April" which Netflix recommended and made look like it was some hilarious comedy.

It was NOT. However, it was very very very good. Buffy and I watched it at least six times, and then made Scott watch it too. I don't think he was happy about it at first, but he ended up loving it too.

It's an independent film about a girl (Katie Holmes) who lives with her boyfriend in a dingy apartment in New York, and she's trying to get Thanksgiving dinner ready for her family - who is far beyond disfunctional.

It was funny, and a lot sad, and I never would have watched it a second time if it hadn't ended well, but it was really great and I highly recommend it. Also, Patricia Clarkson plays the mother, she was the lady in Station Agent which I also highly recommend.

So you all should see it.
:-)

Okay, I uh... watched Gigli a third time. I still like it... er, love it. I let the kids watch it and just fast forwarded through the two scenes I didn't want them to see. Buffy LOVED it. I'm thinking about renting it for Scott - I actually think he would like it too.

Then I voted it 5 stars.

I now crawl back into my movie cave of shame.

Movie Surprise

Okay, I watched Gigli, and you know what? It wasn't that bad. In fact, I've seen FAR worse movies, and I actually enjoyed this one. Jennifer and Ben were not the best actors in the world, and the overused emotional music was annoying - but otherwise it was good. I laughed hard a couple times, and I even cried when they finally found "The Baywatch", and I even watched it a second time.

Do I recommend it? I'm not sure. But it didn't deserve the "Worst Movie EVER" label. It was enjoyable, and I would even see it a third time.

Okay, I'm off to an Oceanography Review at 9am, but I thought I would tell you what Netflix movies we have this weekend by giving you some quotes. So, click on the link to open them up:

1. "Lemme tell you something, in every relationship, there's a bull and a cow. It just so happens that in this relationship, right here with me and you, I'm the bull, you're the cow. Alright?"

2. "You know what? I just got violated by a lizard, man! Actually, that felt pretty good."

3. "I know a boy who's name is Arnie... he's uh... bout to turn 18 and have a big party."

4. "Vampires, gargoyles, warlocks, they're all the same - best when cooked well."

5. "Write this down. E. M. E. T. I. B. Got it? Now, reverse it."

Okay, now you all get to it while I'm at school.

Oh also... National Treasure? Could be the most ridiculous movie EVER.
But you can bet your life I'll watch it when it comes out.

This is what we have from Netflix for this weekend:

Grind
Grease
Alias: Season 3: Disc 2
SuperSize Me!
Dangerous Beauty

We watched SuperSize Me! last night and the kids were mesmerized. Buffy has declared, again, that she is going to be not just a vegetarian, but a vegan. This should last, as usual, until the next time her dad takes her to McDonalds. But I'm happy that she at least thinks about and understands things.

Buffy took one look at Journey to the Center of the Earth and went right to bed.

Spike and his friend came home and sat down on the couch - I refused to turn it off so they sat down resigned.

Now all I hear behind me is "Shush Dude, I can't hear," "Oh that's totally COOL, did you SEE that?" "QUIET, I can't hear what he's saying!"

The movie was made in 1959 and uses very proper english - and looks nothing like a current teen would ever want to see. But these kids are just loving it.

Like I said, give it a try - you won't be sorry, really.

Next up: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea!

A good movie weekend!

We got Journey to the Center of the Earth today from Netflix - I have not seen this movie in probably more than 20 years, I used to LOVE this movie. I cannot wait to make the kids see it! And seeing the preview just now, I actually am amazed at the special effects that were done before computers, before Star Wars (you kids don't realize the advances Star Wars made in effects), way back in the 50's. You youngsters really should see it, it's cheesy goodness at its best - you just can't get cheesier goodness than Pat Boone singing in what is basically a science fiction movie, hehe.

We also have:

Big Fish (because the kids never saw it)
Clueless (because Buffy loves it)
Benny & Joon (because we can't get tired of watching Johnny Depp or Aidan Quinn)
and Alias Season 3 Disc 1

Scott and I saw Sky Captain yesterday and we both loved it. I don't think it's for everyone, but if you grew up watching old black and white Buck Rogers, science fiction or spy movies on Saturday afternoons, or if you have an appreciation for how movies are made, you'll enjoy this movie. It is cheesy and corny, but it's meant to be.

Plus... Angelina Jolie. AND Jude Law.

"Alert Amphibious Squadron!"

You know a movie's gonna be good when Angelina gets to say a line like that, heh.

So go see it, and Have Fun watching it.

We rented Mean Girls from Netflix... And we're going to buy it, Buffy's seen it at least ten times in 4 days, and I would watch it over and over and over just to see Tina Fey in her wet T-shirt... again and again and again... I don't know what it is about her, but I just LOVE her.

This week from NetFlix we have:

JerseyGirl
The Object of My Affection
Resident Evil
It Could Happen to You
Anywhere But Here

The Object of My Affection (with Jennifer Aniston) has been boring me to tears, I keep falling asleep every time I try to watch it... on the other hand I've had 2 hours sleep in the last 36 hours. Also, I do not share the Jen love that the world has. I mean, she's okay, but she's not The Goddess.

It Could Happen to You was a pretty cool movie, but then again I love Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda and Rosie Perez. But the disc crapped out on us at the very end, so I didn't get to finish it.

Resident Evil is for the kids, I saw it a few years ago and it was okay, but I probably won't see it this week.

And now I'm going to sit down, eat my bean burrito (soft food for my tooth, heh) and watch Anywhere But Here. And not think about school until after church tomorrow.

I walked into the house today and Buffy was sitting in front of the TV watching Jersey Girl for the second time... Today.

"MOM! It's SO SAD! It's made me cry like, THREE TIMES already!"

So we sat down and watched it again. It's cute. It's good. It's not spectacular, but we'll probably buy it.

A) Ben Afflek does his best acting in Kevin Smith movies, I don't know why he can't get his act together for other directors.

B) Liv Tyler really didn't do her best acting at all.

C) Kevin Smith tends to populate his movies with all his friends, who do quite well in your typical Jay-and-Silent-Bob type movies, but not that well in your typical romantic comedy. This would have been much better without most of them (except Jason Lee and Matt Damon had great cameos).

D) Dear Kevin Smith, your wife cannot act. Stop putting her in your movies. Thanks.

But again, it was cute, it was nice, we'll probably buy it. Cuz we're suckers, heh.

We had signed up for the Season Three dvds from Alias, and I was hoping to get the first disc sent today (it comes out today and we just finished Season 2 yesterday).

We weren't one of the lucky ones, but we are going to get Jersey Girl first.

Has anyone seen it?

I can't wait!

The Passion of the Clerks...

Oh yeah, I'll be seeing that!!!!!

We saw Collateral yesterday and I really really liked it. I really like Tom Cruise when he has a haircut and has taken a shower, I can't stand him all dirty and messy. Overall though, it was a really good movie.

Over the last month here are some Netflix movies I've rented and really really liked:

Slingblade (I know, I'm kinda late on this one)
Station Agent (Can't say enough how much I LOVED this movie)
13 Going on 30 (I liked this movie way more than I thought I would)
Frontier House (A PBS [I think] dvd)

Ah blast it, that's all I remember. But basically, you all need to rent Station Agent.

Just for the record, I love JOAN Cusack also.
I'm just a happy girl at home with my dvd's right now.

I've been plotting the ex-hubby's death for the last ten years, does that count?

Not that I'm watching Grosse Pointe Blank today or anything, but when I attend my 20 year high school reunion this July I think I'll tell everyone I've been a contract killer the last ten years.

John Cusack, I love you

I just need to note here that if John Cusack asked me to marry him, I just might give up Scott.
But not for anyone else.
But oh what I would do for one night with John.

I'm not really one for kid movies, and I didn't enjoy Shrek 1 all that much. Actually, I fell asleep during it, heh.
Scott and I saw Shrek 2 yesterday and I really really loved it. It was VERY funny, and entertaining, and I loved Puss in Boots and the Donkey.
So I guess if you already loved Shrek 1, you'll probably really love #2.
Go see it.

Just watched "Timeline" last night because I'm reading the book and it's really great, but I didn't like the movie at all. They took all the female characters and turned them into men, added characters not in the book, sent characters back into time who never went, and just changed the entire story around. However Buffy, who hasn't read the book, said that while she thought the movie was confusing, she absolutely loved it.

"Secretary". This has been on my "Want to see" list for quite some time, and for the first half of the movie I was very disappointed. Mostly because as I've said before, I don't understand cutters. As far as I know (and I'm probably wrong) I've never known anyone who cut themselves, and I never even heard of it until I started hanging out here in the internet. But by the time the movie ended, I absolutely loved it. I loved the moral of the story, I loved the happy ending, I loved the characters. I really really loved the story (second half) because I really understood that second half. There will probably be people who understand cutters but don't understand what was going on in the second half, but I do, and I loved it. If it wasn't for the first boring half, I'd give it 5 stars.

I rented Sixteen Candles for Buffy and she and Spike really loved it, of course. I've been renting all the John Hughes movies for them - you can't really grow up without seeing those movies, right?

From your recommendations to me, I already had "Love Actually" on my Netflix list, and I put "The Point" on and moved it to the top. It's on "Long Wait" but hopefully we'll get see it soon. My brownies are ready now, so I'm off.

My friend Katherine recommended the movie Spirited Away in my comments, and I have indeed already seen it. I saw it in the theatre with Scott and his daughter, and I loved it so much I placed a pre-order on the dvd. We love it! It's really a great movie and the little girl reminds me SO MUCH of Buffy when she was that age. Kiki's Delivery Service is another dvd we've had for quite awhile, from the same guy.

And Yes! I would love to hear what other movies you all recommend!!!

The highlight of my weekend in Aptos was seeing This Movie. You need to see it, now, and you need to not read any reviews or summaries of what it's about. The most awesome movie EVER. But you cannot read about it first, it will spoil the whole thing. All I can say is you MUST see it.

Along with a baptism, a new church and a whole lot of yardwork, we watched a whole lot of movies this weekend.

Kill Bill Vol.1
This movie kicks so much ass. By far better than Vol.2 (but you still need to see Vol.2), I can't wait until they're both released on disc together. I've now seen it 7 times.

Slackers
I gave it 3.5 stars out of 5. Some of it was dumb teen humor, but I was really laughing at some parts. It was pretty good.

School of Rock
I didn't really enjoy most of this movie, it was cute but nothing special. But I TOTALLY loved the concert at the end, and that scene itself pushed it up to 4 stars.

Win a Date With Tad Hamilton
This movie was okay. Buffy agrees it was okay. We liked it, we laughed, it ended well, and Topher Grace was GREAT. But when it finished we wrapped it up and sent it back.

The Next Best Thing
GOOD GAWD, Madonna IS a bad actress, isn't she! I always thought the press wasn't giving her any credit (afterall, when I saw Who's That Girl when I was 17 I thought she was a GREAT actress, heheh) but she hadn't said three lines in this movie before I was making faces. Horrible actress, horrible plot, Horrible part she played. I mean, wow, how could you have any sympathy for that woman after what she did? I just thought the whole thing was Terrible.

Very Bad Things
I LOVE THIS MOVIE! One of my very very favorites, if you don't mind a lot of death and gore and craziness, then you MUST see this movie. Five Stars, hands down.

I can't believe I saw six movies this weekend (and Kill Bill 2-3 times) and still had time to do everything else. The only thing I didn't accomplish was fixing the toilet.

Oh well, I guess I can let Scott fix it, heh.