A christmas Tradition

Tonight I will watch "A Christmas Story" with the family...once in bed and Santa has brought the presents I will then pop in another Christmas Eve Tradition (Usually while I wrap presents)...and that film is "The Brown Bunny"...director Commentary on from Vincent Gallo...

Enjoy

Playlist: A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Here's why I can't stand Michael Bay (I'm trying to not say "hate" so much): it's not for the terrible movies he has made, but for the terrible movies he continues to make. At this point he's filthy rich and has enough sway in the industry to make any project he wants, yet time and again he just goes for the money grab. Not that we were exactly lacking in proof, but the man has zero artistic ambition. Why does that matter? Because, goddamit, he's in an artistic profession. (Bay only produces this dreck, leaving the director's noose for music video maestro Samuel Bayer. Bayer gets a pass because he directed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "No Rain", but then again that was almost 20 years ago. Really, look it up.)

The only reason I watched this was to see Jackie Earle Haley's take on Freddy Krueger. It's a no-win, though, as is reinterpreting any iconic character. Even so, they not only didn't win, but went out of their way to lose. Freddy worked brilliantly, not only at his best, but in spite of several terrible sequels, because he transcended the generic slasher templates he was stuck in. We watched the Nightmare movies because we liked this homicidal madman. So, of course, Team Bay decides to remove any personality from the character in order to give us, what, a more realistic take on a bogeyman that somehow manages to kill teenagers in the dreams?

Seriously, though, that's what they were trying to do by giving us a sympathetic back story for our ol' pal Fred. Get this: Krueger was a gardener who lived in the basement of a daycare. Please forget that this was the 1990s when there were actual laws in place to prevent such a dangerously creepy situation from ever happening. Then, to everyone's surprise because everyone was an idiot, the little kids started reporting that the gardener was doing a little no-no touching. The suddenly concerned parents then took the natural next step of hunting Freddy down and burning him alive. They covered the whole messy affair up, somehow brainwashing their kids along the way, until for some never explained reason because nonsense cannot be explained, Freddy began murdering the now teenage kids in their sleep. But wait, two of the teens somehow deduced that Freddy was actually innocent! (Full disclosure: I fast forwarded a lot of this, but from what I could tell this assertion was based solely on a wild guess.) How does this game-changing revelation affect the the events of the movie? Wait for it...it doesn't. In any way.

Haley seemed like an excellent choice for the role considering how much he looks like someone you wouldn't want standing next to you on a subway, let alone anywhere near children or small animals. But he's wasted here, reduced to an extra wearing a rather bland mask and growling a lot. That they even ruined Freddy's classic look is just further pointless stupidity.

What makes it even more frustrating is that 2003's Freddy vs. Jason was actually pretty good and opened the door to some interesting directions for the franchise. There was even talk of bringing Bruce Campbell's Ash from the Evil Dead films into the mix. (To see what could have been, check out the comic based on a proposed script.)

Playlist: Documentaries

Saw these two this week on Netflix Watch Instantly and I can recommend both.

Capturing the Freidmans:

Pedophiles, Jews, party clowns and Long Island...sounds like a great weekend at the Birnbaums...but no wait..it's the Friedmans (sorry Paul I couldn't help myself). This is a crazy story some of which I believe and some of which makes me question my own reality and existence...this plays like the This is Spinal Tap Bar Mitzvah edition.

Exit Through the Gift Shop:

Street Art meets "The Greatest Showman on Earth"...this is a wild tale that is similar to the above documentary...people do crazy things in front of a video camera...in fact don't they always act differently...I think I saw this done best this year with I'm Still Here...the Joaquin Phoenix film. In that film maybe Phoenix and Affleck are commenting on this very thing...our "America's Funniest Videos" mentality...life and Humans are changing folks...we do things unnatural now and are evolving...the video camera is our Big Black Obelisk (2001 reference)

Playlist: I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale

Before I begin, yes, that is one too many colons in the post title, and, yes, I'm pretty sure that's the punch line to an awesome proctologist joke that, if you happen to know, I'd love to hear.

Right, so this is a 40-minute doc about the late, great John Cazale who you may know from one of the 5 films he made during his career. Those films? The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter. Yes, for you math wizes out there, that is a 100% Distillation. And a strong 100 at that.

This is an A-list affair, from good friend Al Pacino (who said he learned more from Cazale than any other actor) and Robert DeNiro (who rumor has it put up the insurance money so the terminally ill Cazale could be in Deer Hunter) to fans such as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Steve Buscemi. Not to mention Meryl Streep, Cazale's girlfriend at the time. It was strange, as it always is hearing celebrities place themselves in the real world, hearing Pacino tell about seeing Streep in the hospital when Cazale was dying from lung cancer at the way too young age of 42. (It's also pretty clear how much Streep still cares about him three decades later.)

And to think I almost turned it off when the first thing that came on screen was, "Brett Ratner Presents."

Playlist: Battle of the Scott Pilgram reviews

Ok I liked this film "just OK"...my one sentence review..."Scott Pilgram made me realize how much I loved 500 Days of Summer"...The film is made like a new found style of video game, facebooking, hipster generation kids...its for them...I am old now and just dont fit in...right?...then how come no one...like no one...no cool teenage hipster revolution happened...no one saw this film in the theater?...why?..because I am sure there was no buzz...and those that saw it said things like.."Sure it was ok...but it was no 500 Days of Summer"...The film is fast paced with nothing really happening...I think Ramona is hot...Knives is a better actress...even Mackally Calkins brother is a better actor as a gay roomate then Micheal Cera...Cera's schtick is wearing off...Actors like JGL (Joseph Gordon Leveitt)...are just blowing past him...Jason Schwartsman was great in it...but even he is just too old for a part like this...Brandon Routh was great...and a surprise visit from Tomas Jane and Clifton Collins Jr were great...but I could care less for Ramona and Scott...she is not right for him and 500 Hundred Days of Summer was already all about this and done better and with less gimmick...after a while the video game /comic book wolrd was like a bad Ang Lee Hulk Fim...another comparison is with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind...and for the ending and not just the Hair color of the main girl character...and another thing why not have a film like this with a female lead?...I mean all these teen/young adult films have men as the hero and they chase the girl...its like the girl is just there as the prize/....whatever...I liked this film but I truly belive that I will never see it again and in fact I will re watch 500 days of summer over and over.

Playlist: Winter's Bone

This is the type of film that absorbs you into its world, not through bang wow CGI, but through an undeniable authenticity.

Not that I have any first-hand knowledge of the rural poverty depicted here. How many indie moviegoers do? How many of the judges who awarded it the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance jetted home to a meth-ravaged Ozarks town? That's not how art works. I wasn't at Guernica, Dresden, or, despite rumor, Folsom. And I thankfully don't need to travel back in time to appreciate the art inspired by those events and places.

Good art should seep into a person and settle into all those little emotional cracks we have in our psyche. Winter's Bone is good art. It doesn't hit you over the head with liberal guilt or stroke you with hollow conservative apathy. When I said it was authentic I meant that it's just the story it is with no cheap theatrics or embarrassing grasps at, gag, a message. It's not the best film I've seen this year, though it is one of the most memorable. It's too small to worry about the baggage of greatness. It was made to tell a specific story and it achieved that. (That story, btw, is about a teenage girl struggling to raise her two younger siblings who has to find her bail-jumping father in order not to lose the house and land he put up as collateral. No, it's not a comedy.)

Star Jennifer Lawrence, however, is about to get big. She has earned a Golden Globe nomination and will hopefully follow that with an Oscar nod. I don't think she can get enough praise for her performance. I was surprised to read that she's going to be Mystique in the new X-Men movie, but then I saw her here and understood. While Lawrence carries the film, I need to mention another terrific turn by an unusually menacing John Hawkes (Deadwood, Eastbound & Down) as her uncle.

Bonus: there's an unintentional easter egg for Twin Peaks fans: an almost unrecognizable Sheryl Lee. You're all getting older, aren't you?

Paying For It

So I have had my first Redbox experience and:

1. I will refrain from a vulgar analogy to virginity
2. I liked it

Seriously, these things have been around for years but for some reason I have always blown them off as a viable movie procurement option. A solid selection of new releases for $1. I don't know why I didn't put that together before yesterday.

So nothing was now standing in my way of finally seeing Scott Pilgrim. Nothing but the fact that my redbox did not have it in stock. Really? That left me with the always painstaking chore of having to make a decision. It's not pretty. But I was helped along this time by the motivation of not wanting to get mugged, so I settled on a bit of a wildcard, this year's Sundance darling, Winter's Bone.

To be continued...

Netflix Watch: The Keep

For those of you "completest/elitist" film fans like me. This Micheal Mann hidden film as found its way somehow on Netflix streaming Watch Instantly this past week. This 1983 film features a chilling soundtrack by Tangerine Dream...picture Valkyrie meets The Two Towers meets Ghost Busters meets Legend...at least the first 30 minutes of The Keep made me think of those films. This film was released very shortly in 1983 and since has been out of print except for an old VCR and laser disc copy...so if you needed to see that last Micheal Mann film to play the "Distillery" game at home, check this one out...and by the way we here get a piece of that game money.

Where's Casey?

The Assassination of Yogi Bear by That Coward Boo-Boo. Affleck-free, but for Vinny G anyway.

Autumn TV Report

As we approach halftime of the now not so new season, let's take a look to see where we stand. Remember that these are the shows I have been watching. I have no idea what Julianna Margulies is up to on The Good Wife nor do I care that you have subjected yourself to watching Bristol Palin dance.

Monday

House: They've handled the House-Cuddy relationship well in that it has been business as usual at Princeton-Plainsboro. The major change has been that All-Star Olivia Wilde has been off filming a movie and they've called up Amber Tamblyn to fill her spot. No offense to Tamblyn, but this isn't exactly a fair swap. That said, her wholesome med school genius is a good foil for House and a better character for the show. What to do when Wilde returns?

Tuesday

No Ordinary Family: Disappointingly, there's been a steady decline from a very entertaining pilot. The problem isn't with the very likable stars (Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, and Autumn Reeser, who I'd really like to see in her own sitcom next year). The problem is that in the wake of recent darker adult sci-fi shows like Lost and Heroes (which I didn't watch), there is too much of an ABC Family hokiness vibe here. I was all set to end its relationship with my DVR when they pull out an ace: Amy Acker. That's right, one of my favorite actresses (Angel, Dollhouse) in the mix. So what do they do with her? Have her shot in her first episode. Don't worry, she's alive, but I can't say the same for the show. I think there's potential here, but I only have time for kinetic.

Raising Hope: Staying strong after a good debut. Garret Dillahunt, who has made a living playing creepy sociopaths, has been a revelation as a comic actor. Really, he makes me laugh out loud. Martha Plimpton has been great and I have been won over by Shannon Woodward. Just very good casting. (The senile grandma played by Cloris Leachman feels, not offensive, but cheap and unnecessary. I don't see her going away, though...unlike the live-in cousin who was in the pilot. I remember things, TV.) I'm still worried about its shelf-life, but for now the biggest surprise of the season.

Running Wilde: The show isn't that great and Keri Russell's character is a little on the grating side, but Will Arnett plays obliviously arrogant better than anyone and it's very hard not to appreciate that. He's helped by Mel Rodriguez as his butler and Peter Serafinowicz as his equally clueless rich man-child neighbor (the latter played Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's housemate in Shaun of the Dead). Nothing ground-breaking here, but entertaining enough.

Sons of Anarchy: After Mad Men, the show I most look forward to each week. I was nervous about this season being undermined by the kidnapped baby storyline, but it ended up serving as a catalyst to not only up the ante for everyone on the show but permanently change the landscape. 

Wednesday

South Park: I've been proselytizing for the appreciation of this show for years. Unfortunately, I think the initial hype surrounding it led a lot of people to write it off as a fad. However, I don't know another scripted show that covers current events better, especially with the ability to put popular hysteria into perspective. Sometimes they miss, as with this season's take on NASCAR (people who watch it are poor and stupid--get it?) But their misses are still more relevant than most shows (I even got Vinny Guns to watch--and like--the episode about Inception).

Thursday

Community: This is a very ambitious show and deserves credit for that. However, that also leads to each episode being more about style over substance. It feels like the writers are just trying to one-up each other in who can be the most hip and meta. Though the cast is good, there's just no investment in the characters.

30 Rock: The best sitcom on TV right now.

The Office: Slow, awkward start to the season, but they've rallied in recent episodes by falling back on their strength: Steve Carrell's Michael Scott. He's their Homer and I really don't see how they're going to keep this thing afloat when he leaves. Take Jim and Pam instead.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Suffered the same malaise as The Office, which is typical of successful shows that are on the other side of their fifth season. I think that struggling hunger is understandably gone and it takes a few episodes to get back to full steam. And like The Office and Michael, here more Charlie means more funny. Seriously, no more Mac episodes.

The League: This doesn't have the substance of some of the great comedies, but its in-the-moment laugh factor is pretty high. Second best comedy of the season so far.

Friday

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: This six episode series on IFC starred David Cross as a salesman who fakes his way into getting transferred to England to head the campaign to sell Thunder Muscle energy drink. Cross also plays a recurring character on Running Wilde...and Arnett shows up here as  Todd's chain-cursing boss. It was funny and worth catching on DVD, though I think they got all they could out of the plot and I can't say I'm excited about a rumored second season.

Saturday

Saturday Night Live: No, don't worry, I haven't started watching this. I just thought I should mention that, yes, this is still on and I can't even remember when I did last watch (not consistently, but at all) this one time can't miss show. I can't see it turning around as long as Lorne Michaels is still calling the shots. They desperately need a new voice behind the scenes and a fresher perspective on current sketch comedy talent.

Sunday

The Simpsons: The recycling of material is getting more and more noticeable, but what do you expect at this point. If you've watched it this far you're in it for the long haul. However long that haul may be.

Luther: I had moderately high hopes for this BBC detective show starring The Wire's Idris Elba. I watched one episode and was done. It may have gotten better, but I didn't like Elba's character (you know, the guy from the title). And there was a lot of choppy (sorry, cutting-edge) editing that was, well, annoying. Probably for the best. Who needs more TV to watch?

Mad Men: I thought this may have been the best season yet. A brilliant character arc for Don Draper within the overall arc that is the show as a whole. And excellent casting, as usual, for his love interests: Cara Buono (she was Artie's girlfriend in Beer League? Really?) and Jessica Pare. I admit, I was Team Faye, but Megan ain't a bad Option B. 

The Walking Dead: An excellent adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic series that even zombiephobe Vinny Guns is digging. Ok, so here's a gripe: having read the comics, I'm distracted by the changes they made for TV. Not that they made changes, but that they only changed some things, often for reasons I'm not sure were necessary. And then those changes force other changes and it becomes a whole thing. But that's me. It's been re-upped for a second season of 12 eps. I'm worried about the direction it's going, but I'll watch. For you.

And really, this has all been for you. I wouldn't have wasted my autumn like this if it weren't for SMC. But things are better now. By my count, now that Sons, Walking Dead, and Mad Men are done, I'm down to about 4 hours a week. That's not bad. Maybe I'll cure a disease or learn to spelunk. Or  better, watch some movies.

Lifetime Movies : 2001

This is my favorite film for 2001. David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. What started as a possible new TV show for Lynch, turns into a dream within a dream...an erotic, obsessive, scary film about friendship, stardom, doppelgangers, lesbian love, sex, betrayal...all the things that make a great Lynch film...but also starring two of the hottest ladies on film for 2001.

The Film was the first film (Non Porn)...that I actually thought I needed to relieve myself right in the theater..if you know what I mean...I mean I really liked The Fellowship of the Ring...but the closest I got aroused in that was when Viggo chased off those Ringwraiths. Lynch then went on to make Inland Empire 6 years later...we are awaiting something...anything from the man for the last 4 or so years...

Others:

The Royal Tannenbaums: one of my favorite Wes Anderson Films...the crazy paintings of those bear/people on ATVs made me laugh like a hyena in the theater

Memento: this gave me another director to follow forever...too bad Inception could not live up to the hype...that one will not make best of 2010

Star Watch: Michael Shannon

Boardwalk Empire has become slow, predictive and dull. The first two episodes were awesome...but then they lag on that dreadful Irish "Widow"...and even Buscemi became dull and predictable...but the last two episodes have erased all that...and the true star, Michael Shannon...the next "Daniel Day Lewis" (well maybe not that far...but maybe the next great actor...I knew him from the 2 minutes I watched Bug...then fast forwarded through Revolution Road to see just his scenes...but this guy is on fire in Boardwalk Empire...I don't want to give too much away but it's a must see if you have any interest in the show. The rest is standard mini-series stuff...Like The Walking Dead is now just ok (I heard Darabont fired all the writers on the show.....Boardwalk is one where I really felt like it was too long...and when my DVR was filled with more I felt an empty feeling like, "Do I really have to watch the rest of this?"

Check out Shannon he is great

Apocalypse Wow

Listen: Robert Duvall has decided to drop some posthumous napalm on Stanley Kubrick. I'm not sure if it was in the morning or how it smelled, but I bet it stings a little. Or would, if the dead could feel.

Kubrick was never known as an actor coddler, but are the performances in his films bad? Considering the results, does it even matter? This, of course, is directed to Vinny Guns, the resident expert on Stan the Man. Where will his allegiances fall?

Urkel!

First Annual SMC Pledge Drive

By donating now, you can help your favorite film distillers relocate from their GPS-resistant subterranean bunker to...wait for it...the freakin Godfather house.

That's right, the very Staten Island home you remember from the movie (the greatest of all time? To Be Distilled) is on the block for the bargain price of $2.9 million. That's only $2.9 million each from our fans! And in this market? How can we refuse?

Send Vinny Guns back to Shaolin. Boom!

Distill This!

Calm down, Nic. You're not due for a distillation yet. And a little tip: The Distillery feeds off screams. Screams and Sun Chips.

Playlist: Blood Into Wine

This documentary is about growing wine in Arizona, which if you know anything about wine or geology is unusual. If you are interested in the subject, that's a compelling enough story, but there's a hook. That would be that the leading winery owner is Maynard James Keenan, who you may know better as the leader of the groups Tool and A Perfect Circle (as well as side project Puscifer, featuring Milla Jovovich, who stops by during the film for a glass of wine). This isn't just another celebrity hobby, as Keenan is hands-on and fully committed to the success or failure of his business. While he is almost painfully low key at times in the film, there's no questioning his passion.

As a little added treat, there are clips of Keenan on a fictional talk show hosted by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim from Adult Swim's "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" If you like their show, you'll get a kick out of this.

Back to the wine, check out Keenan's Caduceus Cellars. Maybe he can score Coppola's next film starring Vincent Gallo as a winery owner with a long hidden secret about a woman played by Jennifer Connelly. (That's not a real thing, Vinny Guns. Sorry. Now go change your pants.)

Spotlight: Charlie Hunnam

Who am I to question the machinations of the gods? Their existence, sure; their machinations, never. So I can only sit back and enjoy this perfect storm of hunky British actor Hunnam, perhaps sparing a moment or two to consider the lazy overuse of the phrase "perfect storm" in the media. Here's how it breaks down:

Hunnam stars in one of my favorite current shows, Sons of Anarchy, which will be wrapping up its third season tonight--Boom! Instantly dating this post! In the time-honored tradition of half of Hollywood, he is in full American accent mode as a brooding biker Jax Teller. I suppose it helps that no one knows what an "American" sounds like, but really it's a non-issue here. In fact, when I first realized back in Season 1 where I had seen Hunnam before, I was shocked that it was as English pretty boy Lloyd Haythe in Judd Apatow's dead-on early millennium college sitcom, Undeclared.

I was a big fan of the show when it aired and for that reason alone wasn't surprised when it followed Apatow's previous show, Freaks and Geeks, to cancellation heaven. And I haven't seen it since. Then IFC goes and not only airs the full run of F and G, but--you know where I'm going with this, don't you--Undeclared. Score! Really, I was excited. Still am as it's currently airing Friday nights at 11 & 11:30. And it still holds up. Maybe it's nostalgia talking or maybe the college experience is a universal constant.

The third Hunnam front hit when I recently watched his 2004 film, Green Street Hooligans. Here we have cute little Elijah Wood going to England and joining his brother-in-law's West Ham football firm. For you Budweiser-swilling Americans, West Ham is a "soccer" team and its firm is basically a gang of violent supporters. You know, hooligans (the original Brit version is just called Green Street). Playing against type (he was best known at the time for his roles in Nicholas Nickleby and Queer as Folk), Hunnam shows the tough guy cred that would lead to his casting in Sons. The movie is good, good and violent at times (director Lexi Alexander--a woman!--would go on to make  2008's Punisher: War Zone), though the end resorts to cheap, and wholly unnecessary, emotional cliches. Ok, one other nit to pick: there's a scene early on where Wood is arguing the merits of baseball using the fact that "the Red Sox have a pitcher who can throw 90 MPH." In the filmmakers' defense, they were foreigners. In Elijah Wood's defense, he's Elijah Wood.

But where does it rank on the list of soccer movies? Tough call. While it is ostensibly about soccer, there is very little actual sport in the film. I'll have to get back to you on this one.

As for Hunnam, he's done some good work and is doing some very good work on Sons. It's all going to come down to how producers see him and what direction he wants to take his career. He has the looks and has shown the range to make him someone to watch.

Distillery: Francis Ford Coppola

Film	Year	Vin	Frank
Dementia 13	1963	x	-
You're a Big Boy Now	1966	-	x
Finian's Rainbow	1968	-	x
The Rain People	1969	+	+
The Godfather	1972	+	+
The Conversation	1974	+	+
The Godfather Part II	1974	+	+
Apocalypse Now	1979	+	+
One from the Heart	1982	+	x
The Outsiders	1983	+	+
Rumble Fish	1983	+	x
The Cotton Club	1984	+	x
Peggy Sue Got Married	1986	+	+
Gardens of Stone	1987	-	x
Tucker: The Man and His Dream	1988	+	x
The Godfather Part III	1990	+	+
Dracula	1992	+	-
Jack	1996	x	-
The Rainmaker	1997	+	x
Youth Without Youth	2007	x	+
Tetro	2009	+	+
FINAL DISTILLATION		71%	47%

Key: + = Film Liked; - = Film Not Liked; x = Film Not Seen

Playlist: The Rain People

Francis Ford Coppola's little known fourth film turns out to be quite a cinematic accomplishment. "Turns out" to me, of course; it's been that way for 41 years. It's another + in his Distillation (yes, I had to fire up Big D during the holiday weekend and, yes, I have the psychological scars to prove it) and raises FFC's score to a robust 60. Still, second place, but Finch is on notice.

The acting of the three leads--Shirley Knight, whose cross country flight from her marriage drives the story in more ways than one, Robert Duvall, of course, and Jimmy Caan, who looks more than a little like Edward Burns--is the centerpiece of a creatively and excitingly shot film. Seeing Caan here makes me wish someone would find a role for him other than the same old Sonny Corleone tough guy. He's earned a late career reanimation.

My only complaint is that the music used to emphasize some of the key emotional scenes only adds a distracting layer of melodrama. Just not a good fit. Still, one of Coppola's best.