i-heart-art

One of my icons died today. I realize that Yvonne De Carlo was much more than just Lily Munster, but "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family" are two of the main influences from my youth that set me on the path to Gothdom. Yvonne De Carlo was a beautiful woman, period, but Lily Munster had some great costumes. I know this post may sound a bit superficial - I do not mean for this to be so (I happen to be home sick with a fever, so I am a bit delirious). Yvonne was in the original Ten Commandments and Roots and so many more noteworthy projects. Her beauty and spirit will live on in my heart and many others, I'm sure.

So, I took some time out from studying for finals to go see Borat the other night, even though I broke my own rule of not seeing overly hyped films for a very long time if I don't see them within the first 2 weeks of release (I must admit that I kinda wish that I had waited because I have read so much about the film that there were few surprises, but I think that Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius - actually, he literally is a genius - and I have loved his work for the past several years). I had every intention of seeing this film during the opening weekend, but battling a nasty cold and keeping up/catching up with school prevented me from doing so. I own nearly every Ali G release (UK & US versions; the movie Indahouse & the TV series), so I am very familiar with Borat. I cannot wait for the feature film of his other character, Bruno - the gay fashion correspondent - he's not entirely unlike Borat, so I hope that film doesn't suffer because of all of the Borat controversies. Seeing an entire 90 minutes of Borat's cringe-inducing behavior was intense, though. I watched more of this film through my fingers than any scary movie, but I tend to respect comedians that hold a mirror up to their audiences and make them think about serious social issues while still making them laugh, so I have to say I liked it. I can't really say much about this film that hasn't already been said - it's certainly not for everyone - like Kid Rock, for instance. I really couldn't care less about Pamela Anderson or Kid Rock, but useless celebrity gossip is pretty hard to escape in our society and I absorb all kinds of useless trivia in case I find myself on a game show or something someday (I do pretty well at trivia-based board games too). [In case anyone reading this hasn't heard the rumor, this movie is allegedly what sparked the imminent divorce between Pamela & Kid Rock; supposedly, he called her a slut while watching a private screening of this film.], so I did find myself waiting to see what was so scandalous about Pamela's involvement in the film and I couldn't figure it out - I even sat through the credits to see if there was something incriminating afterwards, but no. Maybe their divorce really has nothing to do with Borat and the rumor is just a ruse - everyone else is getting their 15 minutes of fame by being mad at the producers of Borat, so why not Kid Rock? [You can argue that he has already experienced some fame, but not in my world...]

I happen to live in the town that premiered the stage musical version of Hairspray before it went on to Broadyway and won lots of Tonys. I used to be a theatre major and I do enjoy a more than a fair amount of musical theatre (some of it can be quite grating also). I don't begrudge the success of the stage version of this show - it was great - but I do protest the fact that they are now making a movie version of the stage version of this classic film. This also recently happened with The Producers and as much as I like Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane (I would have eagerly seen them perform the stage version if I'd had the opportunity), I just could not bring myself to see their movie version. Perhaps it's because I feel that Hollywood relies too heavily on remakes as it is that I feel this way, but it really does seem extra absurd to do a movie adaptation of a theatrical production which was an adaptation of a film (and a great one, at that).

I have wracked my brain to think of any other films that I feel that the Director's Cut was actually worse than the original release and I'm sure that there are some, but this is the only one that comes to mind quickly. I first saw Donnie Darko on DVD and my friend that rented it and I wound up watching it twice in a row because it was so weird and especially twisted at the end that we decided to give it a second viewing to see if it made any more sense and to make up our minds as to whether or not we really liked it. Overall, I decided that I liked it well enough - it does have a great soundtrack - but that the end was a bit weak, however, the Director's Cut edited out my very favorite part of the original - the best lines from Patrick Swayze's motivational speaker character (it's been too long since I've seen the original to remember the exact line that I am thinking of, but I know that it was part of the "Contolling Fear" video). There are lots of other strange changes - like changing the soundtrack around (songs places in different scenes and such) - so I strongly advise anyone who has not seen this movie at all to see the original and not bother with the Director's Cut and for anyone who has only seen the Director's Cut to make a point of watching the original to see if you might enjoy it more.

I hate to admit it, but I've never been to New York. It is particularly embarrassing because I used to be a theatre major and there are so many reasons that I've always felt drawn to NYC, mostly related to art (in all forms) - it probably started the first time I heard Frank Sinatra sing "New York, New York" (not to mention the first time I heard Al Jarreau sing "On Broadway") when I was little and it has continued throughout the years. Everything from hearing NY hip hop artists shout out their love to their 'hoods (or to all five burroughs) to reading about what's going on on (& off) Broadway or reading any book, newspaper, or magazine about New York to seeing almost any film in/about New York City pulls on my heart strings and sets off the little voice in my head that tells me to go, but I also have gained a lot of fear about New York - NYC, in particular - as I have grown up. I grew up on the West Coast and not only have I never been to New York, I've never been farther east than Detroit, MI (I was born in Chicago, have relatives in the Midwest). As I have grown up, I have been taught that the East Coast is very different from the West Coast - mostly by people who have lived or spent considerable time on the East Coast - and I have grown afraid that my casual, slower-paced West Coast personality/attitude/mentality will just get crushed or eaten up in NYC (this is me talking in terms of wanting to live there, not just visit). The other reality is that NYC is expensive, so even if/when I overcome my fear, I am far from being able to afford to live there and I will have to save up for some time to have a really decent vacation there...which brings me back to blogging about this film - it really is a beautiful tour. Even though I realize that he is no longer a tour guide, I would love to have Speed Levitch show me around when I do finally set foot in New York City. He may be eccentric, but he has beautiful, mind-expanding observations. I also love him in Waking Life, which is one of my favorite films EVER.

So I just got back from seeing Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette...against my better judgement. Don't get me wrong - I have loved Sofia's other 2 films (just check my ratings) and I even like Kirsten Dunst, but I cannot stand period films with anachronistic soundtracks. Worse still, this particular soundtrack happens to be full of some of my favorite bands and songs (as Sofia's films always are, but that's usually a good thing...). Anyway, the only reason that I saw this film today is because a friend of mine invited me and we tend to have similar tastes in films. We did go into this one knowing that I was less excited about it than she and I let her know my reasons, however, she is in her early 20s and I am in my early 30s, so the very thing that was a major detractor for me (the soundtrack) was an attractor for her - it's supposed to work that way, I get it...I ultimately consented to go to the film because I realized that I had a ticket for free admission to one of the better theaters in our area showing this film (I had previously planned to just wait for this to go to a second-run theater or DVD).

It's hard for me to separate my feelings for the film from my feelings about the soundtrack because, let's face it - the soundtracks are always an integral part of Sofia's films, but my young-but-wise friend summed it up nicely after the film when she said, "this film out of all of [Sofia Coppola's] films had the least [developed] story even though it merits the most". I would also like to add that I need to believe that it was Robert Smith's requirement to only allow a few bars of an instrumental intro to one of his songs to be played during the film and to only consent to having a song with his vocals to be played during the closing credits so that I can sleep at night (FYI, I do know which Cure songs these were, but I try really hard not to divulge any spoilers in my blogs).

It is pretty impossible for me to rate this one because I certainly don't feel neutral about it and I never lost interest - I launched an extensive internet search about the subject of this documentary, Tommy Tranchin, after I learned that he committed suicide 2-3 years ago, at the age of 15. This documentary is about the struggle between 2 parents to decide on how to best educate their deaf son (they also have a hearing son). The wife feels very strongly that he should be taught to learn to speak without any knowledge or use of any type of sign system and the husband, who is actually the one that filmed the documentary as he travelled the country visiting different schools with different methods of teaching deaf children as well as spending time with the parents of some of those children and interviewing them on their choices and experiences, seems more open to allowing Tommy to learn sign language (which means that the family would also have to learn sign language). Most people who are not learning sign language or closely related (or in a friendship with) a Deaf person have little reason to know about the history of Deaf culture (or why I sometimes spell deaf with a capital "D" and sometimes not), including the ongoing conflicts and controversies over the best methods for educating deaf children...but the bottom line is that it is generally easier for a child that is born deaf to learn sign language first, then to learn English as a second language. Anyway, Thomas's mother's reasons for not wanting her son to learn sign language were so infuriating and then to learn that he committed suicide about 10 years after this documentary (whether or not it was due to any conflicts with his mother - rather than place blame on a parent, I can say that it would be easy to conceive that he was having a hard existence, struggling to understand and be understood after not being given a proper language and educational foundation) was just heartbreaking.

I am sure that it is because I didn't see this movie until last year, while studying ASL, and because we read the play before watching the film for class, but I strongly disliked this film - it completely misses the point of the play from which it is adapted. Furthermore, it is still quite controversial within the Deaf community that Marlee Matlin won an Oscar for portraying a Deaf woman that was fiercely proud of her deafness and did not want to be taught oralism (speaking and reading lips), then proceeded to voice her entire Oscar acceptance speech - she used no sign language. Both the film adaptation of this movie and the sadly ironic Oscar moment were slaps in the face to the Deaf community that I have come to care deeply for and with whom I sympathise. On the other hand, ignorance is bliss and I suppose that it could be an enjoyable film if one did not have knowledge of the Deaf community or the politcs therein.

I was lucky enough to attend a preview screening of this film tonight and, like Shakes the Clown, Bobcat has made another (cult) masterpiece. Not only is this movie laugh-out-loud funny, it also has some very touching moments (I almost felt like crying at one point). With this film, Bobcat gives us a near-perfect romantic dark comedy and pretty well perfects the dynamic of a painfully dysfunctional family - some awkward interactions were so plausible as to be wince-inducing (and usually funny at the same time). During the Q&A afterward, Bobcat did admit that some of the family characters were a bit autobiographical ("You write what you know, right?"). It was a pleasure to hear him speak about the process of getting this film made because it really is far from mainstream and it is gratifying, even as a consumer, to see something of substance actually get distribution in spite of the Hollywood Machine, so it is even more enjoyable to see the creator marvel over the successful (not meant in a commercial sense) fruition of his labor.

That's really all I wanted to say - I am a hug fan of standup comedy, so this was a huge treat. One of his best.

Maybe it's because I've seen this movie about a billion times, but I must confess that I do sometimes get bored during parts of this film, but I must always watch the beginning at least through Bauhaus' nightclub performance and check back in for Susan Sarandon's hot *** scene. It is a classic and worthy of full viewing many times, but I just happened to go see it as a midnight movie almost every weekend for several months because a favorite movie house was closing down, so I simply overdid it.

Overall, this movie is at least worthy of a rental or matinee. There are several laugh out loud moments, but the film is fairly predictable and the racial stereotypes were a bit much. Worst of all, not enough David Cross!