One of the first songs I ever liked was this remake (starts at :26) of the Simon & Garfunkel classic. 23 years later it is still great. Also love these from the group: In Your Room, Manic Monday, Eternal Flame, and of course Walk Like An Egyptian.
Continue reading this postFriday, April 30, 2010
Recent Viewings
1. There Will Be Blood 
- Keeps getting better. I think most folks miss out on the fact that on some level Daniel is a sympathetic character. Favorite scenes right now are the two with the Standard Oil executive.
2. I Love You, Man - Hilarious and actually insightful. Rudd's a common man genius in this film. He's Tom Hanks' successor.
3. Gran Torino - Every idiot kid I see with skinny jeans needs to watch this over and over.
4. Hall of Presidents (Disneyworld) - This show and presentation have been updated with Barack Obama. The presentation is a GREAT retelling of American history. I was very excited to have my daughters watch it and soak up the greatness of the U-S-A.
Movie Releases - 4/30/10
Nightmare on Elm Street
Jackie Earle Haley takes over the classic horror character Freddy Krueger in this update of the popular series. Should do huge business with the kids and the nostalgic 30-40 somethings. I've never bothered with any of the originals so why start now?
Furry Vengeance
Brendan Fraser fights off some wild animals when his company tries to build on their natural habitat. Brooke Shields stars as his wife and Kim Jeong spends his 15th minute of fame playing Fraser's boss. It looks like Old Dogs - without the fallen A-list talent.
Harry Brown
Michael Caine stars as the titular character who's out for revenge when a friend is murdered. Caine is said to be pretty great, taking on the young punks. In limited release.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Cape Freaky
At De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival, he showed up for Metropia which showcases voicework by Juliette Lewis. This picture gives Cape Fear an extra level of creepy.
Wonder if she sucked on his thumb later (again).
Monday, April 26, 2010
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 4/27/10
Buddha - #
Disgrace - #
District 13: Ultimatum - #
Five Minutes of Heaven - #
Fugitive Kind (Criterion)
Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - #
It's Complicated - #
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases.
Armageddon
Dune
Elizabeth - *
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The Jackal
Out of Africa
Ride with the Devil (Criterion)
Tombstone
Traffic - *
# - also on Blu-ray
* - Doctor approved
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Weekend Box Office: 4/23-4/25/10
Once again, I couldn't bring myself to a weekend preview. It should be obvious why. J-Lo's artificial insemination rom-com was the biggest new release, followed by The Losers, a twisty, violent, revenge saga starring Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana, and Jason Patric. The best reviewed new film was Disney's Oceans, where the wonders of Planet Earth are again explored.
Title/Gross/%Change/Total
1. How to Train Dragon: 15 mil / -24% / 178 mil
2. Back-up Plan: 12.3 mil / (-)
3. Date Night: 10.6 mil / -37% / 63 mil
4. The Losers: 9.6 mil / (-)
5. Kick-Ass: 9.5 mil / -52% / 35 mil
6. Clash of the Titans: 9 mil / -42% / 146 mil
7. Death at a Funeral: 8 mil / -51% / 28 mil
8. Oceans: 6 mil / (-)
9. Last Song: 3.7 mil / -38% / 55 mil
10. Alice in W-Land: 2.2 mil / -40% / 327 mil
Friday, April 23, 2010
Song of the Day - Head Full of Doubt,
Road Full of Promise
By The Avett Brothers
Priest posted their title track from their latest album a few months ago, but I came across this gem today. They sound like the second coming of The Band and have pretty great lyrics, too. Looks like I and Love and You will by my first album purchase since the Into the Wild soundtrack.
There's a darkness upon me that's flooded in light
In the fine print they tell me what's wrong and what's right
And it comes in black and it comes in white
And I'm frightened by those who don't see it
When nothing is old, deserved or expected
And your life doesn't change by the man that's elected
If you're loved by someone you're never rejected
Decide what to be and go be it.
There was a dream
One day I could see it
Like a bird in a cage a broke in and demanded that somebody free it
And there was a kid, with a head full of doubt
So I scream till I die and don't ask for those bad thoughts to find me out
There's a darkness upon you that's flooded in light
In the fine print they tell you what's wrong and what's right
And it flies by day and it flies by night
And I'm frightened by those who don't see it
Zodiac's Costume Design
I sleep with my two DVD copies of Zodiac every night.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Date Night - B+
In theaters. Rated PG-13, 88 minutes. Trailer.
A well-adjusted, successful married couple with children tries to liven up their regularly scheduled date night by going into Manhattan. After they take someone else's reservation at a trendy restaurant, they suffer a case of mistaken identity and it leads them on an unbelievably eventful and dangerous night. Even with stars like Tina Fey, Steve Carrell and Mark Wahlberg, I was skeptical going into this one. The premises is pretty dumb and nonsensical, but it ends up providing a serviceable vehicle for a steady stream of laughs. Click below for more DN:
Carrell and Fey have good chemistry and they do a good job of carrying the formulaic comedy with a 'message' about marriage. The jokes about children and married life work great and their interactions with the different characters in their adventure are universally good, especially the sequences with Wahlberg. Carrell's running gag with him about putting on a shirt are really funny. I thought the stick it out with marriage message was really good even though it was pretty simplistic.
The film is probably just a B for single people, but for those married couples with kids, this one is a bullseye. You'll laugh hard the whole time.
One reason I like Tina Fey so much is that projects she is involved in typically glorify responsible people and make fun of idiots - pretty much the opposite of all other entertainment. In this film the responsible married couple are the heroes, and those with the tattoos and making bad choices are called out for the same. A shockingly conservative film.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Eddie Vedder with Conan
Eddie crashed Conan's show in Seattle last night. Great set can be heard/seen here.
Continue reading this postDVD and Blu-ray Releases 4/20/10
Avatar - #
Crazy Heart - #
44 Inch Chest - #
The Lovely Bones - #
Summer Hours (Criterion) - #
Uncertainty
Vivre sa vie (Criterion) - #
The Young Victoria - #
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases
The Basketball Diaries
Battleship Potemkin - *
Fist of Legend
Minority Report - *
# - also on Blu-ray
* - Doctor Approved
Monday, April 19, 2010
SNL - 4/17/10 -Ryan Phillippe
A Larry King skit opened the show with Kristen Wiig's Bjork (OK) and Bill Hader's Richard Branson (pretty great). A memorable monologue was not because of host Ryan Phillippe, but because of guests (Target Lady, Andy Samberg's R&B pervert, and D'Andre Cole). D'Andre is the best new character of the year and the best thing Kenan Thompson's ever done. They found a new way to use him when his usual skit has becoming predictable. One of my favorite faux-commercials followed, the home invasion gem from earlier in the season. The new fake commercial (seen after the jump) was no doubt deemed inappropriate that early in the show . . .
Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte's terrific ESPN commentators continued their hilarious (and well-written) streak followed by some hip hop kids where Andy Samberg tries to talk some sense into his idiotic friends. A digital short ("The Other Man") was OK but ended interestingly with Samberg standing next to his "doppelganger". A Samberg-heavy episode continued with Mort Mort Feingold, an accountant to the stars the took a few jabs at some celebrities (loved Mel Gibson). A Shake-Weight commercial followed which is better seen than described.
Ke$ha then lip-synched "Tik Tok" with some astronauts lip-playing instruments. Thanks a bunch from the NASA community. Weekend Update was pretty good this week with Bill Hader's James Carville, Will Forte playing another pervert, and Bobby Moynihan scoring with a new gossip character. A favorite recurring skit of mine is 4 men reminiscing about a song and this week's was humorous but ended with an unnecessary cheap shot at the Tea Party movement. Hader was really good comforting teens in the next skit, Teen Talk, where Fred Armisen psychologically and verbally abused them. Ke$ha then lip-synched "Your Love is My Drug" in a terrible outfit (labeled "Comanche Tron" by Lawyer). If there was a weak link, it was the game show, "I Got This", but it's always nice to see Forte go nuts. Last was the "Outrageous Clown Squad" which was almost as funny as the real song.
For my money, this was the best episode of the season from top to bottom without a throwaway sketch. Zach Galifianakis had some better moments but his episode was uneven. This was better written all the way through and even managed to avoid kissing Obama's ass. After a terrible first half season, SNL has really picked it up since January with excellent hosts (Jon Hamm, Zach Galifianakis, Tina Fey) and hosts that really went for it (Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Lopez). During this episode, Hader and Samberg were everywhere, which is always a good thing. A-
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Random
1. DLP was ahead of the curve on this genius...SNL parodied the "Miracles" video posted last week.
2. My favorite picture of the Iceland volcano. Its a pretty good argument for the Almighty.
Up with Pete Docter
My 
Weekend Box Office: 4/16-4/18/10
Title/Gross/%Change/Total
1. How Train Dragon: 20mil/-20%/159mil
2. Kick-Ass: 19.8 mil / (-)
3. Date Night: 17.3 mil / -31% / 49 mil
4. Death at a Funeral: 17 mil / (-)
5. Clash of Titans: 15.8mil/-41%/133mil
6. Last Song: 5.8 mil / -41% / 50 mil
7. Why Did I Get Married 2: 4.2 mil/-62%/55 mil
8. Hot Tub Time Machine: 3.5 mil/-35%/43 mil
9. Alice in Wonderland: 3.5 mil / -34% / 324 mil
10. Bounty Hunter: 3.2 mil / -24% / 60 mil
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Special Notes
1. Ke$ha is on SNL tonight, so anyone with suicidal thoughts should go to bed early. Maybe she can recycle another Huey Lewis idea for her next crime upon humanity.
2. Jennifer Garner turns 38 today.
Song of the Day - Twenty Two Fourteen
By The Album Leaf
All instrumental song by the San Diego group who obviously know how to mellow out better than me. It loses a bit when the drums come in, but still, a pretty good mood song.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Movie Releases - 4/16/10
Death at a Funeral
A remake of the 2007 British film, this one goes for a different audience with Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, & Tracy Morgan. Zoe Saldana, Luke Wilson, Peter Dinklage, and Danny Glover are along for some laughs (hopefully). The preview is OK, but director Neil Labute's usual comedic stylings (In the Company of Men) are much more subtle.
Kick-Ass
Based on the comic book, some ordinary people try to become superheroes. Nicolas Cage and Aaron Johnson star, but 12 year old Chloe Moretz is said to steal the show. I wouldn't expect much from this were it not for director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) who can hit one out with the right material. Trailer here.
Monday, April 12, 2010
DVD and Blu-ray Releases 4/13/10
Defendor
Great Mouse Detective
Pirate Radio - #
Slammin' Salmon
Tenderness
Click below for this week's Blu-ray releases.
Apollo 13 - *
Nightmare on Elm Street
# - also on Blu ray
* - Doctor approved
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)