A personal diary keeping people abreast of what I am working on writing-wise.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

NINETY-NINE AND A HALF WON'T DO



IN THEATRES...

* 9, the new animated film from Shane Acker turned out to be one of the most disappointing movies this year. Pretty, but pretty vacant.

* Big Fan, the Patton Oswalt-starring drama is a good portrait of one man's chosen isolation and obsession, though it may be getting oversold in the hype.

Portlanders, this starts at Cinema 21 this weekend. Since Patton is in town performing on Sunday, he will also be stopping in at Cinema 21 to answer questions after the 4:30 p.m. showing. He's really great in the flick and knows his shit when it comes to movies, so it should be worth it.

* Extract, Mike Judge's new comedy. Some big laughs, but ultimately too uneven.

* Lorna's Silence, a suspenseful drama from the Dardenne Brothers.

* Whiteout, the Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber comic book comes to the big screen. As an original editor on the comics, what did I think...?

UPDATED TO CRITERION CONFESSIONS...



* Last Holiday, a 1950 film in which Alec Guinness goes looking for one final hurrah after being told he only has a couple of months to live. A bittersweet comedy.

THIS WEEK IN DVD REVIEWS...

* Chris Isaak: Greatest Hits - Live, an excellent 2005 set from the crooner.

* Homicide - Criterion Collection, David Mamet's complex police drama starring Joe Mantegna and William H. Macy. (Also at Criterion Confessions.)

* Important Things with Demetri Martin: Season One, a pretty good attempt at a thinking man's sketch comedy show.

Important Things with Demetri Martin
Brains - Greatest Minds
www.comedycentral.com
Joke of the DayStand-Up ComedyFree Online Games



Current Soundtrack: Ocean Colour Scene, Scissor Sisters, the Wright Specials

e-mail = golightly at confessions123.com * Criterion Confessions * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * ComicSpace * Last FM * GoodReads * The Blog Roll [old version] * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

All text (c) 2009 Jamie S. Rich

2 comments:

Natalie Nourigat said...

I love Demetri Martin so much.

My word verification word is 'comics'. YES.

Santiago said...

I was also so disappointed by 9. I don't understand how at this time and age most people don't understand that a good story is the movie's spine, and that no amazing effects (i.e. Transformers) or animation can fix a poor script.

And now, maybe I'll give Whiteout a chance after reading your review.