- This is perhaps the weirdest suggestion that I'm ever going to make of you guys, but, from what I understand, the movie I'm about to suggest to everyone is a masterpiece. THE BEST OF YOUTH, this Italian epic spanning several decades in the lives of two brothers and the women in their lives, is supposed to be an easy-to-grasp work of complete genius. Every review I've read of it, including Ebert's, suggests that it's an incredibly moving film. I'm going to see it at the Landmark, where it's playing exclusively, sometime during the next two weeks. Why is it weird that I'm suggesting we all see this movie? Because THE BEST OF YOUTH, which is supposed to be phenomenally good, is about six hours long. The Landmark, helpfully, is showing it in two sections that are about three hours long. Part One is showing this week, and Part Two is showing the week after. I read somewhere that a bad movie can be too long no matter its actual length and that a good movie can be too short no matter how long it is. I'm seeing THE BEST OF YOUTH over the next two weeks to put that theory to the test.
- This week on NBC's PASSIONS, the entire town of Harmony, with its population of witches, possessed dolls, amnesiac heiresses and beautiful dumb people, was hit by a tsunami. What I saw of the show on my lunch break was hilarious and cheesy. Usually, the show is complete camp, unafraid of spectacularly bad taste in the name of fun. The tsunami just proves that. It's a really fun, intentionally over-the-top show. I highly recommend you catch the wave. (Yeah, I said it.)
- The Postal Service's album Give Up plays in my car pretty much constantly when I'm "in between" finding new stuff to listen to. It's upbeat, smart music that functions both as contemplative emo and fun dance stuff. I found the album, of course, after hearing it sampled in a TV commercial.
- Since the space Western SERENITY comes to theaters sometime in September, I ordered a copy of the cancelled television show it came from, FIREFLY, earlier this week from Amazon. This woman who works at my bookstore just raves and raves about the show, and they started replaying it on the SciFi Network in anticipation of the movie. The whole "space Western" premise is fun, and, from what I've watched, the show's got a pretty twisted backstory. And it's a Joss Whedon show. And the cast, including Nathan Fillion in the lead, is really good looking.
- THE MAGICIAN'S ASSISTANT by Ann Patchett is now being read by both Dena and Lindsay, whom I know read the blog. Dena actually started reading it because she read Lindsay's comments on the book here. I feel all-powerful, like I could just create book clubs on a whim.
- Ebert gave Jim Jarmusch's BROKEN FLOWERS four stars in his review. As I said earlier, I hated it. Hated hated hated it. Hated the endless, quiet scenes. Hated Bill Murray's take on a bemused ladies' man. Hated that the main actresses had so little to do and that the plot went nowhere. (Despite this, though, I am still going to see a six-hour Italian film based upon his recommendation. I usually agree with him.)
- I was supposed to go see a screening of THE DUKES OF HAZZARD earlier this week, but I missed it. From what I've read of the reviews, though, I didn't miss much. Of course, Jessica Simpson isn't really my cup of tea, anyway. Johnny Knoxville's cute. But isn't everyone just playing second-fiddle to the car? Besides, nobody's cuter than John Schneider was when he was in his 20's.
- Yesterday was Lupo's birthday. I love Lupo. Whoa, I think I just came up with a sitcom title for Logo.
- MURDERBALL, which I mentioned last week, is really good. Go see it.
- Reset your damn alarm clocks so that you can actually arrive at work on time.
- Clean your damn apartment.
- Make your damn bed.
- Come up with another curse word besides "damn."
- Check last week's list.
- Now that we're in August, what do you guys think the best movie blockbuster released this summer has been? I think it's BATMAN BEGINS, and I'm guessing a lot of you would agree with me. Anybody have any other suggestions? What upcoming films are you looking forward to?
- Would a studio release a documentary about an average guy who spends 30 days using some prize money to get himself a date with Drew Barrymore, even though he has no way of getting to her at all, if it didn't have a happy ending? I haven't seen the movie yet, but the trailer for MY DATE WITH DREW intrigued me. It looks funny. At one point, this average guy talks to Corey Feldman to see if he'll introduce him to Drew, as if she still talks to her old rehab buddies or anyone who reminds her of Tom Green. Would anybody let Corey Feldman set them up on a blind date?
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