Sound City (2013)

I knew I had to see it in the big screen.  I knew it was going to be a limited release in the Los Angeles area.  I expected to drive to LA or Pasadena -- which I did.  I also knew the kids, being Nirvana and Foo Fighters fans would want to come along.  So a week ago today, we set out to the Sunset Sundance Cinema off Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood.  Fandango said 1130am showing, we were there right at 1120.  Until we got in the box office and got turned back.  Turns out Sunset Sundance is a 21+ movie theather because they serve alcohol.  But at fucking 1130am?  Pissed off as hell, we ended up going to Guitar Center and Amoeba Records so at least the 60 mile drive from the 909 wasn't wasted.  But today, we went to Laemmle 7 in Pasadena and this was more friendly to kids.  Sound City?  Excellent movie based on a great story.  It's just a throwback to the days of analog and the historic albums made at this recording studio in Van Nuys.  Again, I knew I had to see it in the big screen with the nice sound system -- and I wasn't disappointed.  Dave Grohl had proven yet again that he is an artist with a vision that produces just great work.  Equal parts funny and great storytelling, this is all about music and the artists who make them, Tom Petty, Rick Springfield, Nirvana, Paul McCartney, Rick Rubin and others.  This is about family.  The group of individuals who owned, operated and maintained Sound City for countless bands and us, the listening public get to enjoy music thanks to their passion.  This is about rock and roll.

Making Pulp Out of Non-Fiction

I typically do not go to the movie theaters to see the same movie more than once.  So when I go see Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" twice in a span of a week, either it's an extraordinary flick or a set of extenuating circumstances caused it.  When I read that director Spike Lee had rejected the movie (which puts him on the same side as my mother-in-law), it's hard to resist going the first time -- which I did with the kids while we were in San Luis Obispo the day after Christmas.  Although fictional in nature, the movie takes on a very non-fictional subject, that of American slavery -- considered taboo for most of Hollywood and America as noted in the article below.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-12-19/film/django-unchained-upends-the-western/

Simply put, Django rocks as most Tarantino movies do in terms of the action and comic book style violence.  And couple that with the subject of slavery, you have an instant classic centered around a black superhero played by Jamie Foxx.  Django has all the attributes of a cult classic had it bombed in the box office (highly unlikely).  Tarantino had upset a lot of establishment folks with his previous output and Django at least will keep him in the category of "Do Not Take Seriously" for a lot of movie critics.  But screw critics.  The movie was actually very funny with the dialogue and sidebars (e.g. hooded raid scene with Big Daddy played by Don Johnson) so when the kids and I were trying to figure out what to do on New Year's Eve, seeing Django a second time was a simple decision.

Catfish (2010)

What do we really want in life?  Ever since man could express himself in terms of language and written text, we've tried to tell stories of attempts to answer that question.  Films had represented the subjects of life choices, loneliness and living a life that doesn't belong to us fairly well ever since motion picture was invented.  Fast forward to the modern day age of internet and Facebook and coupled with a documentary-style approach,  "Catfish" (2010) tells of an unpredictable sequence of events that teaches us that people will go at great length to live a life they wish they had.  And when those around us uncover the truth, it is just as important to understand what drove the lie in the first place.  And in the grand scheme of things, it is people with dreams (and in the age of Facebook, people with alternate, fictional profiles) that make life a little bit more colorful for everybody else.

The memorable quote from the movie:

"They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China. They'd keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for the catfish because we would be droll, boring and dull if we didn't have somebody nipping at our fin."

Naked Lunch

I'd be lying if I say I completely get this movie.  However, I'm not sure the absence of my familiarity with anything William Burroughs-related is the root cause why.  I like Peter Weller in Buckaroo Banzai where he played scientist, test pilot, surgeon and rock star and Naked Lunch almost seems like a an offshoot of the Buckaroo script -- this time Weller playing a writer.  Maybe if I read the Burroughs' actual book, I might get the whole talking typewriter bug concept.  Or could it be director David Cronenberg's treatment that gives it an unsettling flavor to the narrative.  I'm fully aware of the controversy of this film -- where the topic of drug use and homosexuality is central to the creative process -- and how most red-blooded Americans would probably be turned away.  Hey, as long as they give me the choice whether I want to see it or not, who cares.  Naked Lunch feels closer to the other Cronenberg cult favorite, Videodrome (1983) although temporally, it is only a few years from the more commercial Cronenberg, Crash (1996).  If there is any movie that I would turn on any special features like a director's comments throughout, this is it.  Unfortunately, I already shipped this Netflix rental back.  If and when I find the time to actually read Burroughs' book, I will watch this again.

Cloud Atlas (2012)

I'm not sure I got everything that this movie had to say.  For close to 3 hours, I was just busy trying to follow along and not get lost with half a dozen different, yet interconnected, plot lines.  It's one of those movies that seemed like a cross-section of several other movies I had seen before.  Elements of Blade Runner, The Matrix, Contact, Artificial Intelligence all were present in some form or another.  Definitely not a movie to see when you have a lot in you mind (work problems, a sick child, overall anxiety that's hard to pinpoint, etc.) but something I would like to see again a second or maybe even a third time.  So everything is connected and everything that happens in the present is a product of some other event that had happened in the past.  Shades of quantum mechanics?  You bet, except at a macro scale.  From what I was able to process out of the movie, it is an honest attempt to ask some profound questions about the meaning of it all.  Life, that is.  Both kids saw it with me and I'm not I got more than they did out of it either.  For now, I'm just waiting for the DVD so I can re-watch it with subtitles.

Rum Diary (2012)

Based on Hunter S. Thompson's 2nd novel of the same title, "The Rum Diary" is where Johnny Depp plays writer Paul Kemp set in the 1960s Puerto Rico.  In contrast to Depp's previous roles of odd-ball characters from Scissorhands-to-pirate type, this one is somewhat "normal".  This movie is really about how greed, power and money can control the average person's destiny, which in this case, is about powerful interests shutting down a local Puerto Rican newspaper who had hired Kemp.  That feeling of hopelessness?  Get used to it.  That's how the real world works.  If a powerful person or corporation (which I guess in 21 century America, is a redundant term because every corporation in the U.S. of A gets the same rights as a living, breathing human being) wants you out of the equation, there's not much you can really do.  The movie is depressingly close to reality -- all attempts to print one last edition to expose big business failed, Kemp didn't get the bad guy, realtor Hal Sanderson (played by Aaron Eckart).  I've never read anything by Thompson but if anything triggers my interest in his writing, this is it.  (I'm just afraid the book would ruin the movie.  Or is it the other way around?)

Premium Rush (2012)

Over 25 years ago, a relatively small budget movie Quicksilver starring Kevin Bacon and Larry Fishburne (yes, before he became friggin' Lawrence) brought the world of bike messengers to popular culture.  So I dug out my VHS copy a few weeks ago as soon as I saw the previews for Premium Rush, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (above).  The plot for this one was fairly simple, bike messenger carries unknown package to a destination, bad guy attempts to intercept package.  The goal is simple -- get the package to destination  in time.  The cycling sequences were excellent but the overall message that the movie projects about cycling to the subconscious of the general public is unfavorable.  Cyclists break all rules of the road as shown through scene after scene of bike messengers navigating through traffic dealing with taxis, pedestrians and other cyclists.  I struggle with that as I teach my kids that the responsibility of riding a bike and following the rules of the road like cars do.  Kids and I saw the 930am showing today so we didn't have to pay full price for something that definitely belongs in the Netflix or Redbox category.

Casa de mi Padre (2012)

I cannot even begin to describe this brilliantly funny movie that stars Will Ferrell.  How twisted is this movie whose dialogue is entirely in Spanish -- including Ferrell who speaks Spanish the entire time so I was stuck watching the goofball with English subtitles.  The props?  The mountains are fake, the lagoon shot inside a studio, most driving scenes with a screen projecting moving landscape, all interleaved with real shot on site sequences.  What is funny is the way the director pokes fun at the whole process of integrating fake scene shots with real scene shots non-seamlessly, on purpose of course.  The fake white lion (or some kind of cat) is awesome.  Robert Rodriguez meets bad SNL sketch equal pure fun!

The Thrift Store Solution

The problem of about three dozen unplayed movies on VHS format when my VCR died about a year ago persisted until I found the solution a month ago.  I tried looking online for a new VCR but just couldn't get myself to procure a brand new unit for about $100 just to play some old movies I have on VHS.  Cult classics like Miracle Mile, Endless Summer (above), Point Break, The Killer are all new to my kids -- who discovered my VHS collection sitting in a closet but with no working VCR.  After I made a donation to the Goodwill Store in Upland, I decided to look inside to kill some time while the kids take their Friday night music lessons at Alta Loma Music.  For $7.99, I bought a used VCR in perfect working condition and soon enough, the kids were watching the Bruce Brown classic for the first time.  JJ remarked how good the soundtrack was to Endless Summer and how he ranked it in his top five movies list.  I know this cheap VCR probably will break down in a couple years so I'm actually considering getting a couple more used units from the Goodwill Store as a backup.  Analog rules.  Thrift stores rule even more!

Marley (2012)

I have to say, I was a bit hesitant on taking the kids to a documentary film.  But Sam had been listening to Bob Marley for as long as I can remember and of course, JJ, absorbs the music as well just by being around us.  But this is a wonderful story about a man who simply wants happiness and basically, mankind to become one.  Like most, I am very familiar with his music, somewhat aware of his politics but knew little about his personality.  This movie by Kevin McDonald changed all that.  This movie is about a man who lived a rich life, not in the traditional sense -- but rich in music, rich in meaning and sense of purpose (and rich in mind-altering weed as well).  If anything, I can only hope my kids got a little bit of that as well from watching over 2 hours of a great story told with the ommi-present soundtrack of reggae music.  The first Bob Marley song I ever heard when they played "Jamming" on the radio way back in the Philippines in the 70s.  I can still remember the beat as hypnotic.  As a side note, I'm really glad, Laemmle Theaters opened in Claremont. I took for granted the art houses living on the westside and in Pasadena.  Since Marley is a limited release, I would otherwise had to drive over 40 miles just to see the documentary.  Instead, the kids and I enjoyed some Earth Day celebration music around Claremont Village just prior to watching the movie.

What's Inside The Briefcase?

I've only seen it once before on VHS years ago.  I vividly remember renting a copy at Star Video on Washington Blvd in Pasadena, watching it and there were several lasting moments in the movie -- Travolta and Thurman dancing, for one.  The kids had seen a couple other Tarantino flicks (like Reservoir Dogs and Death Proof) but Pulp Fiction is probably a bit over the top for them.  Maybe in couple years, I'll reconsider.  Anyway, tonight was a night I decided I was going to buy a Blue Ray copy of Pulp Fiction and watch it from start to finish.  My (second) first impression is that this movie has a really excellent soundtrack -- from Misirlou to Surf Rider to Son of A Preacher Man.  In fact, as soon as the movie ended, I ordered the soundtrack on CD.  Except, I had completely forgotten that I have all the tracks on mp3; yeah, it's been that long since I really paid attention to this movie.  Also, I don't ever remember that this one has an all-star cast -- literally Kietel, Willis, Walken, etc.  But what I don't remember at all is that the contents of the briefcase was never known to this day.  Of course, that's what makes Tarantino a great artist.

Walking Dead

Man, am I hooked.  For the past year, both kids have been exhaustively seeking out every zombie movie out there.  JJ even got a reference book on the history of zombies from the black and white George A. Romero classic "Night of the Living Dead" to the funny "Shaun of the Dead".  But this weekend, we got the first season DVD of the AMC series "Walking Dead" and even I watched intently every episode in the first season as well as both Season 2 episodes aired tonight.  Walking Dead is different than most zombie material out there because there is somewhat of a story between the main characters, not unlike most drama out there -- except there's the backdrop of "walkers" that can emerge from anywhere at anytime. Walkers, obviously in reference to the fact that these zombies' body involuntarily move in response to human scent.  There are crawlers too and in tonight's AMC episode, one was referenced as a swimmer -- a zombie trapped in an water well.  What's really memorable about tonight's episode is that as the humans were trying to pull the zombie out of the well with a rope attacked to its upper torso, its lower body just cut in half from the fact that the tissue and bone structure cannot support its hanging weight.  I don't know if Walking Dead will ever bring to zombies what X-Files did to aliens but these first 2 seasons had been very well written and acted -- so far.  Several episodes had been adhering to the formula plot of a few of the lead actors/actresses go off into zombieland to retrieve something (guns, food, medicine, a redneck cuffed to a pipe) and in the process, the rest of the story develops -- usually something typical of a drama, the human side.  If you can get over the fact that zombies are fictional, at best, then Walking Dead is the most unusual of all dramas that television had ever produced.

In Time (2011)

I wanted to see "Puss N Boots" and JJ wanted to see "In Time".   I was tired after my ride up Mt Baldy this morning so going to a movie theater with 40 kids under 8 years old wasn't too appealing so I agreed to see the Justin Timberlake retro-futuristic movie.  In "In Time", time is both a commodity and a currency.  The premise is interesting enough where people had a fixed time to live after 25 years, unless of course you can afford to "buy" more time.  The movie was shot in LA, including Boyle Heights and the LA river with downtown LA as a backdrop and yet, they made you think it was somewhere in the east coast.  "In Time" is predictable at best but quite enjoyable.  I particularly enjoy the cars in the movie, mostly early to mid 60s Lincoln Continentals.  Yes, every citizen who can afford a car rode in a black LC.  It would really suck, suck big time if everyone drove a Linkin.  And if they did, I would ditch mine in a heartbeat.  Like most sci-fi movies, I basically have to abandon all logic and intuition.  My son, Sam actually had the most interesting observation.  How come no one can hack into this central computer where time is controlled?   I will probably end up getting "In Time" in DVD just because it's one of those movies I can watch over and over like those other bad sci-fi movies I like (Time Cop, Total Recall, Gattaca).

Kill Helvetica!

This is my personal crusade to rid the world of Helvetica.  The design Nazis tell us everything should be in Helvetica from freeway signs to every consumer product imaginable.  Sign at liquor store in Azusa on Route 66.  Not Helvetica.

Desert Island DVDs (Version 2011)

There had been a slow accumulation of DVDs in my bedroom and decided it was time to sort through the pile and pick my 20 movies.  20 movies that I can take to a desert island and watch over and over.  Over the years, the list changed as new movies replace tired ones.  Two Pixars, two Sean Connery's, two Jet Li's and two Fast & Furious movies make up 40% of my top 20.  I'm sure this list will change as early as next year.  For now, here's the twenty in no particular order.

1) Princess Bride - Inconceivable I've seen this at least once a year for that past 15 years.

2) Fist of Legend - The gold standard of martial arts flicks; a remake of the Bruce Lee classic

3) Planes, Trains and Automobiles - Is it Thanksgiving yet?

4) Up - Broke the top 20 as soon as I saw it the first time

5) Collateral - I had to pick a Michael Mann so it was between this and Heat.  Tom Cruise might bump this one off the list.  Jamie Foxx helps.

6) Fast And The Furious - Tokyo - I wonder if you know, how they live in Tokyo

7) Fast Five - Love the cast, love the cars, who care about the plot

8) Thomas Crown Affair - What would you do for art?

9) G.I. Jane - The only Demi Moore movie I can watch more than once; a Ridley Scott classic

10) Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Inspiration to take the day off from work, any day

11) Pee Wee's Big Adventure - Tim Burton's best work and it's about a bike

12) Wall-E - First 15 minutes is the best 15 minutes of any animated movie.  Spork.

13) Singles - Best Matt Dillon acting; it's all about the music

14) Finding Forrester - Hoops and literature and friendship; my fav Sean Connery movie

15) Blade Runner - I need a dark movie for my list so it had to be this one

16) The Matrix - either this Keanu or the Point Break Keanu.  This one always gives me plenty to think about.

17) Idiocracy - The best comedy in the last 10 years.  Smart, relatively speaking.

18) Contact - I always wonder if someday this movie will be classified as pseudo-fiction

19) Romeo Must Die - Hip hop meets kung fu; Jet Li, the late Aaliyah, DMX

20) Goldfinger - If I will see only one spy movie again, this is it.  Love the 60s cars in this flick.

"Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb" (2011)

Photograph of Soviet era gas mask with canister.  I purchased the set from an antique dealer during a visit to Las Vegas in August.  Cold War, Nevada nuclear testing and gas masks all seem to share a common thread of the not too distant past.  To quote the title of film Dr. Strangelove, "Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb".

Drawn To Watching Bad Movies

"The Miracle Mile" is a bad movie (1988) in terms of all the individual attributes typically considered when reviewing movies -- acting (average), script (below average), plot (depressing), cinematography (made-for-tv) etc. But every time I put my 15-year old worn-out copy in the VCR, I cannot stop watching the bleeding thing from start to finish.  The movie was way before Anthony Edwards made it bit with ER (on NBC) and certainly before mobile phones were actually portable (and weighed less than 15 pounds).  The premise of the story is that of nuclear holocaust getting in the way of Harry (Anthony Edwards) meeting the woman of his dreams, Julie (Mare Winningham) and living happily ever after.  I suppose anyone familiar with the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles would appreciate all the landmarks that they showed in the movie -- Johnnie's on Fairfax and Wilshire, Park La Brea, the tar pits, etc.  Maybe it is the appeal of driving through the deserted streets of LA at 2 am and the calmness of Wilshire Blvd. as shown in the movie that somewhat gives it a dream-like texture.  And this is before nuclear war (sort of like before gridlock hits the city). I mean how many movies are there that show the end-of-the-world from a local LA neighborhood perspective?  Maybe it's some kind of fascination with the macabre in figuring out what to do when you only have a couple hours to live. The only curve ball the director, Steve De Jarnatt threw is how the story of Harry and Julie ended -- sad but very poetic.  De Jarnatt went for the jugular in opting to portray the deaths of these lovers by sinking a crashed helicopter into the La Brea tar pits.  Yes, those dreaded tar pits. So after all, maybe this kind of ending (not necessarily cinematic) is enough to pull a bad movie by its bootstraps into the video store shelves for cult classics. (BTW, I find it somewhat spooky that this movie was released on Sept. 11, 1998, exactly 13 years before the attack on the World Trade Center.)

Forrest Gump Was Here

Photograph taken on 7/25/11 at the top of Koko Head.  The marina on the left center of the photo is the Wailupe Beach Park and just above it, in the distance is Waikiki. Visitors to Koko Head left several messages in its abandoned bunkers including this quote from the movie Forrest Gump that reads "Life is like a box of chocolate.  You never know what you're gonna get." and another one that reads "Hi Life".   If I had a Sharpie pen with me, I would have written something alongside that quote like "Life is like a can of macadamia nuts.  You need to savor each piece; if you don't, next thing you know, you got an empty can because it goes pretty quick." Hawaii always gets me centered and focused on the right things in life.

Sequel To "A Few Good Men"

Kids and I went to see Battle: Los Angeles earlier today with relatively low expectations given Hollywood's track record on alien invasion movies in the couple years (think Cloverfield, District 9 and the miserable Skyline).  Even if I was totally disappointed, I don't think the $6 admission at Victoria Gardens AMC before 12 noon would have been too painful -- except the wasted 2 hrs maybe.  However, Battle LA is actually closer to Black Hawk Down than it is to extra-terrestrial invasion genre flicks.  My old neighborhood (Santa Monica Airport, Lincoln Blvd, West LA, etc.) was the setting for the good old US Marines, led by a soon-to-be-retired staff sargeant played by Aaron Eckhart (above pic), find a way to rescue civilians, destroy the command and control center of the invading force, get rescued themselves and then -- go back for more, because "they already had breakfast."  (I've seen Eckhart in numerous movies before but only in this movie did I realize he and Lance Armstrong really have a remarkable resemblance.  Yes, the Lance Armstrong of 7-Tours de France fame.)  Battle LA and Black Hawk Down shared so much in common in terms of going in to an area looking for a fight and kicking ass and taking names.  And the predictability of the plot is almost in the same degree as the predictability of the casting -- I think kicking ass and I think alway hot Michelle Rodriguez, of course.   Action was non-stop from start to finish and before the audience knew it, they just finished watching a 2-hr promotional movie for the United States Marines.  

The Mechanic (2011)

There are a few movies that I can remember my dad taking me to as a kid and "The Mechanic" was one of them.  The original 70s version features Charles Bronson as the assassin who liked to worked "cleanly", leaving little trail of his job.  Tonight, I took both kids to see the 2011 remake of "The Mechanic" as the highlight of this rain-soaked Saturday.  Jason Statham is probably my second best choice for the role of highly efficient killer (Daniel Craig being a colder, tougher version) but he did more than adequately kicked ass.  Different targets, different weapons, different geography than the original but Mechanic v2011 stayed pretty close to the theme of the Bronson flick except this time, Statham survived the attempted killing of the teacher by the student.  Probably would not have even bothered if I hadn't seen the original but Battle: Los Angeles won't be out for another 3 weeks.