A Movie Review: The Ides of March

The Ides of March.  Some dirty political moves are made behind the scenes of a presidential campaign in this movie.  Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) and Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are political operatives for a Democratic presidential candidate Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney).  They're in for a fight in Ohio, which is a key state to determine the Democratic nominee between the final two standing candidates.  (There are three remaining states that are mentioned as key:  Ohio, North Carolina and Pennsylvania).  In an attempt to pull off a victory, a number of political moves are made.  Both candidates attempt to woe Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright) who dropped out of the race at some point and has around 300 delegates.  Also, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who works for the other candidate (Senator Pullman) attempts to convince Stephen Meyers to switch sides.

Along the way, a young, beautiful intern (Molly Stearns played by Evan Rachel Wood) catches the eye of Meyers.  She also happens to be the daughter of the Democratic National Committee chair.

Due to certain political maneuvers, Meyers is fired from the campaign.  This doesn't sit well with him and he decides he's going to use some political dirt that he happened to uncover to get his job back.

This is an intense movie; however, I believe at the end it leaves a rather wide open hole in its story line.  Not to give away too much in terms of spoilers, the political dirt that Meyers uncovers indirectly comes to light to the news media.  Considering the nature of what happened, one would think that the media who eventually figure out what happened (or a theory that is somewhat close to reality) even with Meyers attempting to keep this news under wraps so that he can use it.

  

A Dream: Back in College for a Test

I had a dream recently where I was back in college.  It was finals week.  The class was Literature.

Now this is a somewhat familiar dream.  I always have a dream where I enroll in a class, but only show up for perhaps 3 or 4 of the 12 classes.  Then comes along the final and I am in a panic before/during the test. This time I was in a test situation. It was a strange situation where the professor went beyond the call of duty.  She had us walk a hillside path.  There were posters set up at various positions along the path.  Famous quotes (many of them random nonsense that somehow bounced inside my head) were on the posters along with two names.  The test was to write down which of the two wrote the quote.  Of course, you needed to have read the books or attended classes to know the answer.  I was in a panic.  I looked at the quotes and felt exposed.  But no one else was pleased either.  When we reached the top of the hillside all the students started to protest this test.

The professor relented and turned it into a take home test.

We later came back together at class.  The professor was there, but her assistant did the talking.  The assistant started to slam all of us for not being prepared for the test and not taking the class seriously enough.  For some reason, I was the main target of his ire.  He looked at me and waved a story I had submitted.  He questioned my lack of vocabulary, saying I had a vocabulary of a high school student.  I attacked back saying I had no use for using a vocabulary that only the elite could understand (though I knew he was write, but I had to defend myself).    

Cloud Cover at The Smell

Cloud Cover

Intimatchine at The Smell

Intimatchine

Spring 2014 Movie Rankings

I didn't catch all that many movies for Spring 2014.  I guess I just wasn't all that intrigued by the offerings, but the movies I did see I really loved.

Here's my short rankings:

1.  Grand Budapest Hotel
2.  Captain American
3.  Non-Stop

I recommend seeing all those three movies.

A Movie Review: Mean Girls

Mean Girls.  So how is it that I'm finally catching a movie that was a:  box office hit, filled with future movie stars and had Lindsay Lohan at the top of her game?  No explanation.  This is a fun high school take down movie.  I suppose most high school kids (boys and girls) have these sort of fantasy take down thoughts.  I'm betting even "Plastics" have these type of thoughts.

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) spent her youth in Africa.  Her family moves back to America and she needs to navigate through the cultural land mind that is high school with no real context. The first day of school is tough, but she quickly becomes friends with a couple outcasts: Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese). If Cady had grown up in America, she'd probably never have become friends with these two individuals. By chance, she also becomes involved with The Plastics led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams).  The Plastics are the three hotties in the high school.  Janis, Damian and Cady decide to take down Regina.  Of course, when Cady becomes part of The Plastics she finds that being popular is addictive.

A Movie Review: The Basketball Diaries

The Basketball Diaries. Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a solid enough high school basketball player, the second best player on the team.  There is some college interest.  There is a problem.  He has a controllable drug addiction that develops into a full blown heroin addiction.  He gets kicked off the basketball team and the downward spiral hits the pedal.

This movie is tough to watch.  You watch and one thought keeps on kicking around, "Why would anyone shoot up heroin?"  Is it worth a watch?  Yes.  Will it make you squirm throughout the movie?  Definitely.

Leonardo DiCaprio does some great young adult acting though honestly he looks a bit too scrawny to be a college basketball prospect.  And I swear he should have been called a number of times for carrying the ball.

Interestingly, this movie has three future Sopranos:  Lorraine Bracco, Michael Imperioli and Vincent Pastore.

Air Life at The Satellite

Air Life. They had a bit of a problem getting their set started.  They were ready to play, but the DJ just wouldn't stop the music.  The lead singer, Taylor Dexter, was amused by it all.  "You can stop now," he finally blurted out.

Once they started, they got the groove on.

There was one song where Vicky Nguyen took the lead and wow does she have a voice.

Alex Lilly at The Satellite.

Alex Lilly. Here's a person who really just loves her music beat.  After one of her songs, she was dancing on stage.  It didn't seem like it was part of her stage performance.  It seemed to me that her song was still beating in her head and she was enjoying it.

Le J Collective at The Satellite

Le J Collective. I saw this group at The Bootleg a couple months back.  I only caught the last two or three songs on a recent trip to The Satellite.  I quickly wished I'd caught their whole set.  They play jazz.  They'll having you searching for 88.1FM KJazz.

A Movie Review: Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Ain't Them Bodies Saints. This is a movie that takes place in Texas, probably in the 1970s. The movie starts with Ruth Guthrie (Rooney Mara), Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) getting ready to commit a crime along with a third individual.  (We also learn just slightly before this that Ruth is pregnant.)  A police chase occurs and the three are cornered in what we later learn is the abandoned house of Bob's father.  The third individual is killed in the gunfire.  Ruth fires randomly and hits a police officer.  Bob takes the blame.  Somehow Ruth evades having to go to prison while Bob ends up serving time.

The two still communicate, but Ruth has mixed feelings.  She now has a four year old child.  Her crime days are far behind her.  At the same time, she finds herself a tad bit attracted to the police officer that she shot.  Bob escapes from prison and so the movie focuses mainly on Bob's desire to re-unite with Ruth and her mixed feelings towards this potential reunion.

This movie is more poetic than storytelling.  At times, I had a hard time understanding what was being said.  In fact, I couldn't even figure out what Bob's last line was in the movie.  I watched this on DVR and tried to figure it out a number of times.  If you want an action/prison escape/intrigue movie, this isn't for you.  If you're looking for expressions of emotions such as uncertainty and desire, this is for you.  

A Movie Review: Byzantium

Byzantium. A low key, yet violent vampire movie that breaks a few rules. Clara (Gemma Arterton) and Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) are a mother/daughter vampire duo.  After having a run-in, they escape to a small seaside town.  There, Clara sets up a house of prostitution and Eleanor heads off to college.  You'd think that after 200 years, they'd advance to doing other things.  Would someone really want to be a prostitute for 200 years?  Would someone want to continue taking college courses for 200 years?

Eleanor falls for a young man who is dealing with cancer.  She let's her secret out.  The young man fails to understand the confidential nature of the disclosure and suspicions arise in the town.  

Though, as mentioned above, I can't help but wonder why someone would want to do the same thing for 200 years, I did enjoy this movie.  I liked the low key nature of the movie.  These are vampires who do need human blood, but still want to interact with humanity.  Clara seems to feed on the low life while Eleanor feeds on those who are near death.  This is a movie for vampire lovers who don't find the Twilight series all that thrilling.

A Movie Review: Babes on Broadway

Babes on Broadway.  With Mickey Rooney passing away, TMC aired Babes on Broadway.  I put it on DVR and just recently watched it.  

When I was a kid, I used to love watching Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland together.  It was a pleasure seeing them on screen again.

Mickey Rooney plays Tommy Williams, a down on his luck wanna be actor.  Judy Garland plays Penny Morris.  Penny Morris also wants to be an actor.  There is a slight difference in their circumstances.  Penny lives with her father.  Tommy is on his own.  Tommy is also far more the optimist.  

The two happen to meet up at the local diner where all the unemployed actors hang out.  With a little luck, Tommy might just have a big break coming his way.  Penny, on the other hand, has a growing desire to help the tweens/teenagers in the community.  A little conflict.  A big play is put on.  They make it to Broadway.

This movie works most of the way.  There is a build-up as Tommy and Penny negotiate love and ambition along with actually pulling together a performance.  It falls apart, for me, towards the end when there is a long drawn out musical number.  Never mind the fact that we now view black face as racist.  For me, it was a much better movie watching the two interact and play off each other versus watching a Broadway rendition on screen.

Monogem at Bootleg

Monogem. She wants you to have fun while listening to her upbeat music.

Run Things at Bootleg

Run Things.  A random decision to try out a Sunday at Bootleg.  I ran into Run Things.  I'm happy I went out.

A Movie Review: When Harry Met Sally . . .

When Harry Met Sally . . . Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) is hitching a ride with Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) from Chicago to New York. They’ve both just graduated from the University of Chicago. Sally is an optimist. Harry is already jaded. After their ride together, they go their own ways. They randomly run into each other a few years later at the airport. And then they run into each other at a bookstore, which results in a growing friendship.

I really do love this movie. I saw it recently for the first time in a number of years. Perhaps Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are a much better movie couple, but Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan hit it off just fine.  Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby have fun supporting roles, especially the scene where they first meet each other via a double date.

A Movie Review: My Favorite Wife

My Favorite Wife.  Nick (Cary Grant) has just gotten married to Bianca (Gail Patrick).  This is his second marriage.  His first marriage was to Ellen (Irene Dunne).  It is assumed that Ellen died in a boating accident in Asia seven years prior.  Well, Ellen survived that boating accident, spending those years on a deserted island.  She arrives back in America on the day of the marriage.  Well, Nick is in trouble as he’s now married to two women!!!

This is another enjoyable Cary Grant movie.   I love how even though Bianca is supposed to be the antagonist as everyone knows that Ellen is Nick’s true love; you start to feel for her as the movie progresses.  Bianca initially is portrayed a somewhat uncaring individual who is potentially more attracted to Nick’s upper middleclass lifestyle than anything else.  When Ellen shows up, Bianca is totally unaware that she is Nick’s wife.  As Nick and Ellen try to sort things out between them, Bianca is left wondering what has happening to her marriage after only a few short days.  She does her best to save her marriage, which makes you feel that there is more to her than what first was revealed. 

As for Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, there is some great interaction between the two of them, which becomes so endearing as the movie goes into the final 15 minutes.  

A Movie Review: His Girl Friday

His Girl Friday. Walter Burns (Cary Grant) and Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) are divorced. They were former newspaper colleagues with Walter Burns being the editor and Hildy Johnson being one of his top journalists. Hildy returns to the newsroom to inform Water that she’s getting married to Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). It takes a while for Hildy to inform Walter of her pending marriage, because Walter is one of those types who just can’t stop talking. Once Hildy tells him this fact, he tries everything in his power to get Hildy back. Everything goes crazy when a police killer escapes from prison.

This is a fun movie to watch with some spit-fire dialogue that you better listen to carefully so that you can laugh along with the cast.

Speculation:  I can't help but believe that the reason Walter and Hildy got divorced in the first place was because Walter would never let Hildy say anything.

One of the best gems I uncovered while watching the movie was when Walter has a brief conversation with someone about Bruce Baldwin, “He looks like that actor . . . Ralph Bellamy,” who is to the actor playing Bruce.

The Acetates at Silverlake Lounge

The Acetates. They want you to dance during their set.

Steps of Doe at Silverlake Lounge

Steps of Doe. Their hometown is Berkeley, but they are more influenced by their time in the UK (or at least it seems that way).  

Comment of the set: It's called the tuning song. We're very good at it. It's our best song.

The Lower 48 at Harvard & Stone

The Lower 48. I've wanted to see this band again ever since I saw them in San Francisco.  I finally go to see them again and I must say:  I love this band.

The Doggerels at Harvard & Stone

The Doggerels: They like to jam.

A Movie Review: Grand Budapest Hotel

Grand Budapest Hotel starts (and ends) in a wonderful fashion, which initially causes a touch of confusion, but once the characters are properly sorted it tickles the fancy. The movie starts out with a young woman at a statue, a book in her hands. It then switches to an elderly author played by Tom Wilkinson who is giving a radio (or perhaps television) lecture from his home, but is interrupted from doing so by his grandson. The movie quickly jumps back to the time when the author was much younger (Jude Law) and staying at the once opulent, but now decaying, Grand Budapest Hotel. He runs into the owner, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham) who offers to tell him a story. They meet over a meal and the time shifts again to when Mr. Moustafa was the lobby boy who went by the name Zero (Tony Revolori). As the movie concludes, we start jumping forward through time and perhaps one comes to believe that the largely untold life of the author was so much more joyful than the told story of Mr. Moustafa.

Most of the movie occurs around Zero and his boss M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) during the 1940s. M. Gustave has a thing for older women. He seems to like the older women, but one also can’t help but think he’s hoping that it will all pay off someday. It does (or maybe not). Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), one of his elderly lovers, leaves the Grand Budapest Hotel with some trepidation. She is unsure she will ever return. Her fears are well placed as it is soon learned that she passes away. M. Gustave takes Zero with him as they rush off to pay their respects.

When they get there, her will is being read. Madame D. in a last second gesture wills a painting (Boy with Apple) to M. Gustave. This painting is priceless and the son of Madame D., Dmitri (Adrien Brody), is not going to let it go without a fight. This results in all manner of havoc.

The movie takes place during World War II; however, like everything in this movie we find ourselves in a parallel universe. This provides a fun little exercise in the movie. The Grand Budapest Hotel (now why is the hotel called Budapest when everything else is placed in a parallel universe is something I can’t explain) provides an indication that the Republic of Zubrowka is actually Hungary. This being the 1940s, war is brewing from a country that we can assume are the Nazi Germans. Creating this parallel universe makes laughing throughout the movie pleasurable as you don’t have the disconcerting thoughts racing through your head regarding the evils that the real Nazi Germans were doing to the world at that time.

I loved the detail that was put into the movie. When Mr. Moustafa and the young author meet up in the spa there are all these signs throughout the bath area. I got very distracted as I was attempting to read what all the signs said. One in particular was just out of focus and I found myself just hoping that it’d move into focus so that I could read what it was saying. There are other details such as the bakery boxes, the museum, Madame D’s house and so much more to mention.

Scenes are not the only area where detail is emphasized. The side characters are clearly drawn out, adding to the charm of this movie. Zero’s girlfriend Agatha played by Saorse Ronan, Jopling as the henchman for Dmistri played by Willem Dafoe and Deputy Kovacs played by Jeff Goldblum are perfect examples. Well, one could just list all the side characters.

As I was watching this movie, I couldn’t help but think about some of my favorite screwball comedies from the 1930s/1940s such as Bringing Up Baby (Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn) and The Philadelphia Story (Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn/Jimmy Stewart). The Grand Budapest Hotel differs vastly in directing style, but the over-acting cadence and the plot twists and turns throughout are familiar.

Brokechella Photo Archives: HOTT MT

HOTT MT

Brokechella Photo Archives: The Mots Nouveaux

The Mots Nouveaux

Brokechella Photo Archives: Liz Oppenheimer

Liz Oppenheimer

Brokechella Photo Archives: Dark Furs

Dark Furs

Brokechella Photo Archives: ZiBBZ

ZiBBZ

Brokechella Photo Archives: The Singles

The Singles

Brokechella Photo Archives: The Singles

The Singles

Up on Intraffik: Brokechella

I'm up on Intraffik with my Brokechella write-up. Note: this is the same article you can find on this blog, but feel free to click on the link and check out Intraffik.com.