A Movie Review: Julie and Julia

"Julie and Julia". So first off, I took a day off from work and decided to check out a movie. I decided to see "Julie and Julia". The theater was nearly sold out. Now admittedly it was in one of the small theaters, but for an 11:20 a.m showing, I was rather impressed that so many people were there. I have to say I enjoyed the movie. Meryl Streep was great. But I have to give it up for Amy Adams. I think she is the star of the movie even though screen time seems rather evenly split between Streep and Adams. This was a great movie to see after seeing so many popcorn summer movies.

A Movie Review: Bandslam

Bandslam.This movie almost makes it to greatness, but falls short. I saw this based on reading the Deadlinehollywood blog. I wouldn’t have given the movie a thought if it wasn’t for that blog. The first few minutes were just painful. I felt like I’d made a big mistake listening to the blog. There was a cafeteria scene at the beginning when Will first attends his new school in New Jersey. Everyone started going crazy for the upcoming Bandslam. Oh, such a painful scene. But afterwards it started to pick up. I left with a smile on my face. Now if someone wants to see a really cool under-appreciated high school movie, I’d suggest seeing “Brick” before “Bandslam,” but “Bandslam” isn’t an awful movie so it is worth a rental look though perhaps not a theater look.

The Mulhollands and Fat City Reprise @ Skinny's

Right after hanging out with friends at the LA County Fair, I quickly headed home to take a shower and then off I went to Skinny's to catch The Mulhollands. It was awhile since I last saw them play. For those interested, they're the residency band at Skinny's for the month of September.

Due to the shower I took before heading out, I only caught the last 20 seconds of The Shakers. Up next were The Mulhollands. I swear that from the first song I realized how much I missed them.

Here are the boys of the band all left alone, because . . .

Sarah Jeanette took a turn singing atop a lounge seat.

It was a lovely set.

Up next was Fat City Reprise. I was a bit tired from hanging out all day so I only stuck around for three songs before heading off home. I will say this much, they opened with an awesome song. This was the second time I caught one of their sets. The first time was way back in February-ish at The Roxy.

Pity Party and Happy Hollows @ Spaceland

I headed off to Spaceland to catch Pity Party and Happy Hollows. I'm fan of Pity Party though I have to admit I believe the last time I saw them was February 2008. As for Happy Hollows, this was my second time seeing them. I didn't even know that Pity Party was playing at Spaceland until a friend mentioned it to me while we were catching Local Natives. Well, I had to go hangout and catch them. As always, they rocked it. If you've never seen Pity Party, they're this awesome two piece band.

I love how they end their shows. She just lays her head on the keyboards and he just walks off the set.

Next up was Happy Hollows. Now I have to admit that the first time I saw them I didn't like them at all. So I came in this time with some skepticism, but walked away loving them. Perhaps the first time my expectations were so high based on what friends had said about them that I was due for some disappointment, but this time around I just couldn't help but love them. They had an awesome fan base with a young lady standing behind me going totally crazy dancing. And totally crazy in an awesome way.

I have to say I absolutely love this photo.

Some guest singers for a couple songs. Actually there were officially only three. The one most to the right of the photo jumped up on stage for the last song. She was obviously friends with the rest of them.

Happy Hollows did something that few bands do at Spaceland. They had an encore song. I tell you I take back my initial feelings towards this band. They're awesome.

Local Natives final show at Spaceland

Local Natives played their last residency night at Spaceland on August 31st so yes this is a bit of a dated post. I will do a brief write-up in intraffik.com on the night so this is going to be short and sweet. Now admittedly, I've already done a write-up on Local Natives for intraffik.com, but this upcoming intraffik.com article will be a bunch of quick hit sort of notes on various bands.





So I love the below photo even though it is slightly out of focus.

It wasn't as entertaining as I thought: Forest Lawn

Michael Jackson got buried at Forest Lawn on Thursday. Since I live near Forest Lawn, I decided to take a walk over to see what was going on. The main central point for the fans was at Los Feliz Rd. and Glendale Ave. The police yellow tape started at this intersection.

There were various reporters out and about. I don't recognize the below reporter at all.

The Glendale police were hanging around.

Here's someone holding up an Ebony magazine.

Someone put together a rather large banner.

I then decided to head off to other areas that connect to Forest Lawn. As I was walking to a new spot a woman came up to me and frantically asked, "Do you know if the Michael Jackson family has arrived yet via the Los Feliz/Glendale area?" I told her, "I don't really know."

The below photo is at the E. Cerritos/Brand intersection. There was less of a crowd here, but if someone wanted to see the entrance of Forest Lawn this was a much better area to see that. The reporter was trying to get the crowd there to sing a Michael Jackson song.

As you can see, from this location you could see directly into Forest Lawn.

The below photo is near the Glendale Ave/San Fernando Rd. There were a handful of folks hanging out on the south side of San Fernando Rd, but as mentioned most of the fans were parked out at Los Feliz and Glendale.

As I was walking around this area a guy at a bus stop asked me, "What's going on here?" I told him, "Michael Jackson is getting buried today." He responded, "Oh."

A shot from Cerritos as I was doing my U-turn walk. I believe this is around 7:30 p.m. I believe the family came by around 8 p.m. so if I'd stuck around a bit longer I might have gotten some photos of the caravan. Oh well. I overheard a lady saying that she'd been at this specific spot since 5:30 p.m.

Here's a guy at the Glendale/Los Feliz area doing some Michael Jackson moves. I'm not sure if the lady next to him is a reporter. She seemed rather unimpressed and amused during the guy's dance. There were also a couple other guys waiting in the wings, eager to get interviewed.

A Movie Review: Funny People

"Funny People." I was looking forward to this movie. From what I could tell, reviews were relatively positive though I did read complaints about the length of the movie and the use of Judd Apatow's wife. And before I actually saw the movie, I knew that it wasn't meant to deliver 140 minutes of humor.

I have to say I liked the movie though there are some weaknesses; therefore, I didn't love the movie. One weakness I'd say was the last 30-40 minutes where Judd Apatow's wife becomes more of a central character. I don't think the weakness is due to her acting. I think the weakness is due to the lack of character clarification. I could actually understand why George Simmons (Adam Sandler) would cheat on her. In the film, George explains that he cheated because he had too much temptation around him. I'd argue that it was because Laura (Leslie Mann) was too clingy and made rather impulsive decisions. She was a bit annoying. The other weakness is the Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) character. I think he was a bit conniving and I wish this was explored more in the sense that George learned that Ira shut out his friend Leo Koenig (Jonah Hill) from helping write jokes for George.

I honestly didn't see it as a downer movie. Obviously, for portions of the movie, you see George being extremely depressed but you also see moments of understated humor tied to those moments.

There is an element of drama to the movie. For example, you see George struggling and you almost expect him to fully breakdown, but he is able to hold it together.

You also see moments where the more veteran comedian provides these reflections and advice to the younger comedian, very mentor-ish moments.

Maxim Ludwig @ Hotel Cafe

This is a bit dated. I head off to Hotel Cafe to see Maxim Ludwig with a friend. It was a fun night. The first band up was Right the Stars. This is a band that could fit perfectly well at Spaceland.



The highlight was Maxim Ludwig. He had a Wednesday residency at Hotel Cafe.








To close out the night was The Belleville Outfit from Austin Texas.

A Movie Review: Public Enemies

I'm up and down on Michael Mann. I loved "Collateral." I hated "Miami Vice." Now comes "Public Enemies." I did not like it. The movie centers around John Dillinger. The first half or so of the movie was okay, the second half was just a dud. Here's my problems with the movie:

In the scenes at the Wisconsin hotel, Michael Mann decided to go with what appeared to be an "inspired by the TV show Cops" type of filming. I just found it over-the-top and actually a total switch in style from the rest of the movie.

I also wasn't sure how John Dillinger was being portrayed. Was he a cunning bank robber? Was he a playboy? Was he a vicious killer? I don't know. If he was cunning, the movie surely didn't show it very well. I couldn't help but wonder: After awhile, wasn't John Dillinger sort of surprised that where ever he went, often times the FBI was around somewhere? Didn't he perhaps wonder how the FBI was tracking him?

Anyways, not one of my favorite summer movies.

A Movie Review: Moon

"Moon". This movie has some interesting concepts behind it, but it just doesn't deliver at the end. The story is about a guy who is alone on the moon. The moon is being mined for an energy source. He is the only person on the moon. One day, he gets into an accident. He awakes back at the station, unsure how he got there. It quickly becomes more complicated. Due to the accident, the corporation assumed that Sam died in the accident. They decide to activate a clone. My impression was that the memories transferred over to the clone and he can't recall how he got back to the base. He decides to investigate the accident scene. He ends up finding Sam and brings him back to the base. It so happens that they're both clones. The corporation is sending out a group to recover what they assume is the dead clone. If they find both clones alive, they'll have to kill both of the clones as a cover-up.

Here's what I'd like to know more from the movie:

1. It would seem hard to believe that this corporation is the only one that uses clones. There must be a cultural shift on the world that accepts clones. I wish this was explained a bit more.

2. I wish the film gave more insight into what happened to the original Sam. There is brief contact with the daughter via phone -- who then calls out for her father. You sort of wonder if perhaps the original Sam survived his 3 year commitment and the corporation creates clones to keep doing the same work. Of course, the film also hints that Sam's wife was straying after three years apart, indicating that perhaps Sam's daughter is calling out for her step father.

A Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3". This movie is a box office disappointment. On the otherhand, it is a good movie. I'm not going to say it is a great movie, but I will say it was well written and acted. I usually try to poke holes into movie plot lines -- like the recent Star Trek movie. I can't really say I found any serious holes in the storyline. It just felt like a really tightly written movie that made sure that the storyline made sense in every possible way.

A Movie Review: Away we go

"Away We Go". I thought this was an okay movie. I think there are better road trip movies out there like “Little Miss Sunshine.” Also, I just found this movie lacking when compared to “Revolutionary Road,” which is also directed by Sam Mendes. The one note about this movie is that I think it shows us that we’re all broken – broken in the sense that our lives are not perfect. We’re all screwed up in large and small ways.

A movie review: Hangover

"Hangover" has made an enormous amount of money and has had some really long legs, indicating that it is a really loved movie. As for me, I liked it, but I didn't love it. I think my problem was that I came into this movie with very high expectations. I walked away thinking, there were probably better comedies out there this year. Over-all, though, it is a funny story about people who have a little too much fun in Las Vegas. It is a movie that flows rather well and makes you yearn for an adventure in life.