After an outstanding conversation with my friend Harry on gchat, I have decided upon a new 2009 project. This one will not take as much time as my other project, but I think it will be extremely interesting nonetheless, I will be going back and systematically watching all the Bond movies from the beginning (Dr. No) to the upcoming Quantum of Solace. I do not necessarily intend to provide any in-depth analysis, this project is more for fun and nostalgia. No new blog is necessary, I will just post them in here with their own individual posts, tagged “2009 Bond Project,” or something along those lines. To further explain the opening quote from our conversation, we moved from The Simpsons to South Park to Bond films, but surprisingly the South Park discussion was the most interesting of the three. “ST” is referring to my all-time favorite episode, “Scott Tenorman Must Die.” (My following favorites are “Lil’ Crime Stoppers” and “Cartman’s Incredible Gift.”) All I can think about is how these are TV shows (cartoons to be more precise) and yet we both look at them so critically, just take a look at my thoughts on the season premiere of The Office, perhaps I should just be content with the laughs and leave it at that.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, I spent most of it at work or at home with Michael and Bill, nothing too exciting. Big win for the Falcons today, a bit too close for comfort but a “W” nonetheless.

(lab screening) Il Sorpasso – 7.5/10 <- - Unfortunately we watched a rough copy of this film as it is has not been released on DVD in America, the subtitles were extremely difficult to read but I do not think it too much away from it (although I would like to be able to eventually see it and know all that is said). I loved the drastic difference of the two main characters and enjoyed the entire film, great movie.

(lab screening) Apocalypse Now – 9/10 <- - I have seen bits and pieces of this over the past few years in various film classes and even own a copy, yet I had never seen it. It took a screening for class for me to watch it, and what an amazing accomplishment of a film. Its enormous runtime is not even noticeable due to how interesting the story is, leaving the viewer involved enough to the point as to where they do not want it to end. I need to watch it again, and I am sure that most of you all have seen it, I am extremely glad I finally watched it.

Sunshine – 7.5/10 <- - This was an incredible film, one that I had heard very little about (even though it was directed by Danny Boyle), did this film have a theatrical release? I really do not remember seeing it in theatres around here, but I could have just missed it. I thought the majority of this film was fantastic, aside from one element that I will not state because if you have not seen the film then it will ruin a good deal of it, but I thought it was unnecessary and maybe even a cheap way of propelling the story/ highlighting the climax? Absolutely beautiful ending even though it is blatantly foreshadowed it still struck me as breathtaking. I could see people not liking this film, but I on the other hand, loved it and you should give it at least one try.

(revisit) Boogie Nights – 9(potentially higher)/10 <- - People would probably call me crazy for rating Boogie Nights the same as Apocalypse Now, but there is just something about this film that I absolutely love. Talk about a film you never want to end, Paul Thomas Anderson is the most consistent (and my favorite) director of the past fifteen years. How can someone be thirty-eight years old and have the impressive filmography of Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, and There Will Be Blood, not a single bad film (I know there is a lot of hatred for Punch-Drunk Love but it’s a masterpiece of visual art and sound regardless of “enjoyability” ). This was maybe my third time watching Boogie Nights and this marks the first time I started noting extreme parallels to some great films. The two most noticeable are the steadicam shot at the beginning in the nightclub is extremely similar to the world-famous steadicam shot in Goodfellas at the Cococabana and the second is the closing sequence with Mark Wahlberg, who has gone from nothing to everything to nothing to just a washed-up, recovering individual, talking into a mirror, pep talking himself before his shoot. Of course Raging Bull comes to mind, with La Motta, after going through a very similar sequence of events insofar as he starts at nothing, rises, falls, and starts to slowly recover, talks himself up (“I’m the boss, I’m the boss). It’s surprising to me that I never noticed these things but still am glad P.T. Anderson can borrow them, still make them his own (assuming they were intentional, which I am positive the closing sequence was), and have them working towards the brilliance that is Boogie Nights. I love, love, love this film, everyone should definitely see it at least once.

The Happening – 5/10 <- - Avoided this in theatres due to the fact that it was not one of the big summer releases for me, but still was looking forward to seeing it. Surprisingly enough, I expected a bit more out of this movie, personally I thought a choice outside of Mark Wahlberg would’ve definitely helped, sometimes he just got a bit annoying. Nevertheless it was still a pretty good story but with extremely weak writing and the viewer is virtually incapable of taking personal interest in the main characters (outside of the little girl, maybe) which all add up to a subpar film. I have to say though, this film solicited quite a few laughs from Bill, Wes, and I while watching it.

You Don’t Mess With the Zohan – 2/10 <- - Look back at previous posts and my rules about rating comedies, and you’ll understand. This movie was ridiculous and stupid at times, but I have to say it was pretty damn funny. It was nothing too special, but in my opinion, had enough laughs to make it worth at least one watch.

I love Minus the Bear and literally all of their music, it’s so relaxing and always fitting. Look at these lyrics from “This Ain’t a Surfin’ Movie” –

I hope the weather holds,
but you don't need the sun to make you shine.
These island towns don't care for city folk,
but I think we can starve the city from our minds.

I could listen to them non-stop all day every day, and I get to see them for the fourth time on November 1^st at the Variety Playhouse, I could not be more excited about it. On the topic of music, it’s starting to cool down and I have been playing a good deal of Brand New and Murder by Death (March 23^rd, Drunken Unicorn!), anything slower paced and “deeper” for autumn, what a great time of year.

Some new BlackBerry Storm pictures and then I am off to work, I hope everyone's week is going well.

That's it for now, thanks as always for reading!

Currently Listening To: MInus the Bear (entire discography)

Currently Reading: Affliction

Det första programmet handlar om en tvåbarnsmamma i USA som spelar in vuxenfilm, kan bli väldigt intressant.

22:05 börjar dokumentären om klassiska Långt ner i halsen (som jag inte sett tyvärr). 23:35 bryter SVT för lite nyheter och 22:40 får vi följa med och träffa legendariska aktören Ron Jeremy.

Kvällen avslutas med Boogie nights vid ett-tiden i natt.

Förresten mycket kul att det kom lite kommentarer på mitt inlägg om webb-tv, kommer förmodligen författa ett inlägg om det imorgon där jag förtydligar det jag menade i det hastiga inlägget häromdagen.

The first time I heard this song was during the movie "Boogie Nights". It's playing in the scene where Dirk Diggler is at Jack Horner's pool party. There's a slow motion shot of him jumping off of a diving board into a pool. I only heard a snippet of it then. At my new job our radio is set to a Sirius radio station that plays all this safe mainstream music from the 70', 80's & 90's. This song came on and I finally heard all of it. It triggered all these memories of the movie. I fell in love with this song.

The hook just gives me goosebumps...hehe. And when he hits that high note at the end...man, it's so good. I know this isn't a great song and some may find it corny, but right now it is making me so happy.

Andrew Gold, the gentleman who sings this song is also responsible for the song used as the opening theme song for the classic TV show, "The Golden Girls". I love that song also. "Thank You For Being A Friend"

Last night, I did nothing. Nada. Which makes for some tough blogging.

I have, though, been thinking about making a CD of 80’s pop songs entirely from movie soundtracks. So far, I have:

01.  Back In Time – Huey Lewis and The News (Back To The Future)

02.  The Touch - Stan Bush (Transformers: The Movie) – this was an animated movie in 1986, and was comically covered by a greatly drugged up Mark Whalberg and John C. Reilly in ‘Boogie Nights’.

03.  You’re The Best – Joe Esposito (Karate Kid)

And I’m thinking of doing ‘Eye of the Tiger’ from ‘Rocky’ as well – though I’m fairly certain that was from the late 70’s. If you’ve got any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

My brother turns 18 today. That’s not as scary as some make out, but still rather strange. In the eyes of the world, certainly in the UK, he is a man – he can basically do anything legal. What can also happen is he can be tried as an adult.

Of course, I would never suggest that my brother is a criminal-in-waiting, but I do worry about some of the things he does seem to do, for which he is now fully accountable. I’m probably being overprotective. But still, it’s a worry.

In other news, and I would suggest this is probably only of interest to the people reading this who know what the Hoffman Process is, and what it entails, I am finally making public that I am attending ‘Closure’ as a returning graduate at Florence House on September 18^th.

I have been keeping this secret for a reason, and it is thus: to be honest, I felt bad.

You see, on the whole, I feel bloody fantastic. My life is incomparable to what it once was, as is my mood, my outlook and my general demeanour. In addition, in my opinion, I am doing great post-process work; really keeping in touch with the practices and tools we were armed with, and going to ‘Closure’ was just another step in that direction to keep things ‘topped up’.

I felt bad because, as is apparent from emails, etc, and tied into my desire to keep a bit of a healthy distance, (see yesterday’s entry) I didn’t want to be seen to be rubbing it people’s face – saying ‘I’m doing fucking great, and look how much I am keeping in touch with the things and you losers aren't!’ That’s in no way how I feel at all, but I can understand in the monotone and expressionless world of emails, it could easily be interpreted that way.

So, if you are reading this, and you feel in any way ‘put upon’ or similar, my apologies to you. My favourite saying post-process is ‘it’s not about me’ – this one is.

Until tomorrow, when I will have plenty to write about for sure.

Love and light to you all

Closed Box

There's an old saying that when your time comes to sell out, you don't call it "selling out;" you call it "cashing in." For many modern film actors (and probably actors of previous eras, though it's hard to say without proper context) careers begin with sharp and well-crafted projects but atrophy over time into box office schlock. This is especially obvious, and perhaps the career changes seem more disingenuous, for actors of Generation X, who had early opportunities to star in quality independent films but sought more public appeal - and bigger paychecks - as they matured.

We like to think the seven actors and actresses below saw their slow decline into lesser films as merely seizing their chance to cash in. They may very well have had better reasons than money or fame to embrace more commercially viable projects when they did. We should also mention those listed below are not necessarily the actors we feel most egregious in selling out or even the greediest. These are the ones we miss liking, however, or respecting for their choices of roles. They're in no particular heirarchy, either.

1. Ben Stiller Audiences know him now as: the relentlessly smug star of such romantic and family "comedies" as The Heartbreak Kid and Night At the Museum. But once not long ago he was: an intelligent leading and character actor unafraid to embrace offbeat work in films such as Zero Effect, Permananent Midnight, and Flirting With Disaster. For a little while in the late 90s, Stiller seemed poised to become the Charles Grodin of his generation - and we mean that in a good way. Where it started to go wrong: one could argue as early as 1994, with the meticulously cynical target-demographic marketing of Reality Bites. Realistically, with the juggernaut success of There's Something About Mary. How to get back: Tropic Thunder won't be enough. Return to something edgy and smart, and go three movies without sucking in the cheeks and looking painfully startled. And no more romantic comedies. At all.

2. John C. Reilly Audience know him now as: Will Ferrell's wingman. But once not long ago he was: one of the most promising actors of his generation, stealing films like Magnolia and The Perfect Storm out from under his better-looking co-stars. His pre-Boogie Nights work is especially memorable, including supporting roles in Georgia, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, and State of Grace. If you don't remember him in those films, that's sort of what we're talking about when we say the guy could play anybody. Where It Started To Go Wrong: throwing in with Ferrell for Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby. To be fair, though, Walk Hard was pretty funny. How to get back: the comeback may have already started, thanks to this summer's The Promotion. Failing that, call his frequent costar Philip Seymour Hoffman for comeback advice. That guy apparently holds the Philosopher's Stone for career renovation.

3. Natalie Portman Audience know her now as: part of any movie based on something with a special display at Barnes & Noble: The Other Boleyn Girl, Goya's Ghosts, Cold Mountain. But once not long ago she was: the face of future Hollywood, after appealing performances in Beautiful Girls, Leon, and Heat. Where It Started To Go Wrong: the Star Wars prequels; alternately, the lousy Closer. How to get back: eschew all the faux highbrow roles for something with depth and topical resonance. No more period costume pieces.

4. John Cusack Audience know him now as: the astonishingly likeable leading man whose recent films have gone all over the damn place yet somehow remain equally unmemorable. But once not long ago he was: Lloyd Dobler, the one guy that raised the bar for anybody trying to date any woman under 30 throughout the 1990s. Where It Started To Go Wrong: he seems to have perfected his lovesick ex-boyfriend persona with 2000's High Fidelity. It's been mostly mediocre romcoms and plodding melodramas ever since. You often get the sense he's not even trying anymore. How to get back: accept that he's growing older and take intelligent parts in smart films that don't cost a pile of money. Of everyone on this list, Cusack likely has the most forgiving fans, and they deserve to see him in a film as good as he can be himself.

5. Steve Martin Audience know him now as: the formerly great actor-comedian-writer taken to slumming in the Pink Panther movies or bullshit like Bringing Down The House. But once not long ago he was: at first, a wild and crazy guy; The Jerk is arguably the funniest movie ever made. Then, mid-career, as the elegant intellectual wit behind Roxanne, L.A. Story, and The Man With Two Brains. Where It Started To Go Wrong: the decline began with 1996's Sgt. Bilko but got worse with the aforementioned Bringing Down the House in 2003. And of course, the notorious Pink Panther. How to get back: Start writing more personal and articulate movies, as he did with Shopgirl, but cast bigger stars in them. Speaking of Shopgirl...

6. Claire Danes Audience know her now as: the lovely star of My So-Called Life and Romeo + Juliet who's had trouble transitioning into adult roles. But once not long ago she was: Angela Chase, a female counterpart to Lloyd Dobler if ever such a thing existed. Where It Started To Go Wrong: Danes' early film work showed promise, if the movies themselves were often too precious by half (To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday, Polish Wedding). Back-to-back flops in The Mod Squad and Brokedown Palace, followed by a hiatus for college, didn't help. How to get back: head up an edgy cable drama or learn to pick better scripts from among both the mainstream and indie offerings. Also, acting as spokesmodel for Gucci won't exactly endear her to the general public.

7. William H. Macy Audience know him now as: the fey wimp from 2007's execrable Wild Hogs. But once not long ago he was: an actor's actor working with established storytellers (David Mamet) and upstart talent (P.T. Anderson) with equal focus and craftsmanlike technique. Immediately endearing even when playing pathetic losers (as in The Cooler and Fargo) Macy seemed guaranteed to build a long, rich career. Where It Started To Go Wrong: hard to say; his projects have remained diverse for much of the last decade, though in smaller and less distinguished projects. How to get back: IMDB lists no less than five films currently in post-production, though most seem to be weird indie efforts. Maybe see what David Mamet is currently up to, or find the right cable TV project.

- Michael Kabel

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Sick trip, sick weather, sick surf, sick dudes, sick time, sick eta, sick cheap alc ....

awesome lameness back home.

Magnolia is incredibly dense, incredibly deep and on an incredibly wide scale.  Clocking in at just over 3 hours long, this movie screams epic.  It interweaves nine separate storylines, all taking place in the San Fernando Valley.  PTA said he wanted to make "the epic, the all-time great San Fernando Valley movie", and I can't help but think that he succeeded.  In fact, there's so much to this movie that I'm going to have to resort to bullet points, and I don't know how far that will take us:

• I just read the Wikipedia article for this, and it really gives you a sense of the depth of this movie, what with all the storylines and the thematic elements and such.
• John C. Reilly is a chameleon.  He can be as silly or as serious as he wants, he can be in fucking Step Brothers or he can be in an incredible string of Oscar bait movies like Boogie Nights (also PTA), Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, and The Aviator.  I just want him to come back to serious roles again, so he can be remembered for not just being Will Ferrell's sidekick.  Then again, an Oscar nominee who makes viral comedy videos is amazing.  Oh, well.  By the way, he's incredible here as police officer Jim Kurring.  That was my original point.  He seems to be one of three purely good souls that are main characters here.  The other two are about to follow, but I just want to say that if you want to remake any movie that had Karl Malden in it, please please please cast John C. Reilly.  They seem like they'd be perfect for each other's roles.
• The second good guy is Philip Seymour Hoffman as Phil Parma, and word has finally gotten out that this could be the best actor in Hollywood.  He hadn't yet come into his own here, and I personally liked his work from Boogie Nights better, but he does the "I know how serious this moment is" cry very well, and a lot.
• The final good guy is child actor Jeremy Blackman as quizboy Stanley Spector.  He's solidly in Haley Joel Osment territory here, with big eyes that are very serious and a way of carrying himself that gives away how intelligent he is, or his character at least.  His character is possibly the most interesting.
• I really wish Tom Cruise wasn't a fucking douchebag Scientologist.  The douchebag part is more important, because everyone still loved Isaac Hayes, even after he quit South Park over his beliefs.  RIP Chef.  I wish Tom Cruise wasn't a douchebag because he's a great actor, really really creepy and awesome here as Frank T.J. Mackey, a guy who teaches other guys how to, you guessed it (actually, I really hope you didn't guess it), turn women into their sexual playthings.  He gets a great reveal.
• I get to talk about Jason Robards again! He's so amazing here as "Big" Earl Partridge, probably my second favorite performance, and he gives vitality to a character on his deathbed throughout the whole movie, while adding the authenticity to that very deathbed.  He's one of those actors that's always himself as the role, like George Clooney or Cary Grant, but he makes it work better than anyone I've seen.
• My favorite performance goes to William H. Macy as former quizboy Donnie Smith, a man who was warped by the childhood that Stanley Spector is on his way to having - his dad took all his prize money, and as he says, "I really do have love to give! I just don't know where to put it."  He's so great and twitchy, I just love his character even though he has such little inherent pathos.
• 728 words and only talking about the actors so far.  Jeez.  Okay, so the writing is so good it's beyond comprehension.  The way that unrelated stories come together without you even realizing it - I mean, it's not your classic come-together story in that all the stories converge on one point, it's that every story influences another story in the movie, whether at the beginning, middle or end, and these connections are what the preamble of the movie talk about, how interlocking circumstance is really what makes the world go round, and if enough circumstances come together, real shit goes down.  And it goes down.  In addition, the dialogue has that great combination of being real and being cinematic and dramatic that now seems to be PTA's trademark.
• Let me backtrack for a second.  Paul Thomas Anderson is an incredible young filmmaker.  His three biggies have been, in succession, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood.  All of them are long, deeply interesting, engaging films that make you think, and hard.  He is on my shortlist of filmmakers to watch as I grow older.
• He was the writer-director on all three of those films, and his directing here is also incredible, if a little Kubrickian in its mercilessness.  Its long closeups on the pained expressions of Cruise, Robards, Philip Baker Hall as game show host Jimmy Gator (also great here), and others are probably the trademark of this film.
• Thematically, apart from the chance encounters thing that I talked about earlier, a lot of this is how familial relationships shape our interactions with the rest of the world, with Robards influencing Cruise, Stanley's dad fucking him up, and others.  It's a really tough theme, but PTA handles it well.
• PTA's director of photography for all of his movies, Robert Elswit, was great if not "oh my god look at that camerawork" great here.  Elswit did win the Oscar for TWBB, though I thought that Roger Deakins deserved it for the second best movie of last year, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.  Still, Elswit rules - he also did work for Michael Clayton, and surprisingly, Good Night and Good Luck, and anyone who's seen that movie can tell you how much he did for that movie.

SPOILERS

• If this film is remembered for one thing, it will be the frogs.  Oh my god, the frogs.  Why they fell from the sky, no one tells you when you're watching the movie, except for Stanley when he says, "This happens" at his moment of childhood serenity that happens for most kids at the end of movies of depth (see the two good M. Night movies, Star Wars Ep. I, literally any teen movie that has a protagonist).  See the wikipedia article for its significance, I'm still not entirely sure about it, but what I do know is that it's done so artfully and epically that I don't need to know what it means.  It seems like it fit at the time when a beloved TV icon was about to kill himself after revealing that he may have molested his daughter, when the greatest misogynist the world has ever known cries at his father's deathbed for abandoning his mother, and when a quizboy-turned-thief has a change of heart for the wrong reasons.
• I didn't know that kids say remarkably profound monologues when they pee their pants.  I want to see if that happens a lot.
• The whole issue with Donnie Smith and the braces made me want to cry in the best way, because it's such pure heartache and unadulterated, adolescent love in the craziest way that I have no idea how else to react.

Okay, nearly 1400 words is enough.  Hope you got through it all and don't hate me for it.  I know you won't, Kriti, I'm talking to everyone else.

MC FROST-I CAN'T STAND YOU'RE WAYS             PRECIOUS MEMORIES- RESPECTISM

ZETA- PEN VS. SWORD                                         SKYHOOKS- HORROR MOVIE

ZETA- RUNAWAY                                                  LES YUEX NOIRS-CIOARA

THE BLACK SORROWS-COME ON COME ON          MC FROST- CONFRONT THE FACT

PRECIOUS MEMORIES- NETHERBY IN SPRINGFIELD

Show 21- Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Film News:Merc. Cinema. Don't forget to book for the new Gus Van Sant film "Paranoid Park" that screens August the 4th. The cost is only $11/$9 for a student.

Seniors on screen starts August 1st. So get anyone over 50 down to 13 Morphett street to see a great selection of films and participate in workshops Tickets only $4. Details for both can be found @ www.mercurycinema.org.au

New Releases include The Savages (NEW PSH film), How About You?, The X Files: I Want To Believe (*Possibly the Razzie of the year) and The Forbidden Kingdom

The Melbourne International Film Festival started last Thursday. It's on till the 10th of August. http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/2008/2008_festival The Brisbane Film Festival too will get underway on the 31st of July till the 10th of August. The impressive line-up will include In Bruges starring Colin Farell and Ralph Fiennes, Wong Kar-Wai's latest movie Ashes of Time: Redux, the B&W animation Persepolis and David Mamet's new Martial Arts film Redbelt. http://www.stgeorgebiff.com.au/

Phillip Seymour Hoffman

In honor of his new film The Savages we wanted to explore the acting man-bear that is the other Hoff man

Hoffman is quite the versatile beast. He is well known for his range of characters. He can go from gay pornstar boom operators, timid joe schmos to aggressive mattress vendors like that.  Alas i do no justice to  him check out his impressive  CV @http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000450/

A few of our mutual favourites to check out include:

Boogie Nights (1997) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson       The Big Lebowski (1998 ) dir.The Cohens

Happiness (1998 ) dir. Todd Solondz               Punch-Drunk Love (2002) dir. PTA

Playlist: SNIFFIN THE TEARS-DRIVER'S SEAT//REM-HAPPINESS//ELO-LIVIN' THING//AIR SUPPLY-ALL OUT OF LOVE

Catch- TOM ;)

As a music enthusiast, I feel the same way about musicians. Since, I hold a particular affinity for those of the rock variety, I’ve seen the film Almost Famous so many times that I now ration its viewings. Naturally, I really wanted ... no yearned for Rock Star (2001) to be good. Maybe my expectations were set too high, because I found Rock Star to be mediocre to boring.

But why? The plot concept is great and the actors are perfectly cast. So what went wrong? The answer lies in the DVD extras, where one of its creators say that the movie is supposed to be a parody of 80s arena rock. Spinal Tap is a parody of arena rock. Rock Star is an earnest drama about the path to self-hood that tries to be a parody when it’s not too busy soul-searching. This mix doesn’t work. And the flick misses the mark on both parody and drama. (It doesn’t quite fail, it just hits the widest ring on the target.) Furthermore, the Steel Dragons are not a real band and nobody is interested in watching extended scenes of their performance. During one such sequence I minimized the screen and checked my e-mail without missing a beat (get it? A beat!).

But every thorn has its rose, and this movie has a few pretty buds. The plot revolves around the rise and fall of loser wannabe rockstar and his girlfriend. As I mentioned earlier, the lead casting is perfect. Mark Wahlberg is the quintessential everyman. If somebody were to revive Death of a Salesman, Wahlberg should be cast as Willy Loman. He’s ambitious and attractive in a way more evocative of successful car mechanic than of a leading man. Wahlberg's qualities are so striking that three years previous another director spotted his dynamic and used it in a much better film, Boogie Nights. Similarly, Jenifer Aniston is the everywoman -- beautiful in a bland way. She was a believable waitress in Office Space, a believable sales clerk in The Good Wife, and a believable maid in Friends with Money for the same reason that Bradd Pitt dumped her for another woman. (Angelina Jolie is not a believable waitress; she is a believable assassin.) And similarly, those are all better films. Who can forget Anistan's argument about flair?

And everybody's a sucker for a "true story" or a least something with a little verisimilitude. Seems that this movie is inspired by Ripper Owen's rise from fan to member of the band Judas Priest. (Check out this 1997 NYTimes article for backstory.) Oh and what about the guy (John Corabi) who temporarily replaced Vince Neil? He must have had an experience similar to this one. (Except that Corabi got fired from Motley Crue.) I wonder what these guys have to say about the film. What do you think?

All in all, Rock Star is a good flick to catch on a rainy Sunday afternoon if it happens to air on VH1's Movies That Rock ... or, if you're like me, desperate for a rock 'n' roll film fix.

But don't take my word for it; check out these cool reviews:

Steve Rhodes on CelebrityWonder.com disagrees with me and thinks casting ruined the movie.

MoviesForGuys.com calls it a "formula movie that works."

A.O. Scott of the NY Times calls Almost Famous "more complex and better written."

TheCelebrityCafe.com says "If you've ever dreamed of being a Rock Star, then don't miss this!"

*Quote to the best of my memory

When I set out to watch a movie I don't look for something to entertain me. I look for something that will make me feel like the 2-hours spent in front of a screen have improved me as a person ... or at least increased my pop culture knowledge in some vital way. I'd like to imagine that this desire is due to my superior quality as a journalist, but I really think it's a psychosis dating back to junior high when everybody else was allowed to watch Rated R movies except me.

In an effort to make up for years of lost time, I go to the movie store in search of the great, formerly forbidden pop culture classic known as Requiem for a Dream. (Disclaimer: This search may have as much to do with my junior high-era crush on Jordan Catalano of My So-Called Life as a need for good cinema.)

So I find my way to the "R" shelf of the drama section and I'm all excited cause I've waited years for this very moment and then ... the movie isn't there. I just stand there and stare at the shelf utterly disappointed until a movie clerk comes up to me. He says, "Can I help you find a movie?"

"No, the movie I'm looking for isn't there."

"Well, I can help you find it."

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can."

"OK, fine," I give up. The path of least resistance.

Except that now I am stranded in the "R" shelf of the drama section of the movie store waiting for this dude to come back. I really want to see if they have the new season of Entourage, but if I go to the "television" section the dude--who promised to be gone only a second--won't be able to find me. And while I am waiting several strings of seconds I pick up the movie Rockstar with Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. Now if you know me at all, you are probably aware that I have a certain penchant for musicians of the rock variety. This affinity carries over to cinema (Almost Famous is my fave movie of all time). However, my intuition warns me that this movie must be awful. There is no way that an obscure-yet-not-arthouse movie with two big stars in leading roles can be good. It defies the laws of economics. I put the movie down.

The movie dude returns and says, "You were looking in the right place, Requiem for a Dream just isn't there."

"Uhh, thanks?" What was I supposed to say: thank you very much for making me wait for a movie i knew wasn't there? I should've asked for a discount. Instead, I picked up the movie Rock Star and shuffled to the check out.

So what happened? Was the movie as bad as I expected? Was Mark Wahlberg hotter in Boogie Nights? You'll just have to wait and see.

Check out the next exciting installment for: the actual movie review!

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Hoje é aniversário de Paul Thomas Anderson, mas o presente quem ganha, somos nós brasileiros: 11 anos depois de sua estréia, Boogie Nights finalmente será lançado em DVD no Brasil. A data prevista é dia 16 de julho. Antes do parabéns, clique no banner do filme...

E agora, depois de comer os doces e salgados da festa, aprecie sem moderação(e sem legenda), uma das melhores cenas do filme(e da história do cinema):

Before you made Hard Eight I presume that this wasn’t the first script you wrote. How come you chose it to be your first one?

Yes I had only written maybe one or two other scripts that I didn’t really like that much and I liked this one and it seemed that I could do it. It seemed that I could make a movie which was small with only four characters in Reno, Nevada and that I could raise money for it. It was really all I had.

You had no choice!

Yeah but I really didn’t need any other choice. It was that movie that I wanted to make. I got very lucky on that movie just to start making it but I got in a lot of trouble when I made the movie. There were some producers that fired me actually after I… It was my movie. I mean I wrote it and directed it and then I found these guys to finance it and they were real criminals.

(Laughing)

I put the movie together. And they had all these ideas for cuts that I wouldn’t make. Some of them were actually good ideas but I was too arrogant to like see that they were good ideas and they were kind of dicks too. But they ended up taking the movie away from me. It was like this amazing lesson very early on where I was hit fucking repeatedly over and over again and I fought and I desperately tried to get the movie back and it was just a long, long battle. And eventually I got the movie back but there was a period where I did get beat up enough and where I was swimming in the darkest depression and I thought my career is over and I will never get another chance. But I pulled my self out of it somehow and the only way that I could get things going again is if I go to work again. So I went and got Boogie Nights made and the amazing thing in doing that was I went to get Boogie Nights made and that became kind of easy, getting money for it and at the same time I reinvestigated the fight to get my first movie back. And I got that movie back so I was in pre-production on Boogie Night while I was re-cutting and finishing off my first movie. And it was kind of a this great lesson that I learned just having gone in this really deep and dark depression where I couldn’t get out of my fucking bed and the only thing that I could do is just get up and attack, attack and attack. And I am happy that that happened. So it was kind of a great first lesson on my first movie. And I was able to learn right then and there all kinds of mistakes that I have made. All that arrogance where I wasn’t seeing anything and where they were right and I was just too blind to notice it. But I also learned that I was right on a lot of stuff and I should have fought for what I believed. So it’s just kind of a great lesson on my first movie.

This is a second great tip of the season. Beat depression by breaking it!

Yeah! Absolutely!

Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch - Good Vibrations

Det här är en kille som nog är mer känd för sina filmer än sin musik. Han hade nämligen en kortare musikkarriär i början på 90-talet. Annars var det hans äldre bror Donnie Wahlberg som fick flickornas hjärtan att klappa när han var medlem i New Kids On The Block. Faktum är att Mark Wahlberg vid tretton års ålder var en av de urpsrungliga medlemmarna i NKOTB men av någon anledning hoppade han av och så bidde det en solokarriär för honom och så småningom en filmkarriär.

Jag fick upp ögonen för honom i filmen Boogie Nights, en film som jag än idag tycker är en höjdare för den har en så skön retrokänsla. Har nog aldrig varit direkt besviken när jag sett honom på filmduken vad jag kan minnas.

Fast det som fick mig att rikta strålkastarna mot Mark Wahlberg nu var en liten notis i Aftonbladet Klick som jag läste idag. Nu har han nämligen åkt på stryk av sin 4-åriga dotter. Tyckte att det var en så tramsigt underbar nyhet att jag inte kan släppa det. Såna grejer får nämligen min hjärna att snurra några extra varv. Vem har orkat lägga ner så mycket energi på att förmedla den nyheten så att den hamnar i världspressen? Jag önskar att jag kunde vara en fluga på väggen och följa hela händelsekedjan från att nån upptäcker det som hänt och fram till att jag sitter här i lilla Eksjö och slöläser Aftonbladet på nätet.

Tjillevippen

notbugs

It doesn’t matter that the champagne costs £100 a bottle. It doesn’t matter that the staff treat you with a contempt normally reserved for incestuous Austrian paedophiles. It doesn’t even matter that you puke up an entire steak and kidney pie in their toilet.

No, none of these things matter because you are seriously fly and the chicks are digging it.

Digging it, that is, until you have the following conversation:

CHICK: Are you the guy from Peep Show?

YOU: Er, no.

CHICK: Oh.

(Chick shuffles away, with all her friends.)