Entertainment Roundup

This post is going to be a compilation about all the things I've been watching over the past couple months.

The two movies that I had very high hopes for were Donnie Darko and The Virgin Suicides. Needless to say, I was terribly, heartwrenchingly let down by both of these movies.

Donnie Darko was simply put, just some ideological self-serving crap. The premise of the movie is how if you could somehow see the future, or go back in time after coming to the future, what would you do? Shaky theories that don't matter anyway. Yeah, of course if I COULD go back in time to change a bad situation, I would. Duh. But the point is, no matter what happens, humans can't go back in time, nor can we see the future. Pointless, even in a literary sense, to ponder on these matters. And what is it with that fucking rabbit?

The Virgin Suicides...some people hailed it as genius. Hardly. I decided to see it because I liked Sophia Coppola's newest movie, Lost in Translation, and this was one she directed in the late 90's. First of all, the movie gives no backstory whatsoever to what is going on. You are thrown in to the story and within the first 20-30 minutes, some 13 year old girl kills herself, leaving 4 older sisters. The rest of the movie is how these 4 guys are trying to understand the other sisters, why the younger one killed herself. Then at the end, the other 4 sisters kill themselves together when the same guys are supposed to be coming over for a party, just like the 13 year old did in the beginning. What the hell is the deeper meaning of this? I usually like arthouse movies, but this was just a bomb.

200 Cigarettes: I'm in the middle on this one. It wasn't the best movie ever, but it had a few funny moments. The basic concept is some young punkish types are getting ready to go to a New Years Eve party in New York, circa 1980. I guess some of the characters are supposed to seem smart and clever, but for the most part, it was just tired meandering of lost loves and what-ifs. Starring Courtney Love, Dave Chappelle, the unbearable Ben Affleck, annoying Christina Ricci, Jeneane Garafalo (part of my reason to see it, but unfortunately she was hardly in the movie) and some other no-names. Possibly worth renting, but your best bet is to borrow it from a friend on a rainy day. Or, not watch it at all.

The Truman Show: Great movie, although it probably would have meant more if I had seen it when it came out. I'm already so familiar with the concepts presented, so I already got the message of that movie long ago. Still, a good movie to see for the average sleepwalking unaware human. Jim Carrey was great in this.

Eternal Sunlight of the Spotless Mind: This will probably be the greatest movie to come out this year. Definitely an Oscar contender. Jim Carrey was fucking awesome in this movie, as was the beautiful Kate Winslet. Kirsten Dunst finally won me over in a movie and proved that maybe, just maybe, she can act. For once I wasn't thoroughly annoyed at her smiling face. There is something about her that irks me, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, this was a great movie that I will definitely be buying as soon as it comes out. I knew that about 20 minutes into the movie. That's how good it was. And another hit for Focus Features Films.

21 Grams: Another great movie for Focus Films. Depressing, but a very good film. Loved it.

Lost in Translation: Out of all the movies I've seen, this is definitely in the top 10. There is something about this movie that I love. Maybe it's because I know what it's like to be in Hong Kong and not being able to communicate with ANYONE in a restaraunt, and most of the people on the street. It reminds me of when I was in Singapore in a hotel, talking to my girlfriend in the States on the phone, when the cleaning lady came for her daily rounds through my room. With my girlfriend on the phone, I asked the cleaning lady if she wanted me to get off the bed so she could clean it. She mumbled something foreign and went on about her business. But the movie goes far beyond that minute observation. The movie seemed to not only center on the lack of communication between Americans and foreigners, but also between people that love each other, and just people in general not being able to communicate with others. Bill Murray hit a nerve, and so did Scarlett Johansson. Some would say that the lack of plot does a disservice to the movie, but those are the people that have to have some finality behind everything. I related to most of the movie, so it wasn't a problem. Sometimes it's just refreshing to see a few days in the life of people, without having a punch-in-the-face, over-the-top ending. That type of ending rarely happens in real life anyway. I like the ending. There is still a debate on what he says to her in the end. Some say that after Bill Murray kisses Scarlett on the cheek, he tells her to go up and tell Giovanni Ribisi that she loves him. I think that if that is the case, it's a great ending. Either way, I loved the movie. The soundtrack is great, too.

I've heard a lot about Dave Chappelle, but since I don't get Comedy Central, I can't watch his weekly show on Wednesday nights. While searching on IMDB for something to go rent, I found out the first season of his show came out on DVD. So I promptly headed to Blockbuster, rented it, and came home and laughed my ass off for 3 hours. I watched the first 8 episodes in a straight run, but I had to pack it in because by that time it was 2 a.m. The next day I watched the remaining 4 episodes, but they weren't as good as the first 8. Overall, I'd have to say that his show ranks in the top 3 funniest shows I've ever seen, right alongside Seinfeld and Family Guy. He really toes the line on pretty much every skit that he does, poking fun at racial differences, and basically making a joke out of every racial stereotype humans have thought up. I read a pretty harsh review of his stuff on Amazon.com, accusing him of writing the show making fun of black people and written mainly for white people. Some people have called the show reverse racism, but what I've learned about anything having to do with race is this: the more culturally uptight everyone is about race, the worse off we are. The best thing to do is laugh at racial differences and get over all the sensitivity. The more people get flustered over racial jokes, the longer we're going to remain stagnant regarding the issue. Of course, there's always going to be someone that's going to get their feelings hurt when you do something controversial, but the best thing to do is RELAX and LAUGH. Get over yourself and realize that to another group of people, the things you do are absurdly funny and vice-versa.

Catch-22: Another movie that was once a great book. I've read a good part of the beginning of the book, but I couldn't get through 20 minutes of the movie. It was just unnerving and definitely a case of the book being extremely better than the movie. I think maybe part of it is that the book had a very anti-war stance. Not that I don't agree with it, but the book is so well-written that it's hard to swallow it because it is so true, considering my lot in life at present. It makes the business of war just a laughable idea.

That's about it for now. I know that I've seen more movies than this in the past couple months, but these are the highlights. If I remember more, I'll edit them in here.