response 1 of 326:

Mar 21 14:16 UTC 2000

We saw FINAL DESTINATION (A) over the weekend and
enjoyed it.  It's a black comedy.  A highschool kid 
on a plane waiting to take him and some classmates on 
a senior trip to Paris, has a vision of the plane 
exploding after takeoff.  He freaks out, and is 
escorted from the plane along with five or six others.  
The plane takes off and explodes, just as he foresaw.  
Then the "lucky" few who escaped the tragedy with him 
start dying one by one.  Here's where the movie earns 
its "A."  The various ways the writers kill them off 
range from the stunningly sudden and unexpected, to a 
couple of elaborate Rube Goldbergian setups.  There is 
a wicked intelligence behind this movie that loves to 
play head games with the audience.  I especially liked
the music by Shirley Walker.

response 3 of 326:

Mar 21 15:34 UTC 2000

The last two movies I saw were both way beyond excellent. That has never
happened to me before.  "Wonder Boys" and "American Beauty."

response 5 of 326:

Mar 22 06:05 UTC 2000

rented "DARK CITY" on DVD.  What a piece of work.  Visually engaging, classic
noir styling, good use of effects (mostly), a few plot holes but not so
glaring you don't enjoy the experience.

The DVD features two fascinating alternate audio tracks, with commentaries
by Roger Ebert in one, and various members of the production team in the
other.  Also included are reporductions of some of the original design
drawings.  Neato!

Excellent performances by Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt and Rufus Sewell.
Sad to say that Jennifer Connelly wasn't given much of a role, but she is ever
so beautiful in it.  (She was the protagonist in "Labyrinth" with David
Bowie.)  

Definitely a good time.

response 7 of 326:

Mar 22 06:48 UTC 2000

it was hard to understand the way they said it, but i think it was "tuning"
not "chiming."  The concept of tuning makes more sense in that concept anyway.

I thought that face looked familiar.  That's a hoot!

response 9 of 326:

Mar 22 12:43 UTC 2000

  31 days of Oscar on TCM. Too many goodies to talk about. This kind of 
programming is rare indeed. Catch it before March ends. Last nite they did
"the lilies of the field" followed by "In the heat of the night" followed
by "Moonstruck" Can't beat that triple feature with a stick.

response 11 of 326:

Mar 22 16:24 UTC 2000

I saw SIMON SAYS last night. It starred Dennis Rodman. Strangely enough, it
had cool martial arts, and really weird monks. Beyond that, I can't recommend
it for much.

I also watch ALIEN WARRIOR. From it, I learned that a woman in high heels can
outrun a car, a gut shot won't hurt you, yet a shot to the shoulder will.

response 13 of 326:

Mar 23 02:26 UTC 2000

heck, *I* can outrun a car when i'm in high heels.  the car just has to be
going really slowly...

response 15 of 326:

Mar 23 16:35 UTC 2000

Re #13: Let's do a public demonstration. I'll drive the car.

response 17 of 326:

Mar 23 21:57 UTC 2000

"BEYOND THE MAT"-- fascinating feature film documentary about pro
wrestling and the lives of the people who work in that strange subculture. 
The film centers around wrestler Mick Foley (of the WWF and those Chef
Boyardee ravioli commercials)  They show him as an extremely devoted
family man with a loving wife and two kids, whose day (or night) job just
happens to be getting pounded and thrown around a ring.  You see a WWF ppv
main event where Foley has his wife and children sitting ringside, and you
see the children's reactions when he ends up handcuffed and the bad guy
starts beating him over the head with a steel chair (the wife knows its
all an act, but the children dont and and witness their father getting
what looks like a terrific beating) You see Foley come through the
backstage curtain after the match a bloody mess, his own blood, and he
picks up his young daughter and assures her he's okay. Later at their
house, Foley is shown footage of his children's reaction to what was
happening to him at the match and is devastated.  You realize he's a
normal parent who, like many ordinary parents, is often oblivious to what
they inadvertently put their children through. 

Then you are shown Foley's hero/idol, wrestling legend Terry Funk, who is
now in his mid fifties and needs his knees replaced from all the pounding.
He is a violent, vicious character in the ring, who often bleeds, but we
see Funk at home in Texas, at his daughter's wedding giving away the
bride, and doting over his loving family and realize he's really fairly
normal.  His family wants him to quit wrestling, but he loves what he does
and loves the attention, and would get bored spending too many days at his
ranch with his grandchildren.

Funk is still a success at wrestling-- but you see his flipside, former
star Jake the Snake Roberts, once in the WWF and now wrestling in front of
50-100 people at national guard armories in east nowhere, nebraska.  Jake
the Snake stays on the road to escape his personal demons-- we learn he
was conceived when his wrestler father raped his 12 year old stepdaughter. 
Roberts has a whole laundry list of abusive family relationships.  We see
him with father, who he admits to mostly depising, and we see a reunion
with Jake's 20 year old daughter, whom he hasnt seen in six years.  You
can see the deep scars in their relationship almost instantly.  Sadly,
after seeing his daugher, Jake disappears and we're told he used the money
he was paid for wrestling earlier that night to buy crack cocaine.

"BEYOND THE MAT" is a fascinating study of people leading unusual lives in
a business that is a constant mix of fantasy and reality, and where people
who work in it long enough can often stop seing the difference.  ****
(four stars)

response 19 of 326:

Mar 24 09:26 UTC 2000

Whats-her-name dragged me to an 'art flick'.  _Ghostdog:the way of the
Samurai_.  Awesome film.  Saw it at the new 'black' multiplex theatre
(no signs??) in the heart of the southside - a visit is odd in an of
itself, part of the old and 'going out of business' for some years now
jewboy department store is a huge modern strip mall full of all the
usual and expected outlets including a 24-hour Home Depot.  Theatre has
'stadium seating' and is trashed a bit more and not quite as well
managed (only one of four ticket booths open and only one of many
concession registers generating lines - polite lines, black folk are
used to waiting in line taking their turn) than one is used to in the
burbs, but the armed guards and the agressive police patrols of the
parking lot made this homeboy feel right at home.  Told whats-her-name
*this* is our new shopping center, the only think missing was Target or
maybe I missed it.

Anyway, this masterpiece _Ghostdog: the way of the samurai_ is
incredible.  Forest Whitaker (_The Crying Game_ alumn - another good
one) is the 'hero'.  Not a nice chirpy safe black like the dude from
that stupid sci-fi flick (_Independance Day_ or something like that) or
the safe nice safe Denzel, Whitaker portrays the huge hulking brooding
cast-eyed suburban bigot's secret nightmare of a black.  And he works as
a 'button-man', a professional assassin for the Mob.  And what a Mob it
is -I'm not going to spoil anything I hope.  (Henry Silva has hilarious
scene after scene, one where he talks trash about the ethnicity that he
made a career of portraying.)  This film even telegraphs, has direct
references to, and hits you over the head with the notion that 'reality'
is truely an individual hallucination.  At first viewing - and I expect
many more (may even pay to see in in the theatre again) - the only
truely 'sane' people in the film are either off camera or seen only by
virtue of their feet.  Multiple sendups to even more obscure 'art films'
and I'm sure many 'inside jokes' that even whats-her-name missed this is
the best film I've seen this year, and rates way up there.  The 'studio'
has apparently targeted this to the 'black' market so I'm not sure if it
is 'at a theatre near you', but if it is, its a definate do.

response 21 of 326:

Mar 24 20:19 UTC 2000

   Saw "Pitch Black" with Damon a little bit ago.  Definitely better
than I had thought it would be.  A fairly good SF film with elements
of horror and suspense built in.  There are some great shots here,
and one *treuly* amazing death scene of about 5 seconds that I'll
never forget.  A pleasent surprise.

response 23 of 326:

Mar 25 09:34 UTC 2000

You can usually find Jarmusch at a large video store.  His dark humor
master piece Stranger than Paradise about 2 Eastern Europeon imigrants from
Cleveland driving to Florida sometimes shows up in the humor section which
is a stretch.  Where ever you find it, it's worth seeing one of my all time
favorite movies along with "After hours," and "Repo Man."  Ok call me strange
<shrug>