I like movies

Hello. This is my Blog. I’m trying to get into the habit of writing something everyday and this is something. In theatres a few great movies are playing (in Atlanta where I live) they are

ONCE (at the Tara)- which is probably the best film of the year. Its great. If you need to know more than the movie is great- google that shit. I don’t want to give you plot descriptions, I like just hearing a movie is great and going to see it.

Also playing at Cinefest is THE HOST this is the other movie in contention for best movie of the year. It is just about perfect. It’s a brilliant allegory about America and its reaction to 9/11.

THE LIVES OF OTHERS is still running at the plaza- film students should study the script it’s so tight.

KNOCKED UP- yeah- it’s really funny. Sure it could be cut down by 20 minutes but I never thought about it while watching the movie. It’s sweet and there are a ton of great jokes. I had no expectations even though the film gets good reviews everywhere (the NY Times and the Post liked it- that’s rare) and yes I saw 40-Year-Old Virgin and yes, it sucks but this is funny.

SICKO- come on. You want something to talk about while you eat your fish tacos? Its SICKO. It will fire your ass up. It makes me want to move to Paris. - The health care, the protesting and the fact that the French watch movies in theatres. If you don’t like Michael Moore because of Fahrenheit 9/11 or whatever you should get over it. I personally enjoy his attempts at social change through filmmaking- movies are that powerful to me.

And on video I saw some stuff too, the most memorable being PARIS, TEXAS. I was reading Tom Hall’s BLOG and he was doing his version of the New Yorker pieces about why you love movies and he wrote about Paris, Texas- so I watched it. For about 95 minutes I watched the movie and was interested and really loved the photography- but I wasn’t enthralled. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll watch Harry Dean Stanton walk around the desert in 35mm for quite a while- but when I started the movie I had come off reading this blog about how Paris, Texas was the movie that made Tom Hall love movies and that guy really loves some fucking movies. So I’m watching and then the third act comes around and I am devastated. The end of that film tore me apart. Everything that leads up to the scenes with Natassja Kinski was the best set up for that ending. I recommend you watch that film.

And because the 4th has been around, so has been hanging by the pool and drinking. Usually when I have too much to drink, I force my girlfriend to watch Jaws with me and I blather about how awesome it is until I pass out. But lately I switched it up and have thrown in some movies from my childhood. When I was a kid I watched a lot of movies on TBS. 80’s action flicks and westerns and ROAD HOUSE, ahhhh Road House, you brilliant turd. So on the fourth I watched DIE HARD- still awesome. Enough said. And Last night I watched RAMBO- First Blood.

Awesome. The ending and what it is trying to say about anything is beyond me. But it runs fast and is great for the bad ass pushed too far sub genre. That is a genre of movies that TBS swore by when I was a kid. Charles Bronson, Jeremiah Johnson (have you seen this? I remember R. Redford killing a shit ton of Indians on a racist revenge mission. I need to watch that again) Well the first Rambo was a good time. How Brian Dennehy holds it together in the face of all that horrible acting from the supporting cast is beyond me. Then we watched Predator. Predator is for kids. My memories of Predator were so great and I only saw the for TV version. Seeing the movie last night I think it goes on the Gremlins list. That is a list of movies that were awesome to 10 year old or 6 year old Alex, but not to this one. That happens though. I’m sure Predator is being discovered by a bored preteen this very Sunday afternoon on TBS and he is loving it.

For a minute I wanna type about the Hollywood machine. I’m not watching any more crap movies. There are too many good movies out there that I haven’t seen or there is playing Frisbee or cleaning my apt or learning to make a better omelet or anything better than the poop Hollywood has been feeding me the last few years. If I read something is actually good- I’ll watch it. But when I read that everything is just fucking mediocre- I’m not in. I’m not, nor will I see Spiderman3, Pirates 3, Transformers (I did sneak in and watch 10 minutes, that was enough) or that Silver Surfer trash. If you would like to join me in my boycott of over-marketed crap then stop giving them your money.

Ok. When I find the digital camera I will Blog about 4th o July and soapbox derby races.