Tiny Furniture: 2010 dramedy written and directed by Lena
Dunham and starring Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, Jemima Kirke, Merritt
Wever. Aura returns to New York from her
sheltered existence at a liberal arts college with a film degree, a dying hamster,
and a romantic life gone a shambles. Her
successful artist mother barely notices she’s returned until Aura drinks all of
her wine, her precocious younger sister clearly hates that she’s back in the
picture, she has no social life and no prospects. But things are looking up? Her YouTube-video-art career could take off
at any moment, she lands a hostess job at a nearby restaurant, and there are
several useless men around for her to make mistakes with.
I hate all of these people. Perhaps that’s the point. I’ve never seen Dunham’s HBO show Girls, and I’ll admit I don’t really get
her shtick yet. She’s terribly clever
and insightful and writes these obnoxious characters brilliantly, but that
doesn’t translate into me liking the movie. But I will keep watching her stuff until I get
it or get sick of it.
The Cat’s Meow: 2001 drama directed by Peter Bogdanovich and
starring Kirsten Dunst, Eddie Izzard, Edward Hermann, Cary Elwes, Joanna Lumley
and Jennifer Tilly. The film delves into
the great Hollywood legend of the death of Thomas Ince, a silent film mogul who
is thought of as the Father of the American Western. In 1924 William Randolph Hearst gathers a
group of friends, partiers, and hangers-on for a little yacht cruise; the party
includes his mistress Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin, risqué novelist Elinor
Glyn, starry-eyed columnist Louella Parsons, and actress Margaret
Livingston. The debaucherous weekend is
full of intrigue, plotting, old secrets revealed and new secrets kept, paranoia,
wild declarations of love, and the death of Ince.
The
acting is pretty solid all around, and I especially loved Izzard as
Chaplin. If you like stories about Old
Hollywood or murder mysteries of the Agatha Christie persuasion, give it a
shot.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: 2011 documentary directed by Chad Friedrichs
about the rise and fall of the Pruitt-Igoe urban housing complex in St.
Louis. Using this particular case as an
analogy for the decline of the post-World War II American city, it starts with
the grand plans by St. Louis officials to rid their business district area of
the nearby blight of tenement buildings by moving the residents into new clean,
modern, high-density housing. Decrepit
buildings gone, new buildings bringing construction revenue to the city, better
housing for low-income families: has to work, right? So what went wrong?
The
movie features interviews of a wide range of former Pruitt-Igoe tenants,
sociologists and historians. It’s a
little heartbreaking, and absolutely fascinating – assuming you’re interested
in modern architecture, the history of post-war flight to the suburbs, or urban
sociology. I enjoyed it immensely.
Arachnophobia: 1990 horror-comedy directed by Frank Marshall
and starring Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, Julian Sands and Harley Jane
Kozak. Ross Jennings (Daniels) is a
physician who just moved his family from the big city to small town
California. As they’re settling in,
seemingly healthy neighbors begin dying, and Ross suspects something strange is
afoot. Could it be . . . spiders? It’s a cute and fairly suspenseful “scary”
movie, not gory or too tense, but with a lot of action and a little humor. John Goodman is hilarious as the overzealous
exterminator Delbert McClintock. I
really liked it.
The Tents: 2012 documentary directed by James Belzer,
about the history of New York Fashion Week.
It starts in the early 1990s when the Tents concept first came about,
and features interviews with a rather diverse mix of designers and editors: Betsy Johnson, Zac Posen, Tommy Hilfiger,
Tracy Reese, Richie Rich, Michael Musto, Joe Zee, Nina Garcia, Russell Simmons,
etc.
It
was fine. It was interesting to hear
about the start of NYFW, and nice to hear from the people they interviewed, but
I was never on the edge of my seat. If
you like fashion documentaries, give it a shot.
Conan: 2011 action fantasy film directed by Marcus
Nispel and starring Jason Momoa (aka Khal Drogo), Ron Perlman (OF COURSE),
Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan and Rachel Nichols.
I resisted this movie for a long time, out of my respect and love for
the campy original movies starring The Governator. Then I learned that this isn’t a remake, it’s
a new interpretation of the Conan character.
So I went with it, and I’m so glad I did.
Conan seeks revenge for the death
of his people, tracking down the warlord Zym and his evil sorceress daughter
Marique, who are themselves tracking down a woman from a particular blood line
so they can perform a ritual to bring Zym’s wife back from the dead. Or whatever.
I mean, it’s just atrocious. I
love sci fi and camp and fantasy and crappy action movies and this has it
all: narrated by Morgan Freeman, plot
holes, ridiculous one-liners, Rose McGowan with a weird hair line . . . if you
enjoy terrible action movies then absolutely see it. It’s pointless, mindless entertainment and I
giggled the entire time.
Rise of the Planet
of the Apes: 2011 sci fi film
directed by Rupert Wyatt and starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, Andy Serkis,
John Lithgow, Brian Cox and Tom Felton.
Franco plays Will, a promising young scientist at a biotech firm
searching for the cure for Alzheimer’s.
When testing on chimpanzees leads to a mutation, Will ends up bringing a
baby chimp home to raise as a pet. As
the chimp, Caesar (Serkis), grows up, Will notices an amazing level of human
intelligence in him. But when Caesar
goes nuts on a neighbor who threatens Will’s father, he is forcibly taken to a
monkey sanctuary. He befriends the other
“prisoners” and convinces them to rise up against their human overlords.
It was surprisingly good. I pretty much enjoy anything involving Andy
Serkis, the acting is solid, it’s interesting and suspenseful. It’s not necessary to see the original before
seeing this one. Make sure you catch the
credits.
Bhutto: 2010
documentary directed by Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara, about the life of
Benazir Bhutto, the polarizing former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Whether or not you agree with her politics or
tactics, whether or not you believe the charges of corruption against her
family, Bhutto is a fascinating figure, and this is an excellent
documentary. It features interviews with
her family members, her supporters and detractors, and gives a great overview
of Pakistan’s political history and her family’s contributions to it. If you like political docs or have an
interest in Middle Eastern politics, check it out.
