Mudder? Use another ‘r.’

broderic on January 27, 2008

Once again I catch the matinee showing of a Hitchcock film at the Charles. This time it’s Suspicion with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. My original review still stands.

Waking up early for a Saturday then catching the noon matinee has been fun to do. One of these times we’ll have to make it a party. Eat a big breakfast. Drink lots of coffee. Then catch the showing completely wired and ready for some fun. The most likely film for this fun is North by Northwest. That silly film of mistaken identity would go well with chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and sausage links.

Mmm. I can’t wait.

Now I have to find the place that serves those pancakes.

National Pastime

broderic on January 25, 2008

You know, baseball is much better watched in the middle of the day.
Especially if that day is in the middle of the work week.The Baltimore Orioles always have a day game on Sunday, yet very few on
a weekday. They have the home opener March 31 at 3:00, then a few more
day games in May: Tampa Bay on the 1st, Boston on the 14th, and the
hated Yankees on the 26th. For the rest of the season, nada.It would seem to me to be better to have these day games in the summer
rather than the spring. You can sit in the hot sun hot dog in hand and
a cold, cold beer better in the summer than the spring. You never know
what the weather's going to be in May. In July, it's going to be sunny
and hot with scattered thunderstorms in the late afternoon. Perfect
weather, if the game starts at 1:05.That's what's wrong with baseball. No day games to escape from work
when needed.

Baby, Baby, Please.

broderic on January 23, 2008

Dear Dana,

Where have you been these last 10 years? What have you been doing? Have you settled down with that guy with the awfully fake first name, whats-his-face, Renard Muldrake?

Is the kid doing alright? He’s still on planet earth and not snatched up by aliens? Or the syndicate? Or our own government?

Are you still working in the FBI? Or have you gone private practice? Become your own agent now, have you?

One thing, don’t ever leave me. I’m sorry for being forgetful. The truth is out there. I’ll be there for you. To fight the future. I want to believe. Just don’t leave me again. Please.

Love,
BrowserMetrics

The Untitled X-Files Sequel released some photos from which I got the one above. Thanks god, Scully’s back

My Year In Film 2008

broderic on January 23, 2008

Twenty-two days into 2008 and I have seen many interesting movies. I would like to catalog them into some kind of coherent statement of my movie viewing experience. Besides my movie reviews, I’m going to list some of the other films watched for which I don’t plan on writing a full blown review . Consider it a film diary. Another metric for me to base my life around.

Anyway onto the movies.

IN THEATRE:
There Will Be Blood
27 Dresses
Cloverfield
Rebecca
Atonement
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

DVD:
Show Me Love (aka Fucking Åmål)
In Between Days
Stardust
Malena
Can This Be Love

TCM:
Cat People
The Talk of the Town
Indiscreet
Face in the Crowd

Manderlay, Xanadu, and Fort Awesome

broderic on January 22, 2008

It’s saturday, and the Seed and I sitting in the dinner having breakfast. It’s bacon, eggs, coffee, and corn beef hash. We wonder if this will upset our stomach or make us have to use the bathroom before seeing the Hitchcock flick, Rebecca, down at the Charles. It’s from 1940 with Joan Fontaine and Sir Lawrence Olivier, and it’s an early Hitchcock from his move to Hollywood.

Joan Fontaine plays the second Mrs. de Winter married to Olivier’s Maxim de Winter brooding over the recent death of his wife. She stops him from jumping to his death in Monte Carlo. They meet cute later on and begin a romance. She falls for him, because of his worldly airs. She was as meek as a librarian, and she desperately needs him. He accepts her love, brings her to Manderlay, and lets her run the house. At Manderlay, she meets the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers who adored Mrs. de Winters I and loathes the second Mrs. de Winters. They test their strength of wills until the second Mrs. de Winters, defeated, makes it known that she’s now boss of the house. She overcomes Mrs. Danvers, learns of the reason for the first Mrs. de Winters death, and lives to relieve her husband of the guilt he felt over her death.

Joan Fontaine is cute in this one. She’s always cute (I find her irresistable in her next Hitchcock role in Suscpicion). I feel that she’s the ur-Hitchcock blonde, the original that gives meaning to the rest. She’s unlike the rest of the blondes in Hitchock’s oevre. She’s somewhat different because of her mousiness. I describe her as a librarian more so in Suspicion with her glasses. It’s something to think about as she’s occupies the place of Hitchcock blondes like Buffalo Bill’s original victim close to giving an insight to the director.

I didn’t think too much of this film when I saw it on DVD. Good but not as awesome as the director’s best. I think the ambiance of the Charles makes a difference in the viewing experience. You see it with lots of people. It becomes fun. And the film becomes even more better. I want to see more Hitchcock at the Charles.

4 of 5 stars.

Best Picture Oscar

broderic on January 22, 2008

I think this is the first year ever that I have seen all 5 films
nominated for Best Picture: Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country
For Old Men, There Will Be Blood. My pick would be There Will Be Blood, but I like Michael Clayton as
well. Michael Clayton doesn't have a chance in the world. The money
pick seems to be No Country For Old Men. Yet, Atonement may sneak up
and win considering that it has already won the Golden Globes, and Juno
is a hit with the young and hip crowd which Hollywood believes itself to
be.It's a very interesting year. I'm still surprised that I have seen all
of them, on the big screen, before the Oscar ceremony.

There Will Be Blood

broderic on January 22, 2008

You’ve already know my rating for it. Here’s some keys to the why 5 of 5 stars.

Some movies linger after you watch them. It may be that they keep you up at night thinking about them, or it may be that you put them in the DVD player again and again. Either way you know you like it, and you know you like it a lot. It’s that way with There Will Be Blood. At first, I didn’t pay it no heed after seeing it. Usually, I would’ve passed it off as okay, but I didn’t pass judgment. So it keep seeping back into my brain. “What did I feel about this flick?” And then when I told my coworker I saw it, I had to blurt out my usual star rating to give him a sense of how good the movie was. Surprisingly, it was 5 stars, and accompanying it was the saying that it was probably the best movie I had seen in a couple of years. (I forgot about The Queen although that one isn’t as good relatively speaking). That’s a bold statement!

The movie is very much Anderson’s take on Kubrick. He’s more of an Altman-esque director, but this time he chooses to do Kubrick. Shades of 2001 and The Shining are in this. 2001 because the main character, Daniel Plainview, goes through his own “Dawn of Man” sequence, a quiet look at the early trial and fortunes of Plainview. 2001 also ends with a picture of the old man, Dave Bowman, in the future. Daniel Plainview’s future ends with him as an old man, but smashing skulls just as the apes in the “Dawn of Man” sequence. Finally, the effect of the bowling alley was just as Kubrickian set design for the Shining, and the ending is just as Jack Nicholson is finished off in that movie.

These influences seem brilliant, but the movie is inspired beyond that. Theirs Daniel Day-Lewis going ape. There’s Paul Dano, the wacked preacher who doesn’t age or the mysterious twin. He’s good. There’s the kid who is there scampering at Plainview’s feet like mini me. He puts a nice turn in.

The movie was just pretty good in telling its story. Is it greed? Is it oil? Is it religion? It is all that and quintessentially American.

Team Slipstream

broderic on January 18, 2008

Here’s a nice little segment from ESPN about the Slipstream Cycling Team. Looks as though ESPN is doing a reality series about them. They’re trying to compete as a clean team. No performance enhancing drugs ever.

That’s pretty noble of them. I think they’ll have it easier this year because of the crack down on banned substances in the sport. So many people are going to be testing, poking, picking and prodding the professional cyclists that it would be ridiculous to be caught using. Or hopefully that would be the case. Seeing the turbulence in the sport these last few years has made me cynical. Was Armstrong tainted? It feels weird and the uncertainty of it all is the worst.

Team Slipstream has a reformed cheater in David Millar. He’s now trying to lead the way for clean riding. He’s a vocal advocate for anything that would make cycling more clean. He freely admits his mistakes and he tries to be a good example of a reformed user. He rides clean and is competitive.

They also have a wonderful kit. I have the first year version of the jersey. They had a contest for this year’s model. It’s argyle as well. I wish they would also sell that. This time I am getting a size bigger. Mine is a tad bit too snug, but this past winter I packed on some pounds. I expect to be blowing apart the seams of that jersey unless I lose some weight.