Back to the Prom: The 40th Anniversary Screening of Carrie

I had a blast at the 40th anniversary party for Carrie! The night was both illuminating and a hoot.

The Ace Hotel Theater hosted the event, which was a fundraiser for WeSpark, a cancer support charity. The event also promoted the release of Shout Factory's new collector's edition Carrie Blu-ray. Silver stars had been hung in the lobby to match the Carrie prom scene decor.  There was also a traditional prom photo opportunity. We arrived about a half-hour before the screening and waited on line at the bar, hoping to order a "Bloody Carrie" - the signature drink of the party - but they had already run out! I bought raffle tickets and we found seats in the orchestra section of the theater, which quickly filled up.

The 4K presentation of Carrie looked incredible. I hadn't seen the film on the big screen before. There was a definite crowd participation angle to the evening, as people laughed at most of Piper Laurie's lines and other classic moments. Sometimes they even shouted the lines before they were delivered, which bugged my friend who had not seen the film before (and who jumped at the ending!). At the start of the prom massacre, when Carrie shuts the doors and cuts the lights in the gym except for the red light, they flipped on some red lighting in the theater - it was very effective!

After the screening, there was a panel discussion, moderated by Bryan Fuller (writer of the 2002 Carrie TV movie). The panel featured Doug Cox (The Beak - the tuxedo T-shirt kid), Noelle North (Frieda, who was nice to Carrie at the start of the prom), Nancy Allen (WeSpark executive director and bad girl Chris), PJ Soles (Norma, who wore her red baseball cap everywhere, even to prom), Paul Hirsch (editor of many Brian De Palma films, co-editor of Star Wars, many more), and Piper Laurie (nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Carrie's mother).

Bryan did a great job moderating and involving everyone in the discussion. PJ Soles talked about her eardrum being ruptured by the fire hose during the filming of the prom massacre. She also revealed she had auditioned for Nancy's role, and De Palma offered her a small part after she didn't get it. De Palma suggested she wear the red cap. PJ's swagger, perhaps powered by the cap, convinced De Palma to put her in more scenes and create a role for her as Chris' best friend. PJ also said she drove Betty from Chateau Marmont to the set everyday because Betty didn't drive, and she thinks Betty advocated for her. She said Betty would put on eye makeup in the car each morning, although they would be getting makeup on the set, because she didn't want De Palma to see her without makeup. Nancy Allen talked about getting along great with John Travolta, despite the way they slapped each other around in the film. She said John's slaps were weak, but Betty Buckley didn't hold back.

Doug Cox said the tuxedo shopping scene was mostly improvised, and it was added at the last minute, after he had wrapped. Paul Hirsch talked about speeding up that scene and said he did it to avoid having a third jump cut in the scene.  Hirsch and several actors talked about De Palma's obsessive storyboarding. Hirsch illuminated some of the key scenes and talked about building tension. He said the rocks falling on the house at the end was meant to be an echo to an opening scene where Carrie is a child and summons flying rocks with her mind, but that scene ended up not working. PJ and Nancy disagreed about whether they were paid $625 or $604 a week. Piper Laurie said she didn't know how to interpret the script, but her husband told her that her role was comedic. When she began rehearsals, De Palma corrected this interpretation. It certainly has a campy quality and people laughed at most of her signature lines like "I can see your dirty pillows."

The actresses also talked about how they were somewhat duped into doing the nude locker room scene. De Palma had told them it would be so smoky that people wouldn't see much, yet you can see just about everything. Allen said that Amy Irving cried when it came time to shoot the scene, so she ended up not removing her bra. Hirsch said George Lucas had told him that he felt De Palma's choice to have that much nudity in the second scene of the film signaled the audience to brace themselves because anything could happen.

They also played a video message from William Katt who couldn't attend in person. He credited the film for launching his career. Without Carrie, there would be no Greatest American Hero!

After the discussion, Jackie Beat came out, looking fabulous in a sea-foam green floral gown and wearing large glasses reminiscent of Helen (Edie McClurg's character). Jackie auctioned some items including movie posters signed by all the panelists, plus John Travolta. Jackie also emceed the costume contest. My friend Scott made it to the finals in his blood-spattered suit, but eventually lost to a very credible Tommy Ross with an oversized curly blond wig and a bloody Carrie. Jackie was hilarious in dismissing people from stage, including a group of girls in matching pink bridesmaid dresses and two clever guys who wore shabby discolored pillows with a sign: "Dirty Pillows." There were a couple good PJ Soles imitators, including a drag queen who was wrapped in a fire hose. We felt dressing as Miss Collins, the gym teacher, was a missed opportunity.  The crowd was enthusiastic and many came dressed in 70s tuxes with ruffled shirts and puritanical long gowns.  The fun continued as DJs played some 70s tunes and the prom party rolled on in the lobby area.

WeSpark is a charity that provides counseling and supportive services to people who have been diagnosed with cancer. I hope they raised a lot of money with this fun event. It was one of those "Only in LA" events that keep me living here. And I have to say the bullying in the film seemed strangely appropriate for our current political climate.  I look forward to November 8 when we can plug it up!

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I Wanted More from "Everbody Wants Some"

When I saw the trailer for Everybody Wants Some, I couldn't have been more excited - here was a sorta sequel to my favorite Richard Linklater film Dazed and Confused, set in my favorite decade (the 80s) and featuring my favorite sport (baseball).  Perhaps my expectations were just too high because the film really fell flat for me.  I can identify a few issues:

• Women's roles - There's only one female character in the film who actually gets a name and a little development as a love interest for our hero Jake. Still, she seems more like a muse than a fully developed character
• Casting - Most of the actors are in their late 20s. With the mustaches, they look more like 30. They just don't seem convincing as college students. I find it hard to believe Linklater couldn't find enough quality actors in the 19-22 range for the roles.
• Lack of depth - There's some attempt at philosophizing over the bong, led by the likable Willoughby (played by the cute Wyatt Russell, spawn of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn), but it doesn't get deep at all. It seems to be included so the film can pretend to be aspiring to be more than "Porky's."
• Lack of baseball - There's only one scene where the guys actually play baseball, and there's no game situation. We are shown their competitive spirit in other ways, such as ping pong and knuckles competitions. But baseball as a subject is ripe for philosophizing, as we've seen in films ranging from Bull Durham to Field of Dreams to Moneyball. Linklater, who played baseball himself, really does nothing with it.  The one scene I liked comes in the beginning where the All-American star hitter on the team tells the freshman pitcher, our hero Jake, that they'll never be friends because of his mistrust of pitchers. There could have been a lot more of that.
• Unrealistic settings - There's a party thrown by the drama students that rivals some of the biggest corporate parties I organized or attended while working at Google, These corporate parties had huge art direction budgets. I just can't believe students would be able to pull that together, especially on the weekend before school actually starts. It just feels like it's thrown in for entertainment value. The party at the Moon Tower in Dazed and Confused was much more realistic.
• Boring main character - Although cute and likable, Jake is something of a cypher. The title tells us "everybody wants some" but we have no idea what Jake really wants. He seems to want to get laid, but he doesn't obsess over it. He doesn't think about baseball at all. He kinda likes the female character with a name. It's all a bit wishy washy. 

Dazed and Confused was a triumph because even though it only took place on one night, it showed us a range of different characters who were able to find some common ground.  We learned a lot about different cliques, and characters were individualized.  American Graffiti is another film that covered the same ground, and did it well, also with a killer soundtrack. Everybody Wants Some has the great soundtrack, but, by focusing on just the jocks, and not really differentiating them from typical jocks, it fails to take things to the level of low-key profundity that these other films achieved.  

On the positive side, the soundtrack is killer. And there are a couple of outstanding performances: newcomer Temple Baker is hilarious as a freshman catcher who's not the sharpest pencil in the box, and Glen Powell as the smooth-talking Finn is poised to get the Matthew McCoughnahey breakout award. 

The film has some fun moments and some laughs, but I found myself bored and looking at my watch halfway through it. It's getting glowing reviews, but I think if people really think about it, they will have to acknowledge it doesn't live up to its predecessor or the promise of its topic and era.  

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Star Wars: My Crush on Harrison Ford Reawakens

I have now seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens twice and I place it as my third favorite film in the Saga (Empire is first, A New Hope is second).  Those of you who find that blasphemous can stop reading now.  Those of you who haven’t seen the new film should stop reading to, as this will be full of spoilers.

My Star Wars fandom is somewhat more than casual, yet somewhat below obsessive.  As a kid, I had some of the toys, the trading cards, iron-on t-shirts. I was 5 years old when A New Hope came out - it was the formative filmgoing experience of my childhood. I consider myself very lucky to be born at the right time for that to wow me. As a pre-teen, I developed a crush on Harrison Ford around Empire and Jedi, so I had a lot of posters and pin-ups on my bedroom wall (and even the ceiling - see pic below).  I saw the original films multiple times in the theater and bought the VHS tapes and then DVDs.  I didn't like the prequels. For me the humor, good writing and acting of the original trilogy was missing in the prequels. I only watched them once. The drama of these films was lessened since we all knew the outcome would be Anakin becoming Darth Vader. In my mid-30s, I met my boyfriend Dave who is a very big fan and that has made my fandom grow to where I again have a lot of Star Wars t-shirts and even attended the Star Wars Celebration last year in Anaheim.  

So I was really eager to see the new film. We got tickets for a midday screening on the Friday it opened, and we saw it in 3D at the Rave cinema in Westchester. As we took our reserved seats, we were a bit concerned as there were parents with 2 children under age 5 seated behind us and the little boy was kicking Dave's seat.  And then as they were arranging themselves, the mom accidentally dumped part of her bag of popcorn on Dave's head. We had a bad feeling about this. We got worried our experience might be compromised, yet the show was close to sold out so there was nowhere to move. The mom apologized profusely and got the little boy to stop kicking the seat.  As the movie rolled, the kids sometimes blurted out questions and were occasionally afraid, but in the end, they were so happy and excited.  I went up to the parents after the movie and told them how much I enjoyed sitting in front of the kids. It really made me remember being 5 and seeing A New Hope with my parents and the excitement I felt.  Between that memory and seeing the aged trio of Hamill, Ford, and Fisher on the screen - well, it just felt like the Circle of Life.  I was a bit verklempt.

I didn't want to criticize the film at all after the first viewing. I just wanted to bask in the emotions it brought up and the joy I felt. As the days passed, I read reviews and talked about it more with friends, and then we went back for a second viewing this week, about 2 weeks after the film opened. This time we saw it in Dolby Vision at the El Capitan- Disney’s flagship theater in Hollywood.  We went to a late show on a Tuesday night and there were only about 20 people in the theater. The El Capitan also has some models and costumes in the basement. They are worth a look, if only to prove that Carrie Fisher isn't fat - her outfit is very petite.  There's also some cool life size Lego figures of Kylo Ren, Rey, and BB8 in the lobby. Before the show there's a laser light saber show that had some hokey charm, kind of like a Waltzing Waters show. The sound and picture were amazing here, but the theater was overly air conditioned to the point of being uncomfortable. I wished for a tauntaun sleeping bag. The staff member I spoke to about it said they are having trouble regulating the temperature because the new projector is much hotter than the old one. Still, I would recommend seeing the film here for the quality projection and the overall experience - just bundle up.

It is Harrison Ford that makes this film. He is the force that binds it together.  When he and Leia reunite, I cried. When he died, I sobbed.  I felt like I rediscovered my crush on him, although he's in his 70s now.  We had a long cooling-off period, Harrison and I. Fifteen years ago, I even wrote this scathing article about him called "Note to Harrison Ford: You Can Go Back to Making Bookshelves Now" in which I suggested he might prefer puttering around his workshop and rediscovering carpentry (the way he made a living before hitting it big with Star Wars), since he was picking such terrible movie projects and basically phoning in the performances (Six Days Seven Nights, Hollywood Homicide, What Lies Beneath, etc). 

Force Awakens rediscovers the sense of humor and goofiness of the original films and gives Harrison a solid script to work with. Thank you, Lawrence Kasdan! Empire is my favorite film because of his writing, and once again here we have dialogue that is believable and fully developed characters to deliver it.  The new heroes - Finn and Rey - are both multi-dimensional. I found myself rooting for them and wanting to know more about them. And their possible romance is intriguing as well.  As in Empire, not all goes well for our heroes and we are left with many questions, leaving us eager for the next installment.

Another thing I loved was all the new creatures and the use of practical effects.  I can't get into films that have too much CGI - it makes me disconnect. Some of the CGI really worked here, however, particularly the character of Maz Kanata (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o). She had a lot of warmth and humor to her, although her saloon was far too reminiscent of the original cantina.  A CGI character that didn't work as well is Snoke, who reminded me of a cartoonish Harry Potter villain. The Emperor was much creepier.

In general, I was disappointed that so much of the film was a retread of the earlier films - yet another Death Star with a fatal flaw, a mission beginning on a desert planet with a droid with an important message that must be delivered to the Rebels, another wintry planet, another forest planet, a place that looks like Coruscant but isn't, etc.  It's too bad the originality of the new characters couldn't carry over into more original situations.  It would also have been nice to see C3PO and R2D2 get more use, although C3PO’s opening line about his red arm really cracked me up. There was missed opportunity for more comedy if there had been more interactions between the old droids and BB8.

In my first viewing, I wasn't really impressed with Kylo Ren.  I had trouble thinking of Adam Driver as anyone but his character in Girls.  He does bring the same sense of awkwardness to this role.  Upon thinking about it more and after the second viewing, I actually really like this villain because he is conflicted and neurotic. I love his tantrum scene and his conversation with his grandpa’s helmet. When he commits patricide, it's shocking and powerful.  

Unfortunately, I don't feel Han's death got the respectful treatment it deserved.  They should have let Chewie mourn more and embrace Leia when he sees her - instead he walks right by and she hugs Rey who she has never met. Chewie is involved in a lot of action and has a bigger role than in past films, yet he is robbed of an opportunity to show true grief.  I suppose it's always possible Han didn't die and is hanging from a vent somewhere, like Luke did at the bottom of Cloud City. A girl can dream.

Why do I place Force Awakens above Return of the Jedi? Well, it’s a close call, as I do love Jedi. For me, Jedi lost momentum once the Han Solo rescue was completed. I loved Jabba’s palace and the creatures there and the sail barge action. I thought the ewoks were cute, but I can understand why hard core fans hate them. Clearly, they paved the way for Jar Jar Binks. I found myself not that interested in another Death Star space battle. And Harrison Ford didn’t seem interested either. It’s no secret he asked George to kill off his character in that film. He had so many other opportunities at that point in his career and he really seemed like he would rather be doing them. And since he was my main attraction in the films, I felt it and it kept me at a bit of a distance when watching Jedi. In Force Awakens, he seems happy to be there and reenergized by the role and the good dialogue he gets to deliver. It feels like he has come to terms with the importance of these films in his life and all our lives and he wants this one to succeed. He was even so much more relaxed in his interviews promoting this film, like he’s at peace with the universe. He had to have more fun with this film than he did with Kingdom of a Crystal Skull - and so do we all!

The John Williams score is strong as one would expect. Rey's Theme is the standout track for me.  The opening crawl and fanfare gave me chills. There's a lot of fun easter eggs for hard core fans, like the reappearance of the remote and the chess game on the Falcon. Fun is really the word for the movie - it may lack the depth of A New Hope and Empire - but it's damn fun! There’s so much action and such a fast pace. BB8 is just a happy fun ball. How adorable was it when he went down the stairs? I even find myself wanting a remote control BB8. He's just so cute and clever too.  

It's unlikely to happen, but I'd love to see Harrison Ford get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He conveys so much with his glances and crooked smile. He radiates class and gravitas when he says, "It's true. All of it." And we can see his tender side in his interactions with Leia (I wish she had more to do). We remember all the fun he brought to the saga through his humorous lines, like when he tells Finn that "women always know the truth", and even in the silly fight with the gangs and the monsters when he's taken the Falcon onto his freighter.  It’s tough to picture the next film being as strong without him being at the center. I know he has signed on to be in the next film, but it’s unclear what that will mean. It might be a brief cameo like Mark Hamill’s in this film.

My parents saw A New Hope before taking me to see it, to make sure it wouldn't be too scary. My mom skipped the second viewing and just let my dad take me. She said the only thing she liked about the film was Han Solo, that he was pretty cute.  And by the time Empire came out, I agreed with her. Our shared crush on Harrison Ford was something that we had in common, even in my teen years when it seemed we didn’t have anything else in common. My parents have passed on, but after seeing this film I found myself thinking about them and feeling grateful that they introduced me to Star Wars. I think my mom would still think Han Solo was pretty cute - and so do I.  

For Generation X, this is the saga of our lives, so it's quite emotional to come back to it and see the original actors again. I am willing to forgive a lot of plot holes for an experience that is so rich and nostalgic, yet fresh and well-crafted too.  

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AFI Fest, Part II: Reviews of Chronic, The Lobster, and Sworn Virgin

Here's some brief reviews of AFI Fest screenings I attended.  

Tuesday, November 10 - Chronic

Chronic follows a nurse named David (Tim Roth) who takes care of seriously ill patients in their homes. Roth is very believable as a nurse who brings compassion to the job without being cloying. Yet, David gets overly attached to his patients, even to the point of taking over their lives or imagining different relationships with them. It's uncomfortable and painfully familiar to see how the families have a hard time being natural around their sick loved ones, and their awkwardness forms a sharp contrast to David's easy-going demeanor. David is a broken man also trying to build a relationship with his estranged med student daughter. The film won best screenplay at Cannes, and it's quite intricate in the way the vignettes of different patients build to reveal more of David's character. There's no music in the film. It feels very immediate, intense and intimate. After the screening director Michel Franco and Tim Roth did a Q&A. Roth pointed out some nurses in the crowd who had helped him prepare for the role and coached him on the set. An elderly lady in the crowd stood up to say the film was good but she felt it was missing something, and she just couldn't really put her finger on it. The director took this criticism in stride and said perhaps he would show her his script before he filmed his next project. Chronic is a difficult film to watch, but it's worth the pain.

Tuesday, November 10 - The Lobster

I only got tickets for The Lobster because I thought my boyfriend would like it. The description in the AFI program of the film's dystopian future made me picture Logan's Run or THX-1138, and I am not much into sci fi in general. It turned out to be my favorite film of the festival.  Colin Farrell plays David, a man whose wife leaves him at the opening of the film. In this society, everyone must be coupled. David and his dog are sent to a hotel where he is given 45 days to find a new partner - or else he will be turned into an animal and released into the woods.  But it's not all bad, because he can choose the animal he will become! John C. Reilly plays a man he befriends in the hotel. The film is twisted but very funny and has a lot to say about courtship, how we tend to settle and the compromises we make to be in a relationship. This future world looks pretty much just like today's world, despite the insane rules of the society. Yorgos Lanthimos directed the film, and its quirkiness makes it totally fresh. Farrell gained weight for the role and uses his pudgy midsection to convey a lot about his character's passive, blah nature. The Egyptian Theater was completely full for this screening, and the producers did a quick introduction, but there was no Q&A.  

Wednesday, November 11 - Sworn Virgin

Film festivals are a good opportunity to see films about somewhat obscure topics that probably will never get a wide US release. In Sworn Virgin, Italian filmmaker Laura Bispuri tells the story of Hana (aka Mark), an Albanian sworn virgin, who leaves a remote Albanian village to travel to Milan and experience city life. There she reconnects with a childhood friend and wrestles with questions of identity and sexuality and decides whether or not to keep her vow. Sworn virgins really exist in these remote Albanian villages, where women do not have any rights and are basically property of the men. Some women choose to live as a man in order to hunt, escape being a wife and mother, have jobs outside the home or have more status in society. This is allowed, but they must swear to the elders that they will remain virgins. The cinematography of Albania is breathtaking and the performance of Alba Rohrwacher as Hana/Mark anchors the film with believability. After the film, Bispuri did Q&A and she revealed the film took quite a few years to develop and she had to make multiple trips to the Albanian mountains to win the trust of locals who appear in the film.  I hope this sensitive, thought-provoking film will find an audience. 


Read AFI Fest Part I - Field Niggas, Baskin, and The Lady in the Van

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AFI Fest, Part I: Reviews of Field N*ggas, Baskin, and the Lady in the Van

AFI Fest doesn't just offer a great selection of films - all the tickets are free! That doesn't mean getting them is easy. I spent about two hours online when they were made available, dealing with website glitches, things disappearing from my shopping cart, etc. Many films seemed to be immediately sold out.  The "voucher" system for galas led to people having to camp out to get a chance for the big films. But for the smaller films or the daytime screenings, I found it was no problem to get in, although showing up 45 minutes early was sometimes necessary to get a good seat. If you didn't get tickets online, you could also show up early and wait in a rush line and probably get into most screenings. This will be the first of two posts offering short reviews of the six films I saw.

Friday, November 6 - Field Niggas

The theater was full for Field Niggas. We saw a videotaped introduction by the director, Khalik Allah, as he was not able to attend in person. The film presents late-night life on the busy Harlem corner of 125th and Lexington. The audio and filmed footage don't sync up, so you will hear a person talking but it isn't always the person you see on screen, or at least you can't be sure. Many of the people are high on K2, and although I have not tried it, I felt like I too was high on K2 while watching the film due to its woozy, dreamlike cinematography and the asynchronous audio. The film is only 60 minutes long, but since there is no narrative, it tends to drag. I found myself wanting to know more about the people that we only saw in brief snippets. It was a bit like Slacker in that way - we just see glimpses of people.  I left the film feeling a little nauseous. I feel it is artistic, and the cinematography is beautiful and colorful, but it lacked character development that could have made it a truly moving documentary.


Monday, November 9 - Baskin

The trailer made me very excited for Baskin, but the film didn't deliver. It's a Turkish horror film that tells the story of five cops who respond to a distress call from another cop and end up at a creepy dilapidated building in the woods, where of course a cult is performing violent rituals and in need of humans to sacrifice.  None of the cops are particularly likable, so we don't care too much about their fate. The middle sequence of the film, where the cops arrive and start exploring the building in the dark, is very suspenseful but the final act doesn't really go anywhere. It does provide some gross-out moments, and the high priest (Mehmet Cerrahoglu, a parking attendant making his acting debut) is quite mesmerizing. Argento was cited as an influence, and the film does have a supernatural bent. It mixes the supernatural with low-grade torture porn in the Eli Roth vein, but never quite has the squirm factor that Roth's films do. The director Can Evrenol revealed during the Q&A that the script was written very hastily, after Roth saw his short film and asked if there was a feature-length script. The director fibbed and said he had a script and then had to write it quickly.  Hopefully, he will spend more time developing his next script.  The title also makes no sense. When asked about it, Evrenol admitted only that it was kind of an in joke and that he had some regrets, since it gets lost in search results on twitter for Baskin Robbins. The theater was only about 1/3 full, but it was a 1:00 PM weekday screening.


Monday, November 9 - The Lady in the Van

It's always a treat to watch Maggie Smith, and this role is totally in her wheelhouse. Based on a true story, The Lady in the Van tells the story of a homeless lady in the van who creates a stir on a nice upper middle class block of Camden Town by daring to park her van there. The playwright Alan Bennett is the neighbor who treats her with the most compassion. When overnight street parking becomes restricted, he agrees to let her park the van in his driveway. As the years go by, they trade quips and Bennett learns more about her true identity and what brought her to this lowly state.  Smith is really just a smelly version of her Downton Abbey character, so it doesn't require her to stretch much. Still, it's a pleasure to watch, even if it's not groundbreaking cinema. It's kind of a like a story you might have read in "The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met" section of Reader's Digest and enjoyed but quickly forgot. There was no Q&A at this screening, and it was a full house.


Stay tuned for Part II - Reviews of Chronic, The Lobster, and Sworn Virgin.

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Acrostic Movie Review - Revolutionary Road

Cutest couple ever to freeze to death in the
Ocean, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio
Now reunite in Revolutionary Road, the
New film by Sam Mendes in which Sam
Envisions Suburbia to be soul-
Crushing and stifling
Though he already made that point
In the brilliant American Beauty.
Considering themselves above it all,
Unusual, and meant for something better,
The Wheelers come up with the

Inspired plan to chuck Frank's job and their
Sweet home on Revolutionary Road, and hop the

Transatlantic ship to Paris. April will work so
Her hubby can have some time to find himself.
Everyone in the audience knows how unlikely

This plan is to happen, but we suffer along with
It, and it's not really suffering since
The performances are strong. Winslet
And DiCaprio still have great chemistry, and
Nosy neighbor Kathy Bates also shines. Yet, for some reason,
It's tough to care about these
Characters, and that sinks this artful film.

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Hail Meryl! Doubt Screening with the Stars

My bf invited me to an industry screening of Doubt recently, held at the Academy of Motion Pictures. As a recovering Catholic, I was very interested in seeing the film - and ecstatic at the prospect of seeing the stars in person as they were doing a Q&A.

There was a long line to get in and I almost whipped out my rosary to pray that we'd get seats. I saw Sally Field waiting in line too. Stars - they're just like us!

Fortunately, we got seats and were ushered into the huge theater. There were giant Oscar statues on stage, and Oscar winners waiting in the wings. The movie was really good, if not quite Best Picture material (see review). Meryl's performance did conjure up some scary memories of Our Lady of Good Counsel grade school for me (that's a shout out to you, Sr. Mary Michael). Philip Seymour Hoffman was a very convincing priest. Amy Adams was okay, if a bit generically Pollyanna-ish. Viola Davis was a revelation. Her scene with Meryl is like a steel cage match, and she steals it. I bet she'll get nominated for Best Supporting Actress for just that one scene.

The Q&A was really entertaining. Streep, Hoffman, Adams, Davis, and the writer/director John Patrick Shanley formed the panel. It was exciting to see them in person. They seemed very relaxed and joked a lot. Adams and Davis talked about how they campaigned hard for their roles. Adams said her former co-star Emily Blunt suggested she go for the role. Davis said she practiced her scene for 3 months before auditioning, and it definitely shows.

Shanley talked about the challenges involved in adapting his play for the screen. There are no children in the play, but they were added for the film. The world was fleshed out more, however the film still feels like a play because so much of it is face-to-face confrontations. The cast talked about the intense rehearsal process. Issues of race and sexism are prominent in the movie and were discussed in the Q&A. The film gives the viewer a lot to ruminate on.

Streep is self-effacing and charming in person and still strikingly beautiful. Hoffman looked dissheveled but, well, I'd still do him. He was the only cast member who hung around after the Q&A to mingle with the mostly-washed masses. I wanted to approach and compliment his performance. Having had an uncle who was a priest, I think I'm a good judge of the performance, and he really had the mannerisms and persona down well. But I chickened out. What can I say - I don't have Sr. Aloysius' moxy.

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Acrostic Movie Review - Doubt

Doubting isn't
Acceptable in
Religious life, but sometimes it's hard to
Keep the faith when sinister suspicions arise and

Kids are potentially in danger. John Patrick Shanley
Nicely adapts his play for the screen, coaxing
Inspired performances from Streep, Hoffman, a scene-stealing Viola Davis.
Gut-wrenching drama ensues when Streep's tough nun
Has to confront Hoffman's affable priest
To determine if he's doing evil.

Of course, the movie
Fails to differentiate filmically from a play and gets a

Tad claustrophobic with so many tight,
Heated confrontations. Also, Meryl's Bronx accent is
Excessive. Must she always be acting in tongues?

Still, the film soars
On great performances and will be represented on Oscar night,
Up there with Batman. It's
Like a...

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Joe the Plumber - Real Horrorshow

This past Thursday, Nerdia, C. Crumpet Swank, and myself attended a Lucio Fulci horror film marathon sponsored by The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater. Fulci's Italian horror movies are cult classics. We skipped the first movie Zombie, but we loved the second film Gates of Hell. It was packed with laughs due to the bad dubbing/strange dialogue and packed with stomach-churning, squirm-inducing moments of indescribable gore (such as the girl who vomited up all her internal organs). But nothing could have prepared us for the sheer election-related horrors of the night's final film - The Beyond.

The plot of The Beyond involves a woman who inherits a dilapidated motel in Louisiana. Wouldn't you know it - there's a gateway to hell in the basement of the motel. Geez, there sure seem to be a lot of those gateways. The movie has some great gory moments but is most notable for its eerie references to the election. Firstly, there's a character named John McCabe. Next, when the basement is flooded, help is called. A truck arrives labeled "Joe's Plumbing." Joe investigates the bathroom flood only to find some sort of demon who kills him. Then folks in the cast wonder aloud, "Where did Joe the Plumber go?" Watch Joe's grisly demise on YouTube.



Finally, the film opens with a flashback to townsfolk pulling a suspected warlock out of Room 36. They take him to the basement, where they beat him with chains, crucify him, then throw acid on him. There are several shots in the film of the cursed room 36. John McCain was born in 1936. Coincidence? The stuff nightmares are made of? Let's hope our national nightmare ends on Tuesday. Go Barack the vote!

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Acrostic Movie Review - The Secret Life of Bees

Here's a rare film with a mostly-female and black cast, based
On Sue Monk Kidd's hugely popular
Novel and faithful to it. Dakota Fanning,
Evolving into a teen, does a convincing job as Lily, a runaway
Yearning for closure with her late mother. Lily becomes

Indebted to four black women, surrogate motherhood by committee. Do
The real Fanning girls even have so many nannies? The movie is
Somewhat melodramatic and slides into Lifetime movie mode, but it

Succeeded in
Tugging at my heartstrings. There's
Inspired acting from Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah. As the
Childlike May, Sophie Okonedo really shines. Alicia
Keys is like a Black Panther in training, but
You know her bravado will be melted by the winsome Lily.

Set in the south during the civil rights era, the threat of
Wicked racial violence hangs over the film and
Endangers the characters. As chick flicks go, it's not as
Entertaining as Sex and the City or as powerful as
The Color Purple, but it gives you more to chew on.

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Anvil Rocks!

I rocked out at the LA Film Festival screening of Anvil last night at the John Ford Amphitheater. It's a documentary about the Canadian heavy metal band Anvil, who have been together 30 years. The theater was sold out for this event, and the crowd was an odd mix of movie geeks and metalheads and one celeb Anvil fan - Scott Ian of Anthrax.

I loved the film! It's This is Spinal Tap meets Some Kind of Monster meets Field of Dreams. The film begins with footage from the early 80s of Anvil during their 15 minutes of fame, playing a huge rock fest in Japan with The Scorpions and Bon Jovi. Frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow is dressed in bondage gear and playing his guitar with a dildo. His co-founder Robb Reiner (another odd parallel to This is Spinal Tap) pounds the skins. Then we cut to the present, and Lips and Robb are playing gigs to small crowds in local bars and working manual labor jobs. But they still have a dream.

The documentary ranges from hilarious to heartbreaking, often in the same scene, such as a sequence on a European tour gone awry where Lips nearly gets into a fistfight with a club owner in Prague who refuses to pay the band because they started the show late. There are many Spinal Tap moments, including a trip to Stonehenge, a brief search for a new drummer, and several scenes of the band wandering around backstage tunnels looking for the stage. The relationship between Lips and Robb is fleshed out in great detail with moments that show their deep friendship as well as their frustration with each other and their lack of success.

Kudlow is likable, a bit manic, but ultimately endearing because he holds on to his dream, loves his friends and family, and isn't a bit Satanic. And we get sound bites from Anvil fans like Scott Ian, Slash, and Lars Ulrich that emphasize that Anvil's dream was not unrealistic. They are talented musicians with some catchy songs. It's basically a crap shoot as to why they didn't become famous while inferior bands like Great White and Winger did. My best guess would be that Kudlow is a bit too goofy as a frontman. My friend called him "the muppet of heavy metal." He doesn't have the distinctive voice of an Ozzy or the sex appeal of Bret Michaels.

The bulk of the movie covers Anvil's attempts to get money to record their thirteenth album "This is Thirteen" and their efforts to place it with a major label. We end where we began - in Japan - and we feel a bit paralyzed waiting to see if the gig will be a success.

After the film, we were treated to a live performance by Anvil and a Q&A session with the band and the film's director, Sacha Gervasi, who was a teenage roadie for the band during their heyday. Scott Ian came out and joined the band to perform their anthem "Metal on Metal." Anvil looked to be having the time of their lives, playing to the packed and cheering theater. Future plans involve the band and the film touring together. Tour dates will be up soon on the movie website.

Kudlow's and Reiner's friendship and persistence moved me more than I expected, and I left the film feeling touched, rocked, and wanting to kickstart my own dreams. Rock on, Anvil!

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Acrostic Movie Review - The Bucket List

Cantankerous tycoon (Jack Nicholson) meets
Reserved everyman (Morgan Freeman) during
One hospital stay that
Seems improbably long in this age of HMOs.
Since both have cancer and only a short

Time left on Earth, they bond, engage in non-
Hilarious banter and set off to fulfill all the dreams they've
Imagined on a world tour that would make The Rolling
Stones dizzy. Speaking of The Stones,

One can't really say who looks worse these days -
Nicholson or Keith Richards. As a die-hard Jack fan,
Even I don't find him sexy anymore, especially when he's

Overacting and just doing a retread on performances from better
Films like As Good As It Gets and Something's Gotta Give.
Freeman is a little better, but I found myself

Yearning for more solid material for these
Oscar-winners to chew on.
Unfortunately, this script is
Riddled with cliches and has fewer true laugh

Lines than Nicholson's face. Director Rob Reiner
Is still able to manipulate the audience with sentimentality.
Seniors in the crowd laughed more than I did, and I cried a bit
Toward the end, I'll admit - maybe from disappointment.

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Acrostic Movie Review - Viva

Frisky, frothy and fun, Anna Biller's Viva
Entertains and was the highlight of the AFI Fest for
Me. A woman with a vision, Biller
Is the writer, director, editor,
Nudism-
Inclined star, composer of several
Songs, and she even
Tickles the ivories of the organ. The film is an homage to

Soft-core 70s films like Camille 2000 and the Roger
Ebert scripted Beyond the Valley of The Dolls.
X-rated hijinks ensue when bored housewife Barbi (Biller)
Pursues a career in prostitution. Shot on film and
Lit brightly, the sumptuous sets, racy costumes, and
On-target props create a perfectly detailed 70s world
In which the characters frolic en route to
The inevitable climactic orgy.
Acting is campy fun, but at
Times the pace is too slow, as the film
Is over-long at 2 hours.
Overdubbed dialogue sometimes distracts but
Not too

Badly as it lends verisimilitude. With this tour de farce,
Anna Biller deserves to be a cult film legend, and,
Baby, this is her happening and
You're gonna be freaked out!

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Acrostic Movie Review - 30 Days of Night

John Huston's son Danny is just as hammy as his
Old man, however that works fine for his
Sinister role of leader of a creepy, Nosferatu-lookin' vampire gang
Hungry for Alaskans' blood, and

Lured to the northernmost town of Barrow by the promise of 30 days of
Endless night. Josh Hartnett plays the town sheriff who
Finds himself with an impossible challenge and is forced to
Team up with his estranged wife played by

Melissa George. Josh is cute but cardboard, and the twosome fail to
Elevate anyone's temperature with their tepid romancing.

Creepiness abounds and there are some scares before the plot stalls.
One could do worse if looking for Halloween cineplex fare, just
Lower your expectations. These vampires are fast, but the film is no 28
Days Later.

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Movie Review: The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters

I took in The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters with a capacity crowd last night at the NuArt. What a great movie! The crowd cheered for the hero and hissed at the villain to the point where it felt more like a summer blockbuster than a documentary about 80s video games.

The film chronicles an epic battle over the Donkey Kong high score. The champion, Billy Mitchell, set the record as a teen in 1982. He got his picture in Life magazine, and, with his feathered hair and premature moustache, he was definitely the hottie of the geek champs in the photo spread. 25 years later, Billy is still riding high on his video game triumphs, sporting a lush mullet and governing an empire of hot sauce in Florida. He's the unimpeachable idol of his peers, including the governing body of video game high scores, the Twin Galaxies gang.

Billy's record - and honor - is challenged by a much-lower wattage personality, Steve Wiebe. Steve's got some OCD issues, but he's basically a likable family guy from Washington with a Donkey Kong machine in his garage. There's a hilarious scene where his attempt at breaking the high score is threatened by his son screaming that he pooped his pants and needs to be wiped. Steve mounts a valiant challenge but comes up against the skepticism of Twin Galaxies, which is revealed to be quite the cabal.

The movie is a classic underdog story. It's also hilarious, without really being condescending. The filmmakers clearly have respect for the ability of the players - Donkey Kong is revered as one of the most challenging games - yet they can't help but be skeptical of the time and effort spent on earning these records (nobody expresses this better than Wiebe's daughter - watch for that moment). You just can't help but get laughs from a subculture than includes an 80-year-old gal trying to break the Q-Bert record. It definitely conjures up a lot of nostalgia for those of us thirtysomethings who spent a lot of time in the arcade, lining up our quarters on top of the Dig Dug and Paperboy machines. But with characters as compelling as Billy and Steve, and the motley crew of supporting pro gamers, you don't have to have been an Atari 2600 owner to enjoy this film.

The director, Seth Gordon, and editors were on hand for last night's screenings, along with a colorful personality known as "Mr. Awesome." The filmmakers deserve a lot of props for turning what could be deadly dull (it takes 2.5 hours to play a record-challenging game) into an entertaining, suspenseful, fast-paced documentary that's a classic good vs evil story.

Now, if only I could clear that first elevator screen...

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