TV And Films

The shows and movies I like (or don’t).

Shades of Gattaca

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More and more, I think that in the coming years, the movie Gattaca may be seen as far more prescient than it was recognized as at the time it came out. Today’s example, for instance:

A Nobel Prize winning scientist has called on the British government to introduce legislation to [prevent discrimination on the basis of people’s genetic make-up][bq1], the Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

[…]

Medical advances and the sequencing of the human genome have led to concerns that genetic testing could be used by insurance companies and employers to discriminate against people with an increased risk of developing certain diseases.

It’s only a matter of time before the “haves” and the “have-nots” are determined by what’s in their genes, I fear.

The Incredibles

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Is it just me, or does this guy (I’m assuming it’s the villain)…

Pixar's The Incredibles

…look a lot like John Lithgow’s character in the Sylvester Stallone movie Cliffhanger?

iTunes: “Difficult Listening Hour – 02v2” by Various Artists from the album Difficult Listening Hour (2000, 1:04:41).

Kilts, not skirts!

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Brad, Brad, Brad — so close, and yet so far away.

Actor Brad Pitt said Sunday that fashion-conscious men may be wearing Greek-style skirts soon after his big-budget film about the Trojan War opens this week.

“Men will be wearing skirts by next summer. That’s my prediction and proclamation,” he said with a laugh. “The film answers to both genders. We were going for realism and Greeks wore skirts all the time then.”

Some of us don’t need to see Brad Pitt running around in a Greek-style skirt to be comfortable enough with our masculinity to wear something other than pants…and look damn good while doing it! ;)

iTunes: “Sweet Jane” by Cowboy Junkies from the album Natural Born Killers (1988, 3:23).

Kill Bill

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Prairie and I watched Kill Bill this weekend — the whole thing, renting Volume One Saturday night and going out to see Volume Two on Sunday. I’d seen the first half already when it was in the theaters, but Prairie hadn’t, and it was quite fun to watch them both back-to-back. I’ve got to say that I think that Kill Bill is easily the best work I’ve seen from Quentin Tarantino.

Violent? Well, of course — it’s Tarrantino. After watching Kill Bill, I don’t think Tarantino could film someone getting a paper cut without attaching a spurting jet of blood to it (which, to me at least, is a fairly amusing mental image). It was all extremely over-the-top, though, to the point where it’s extremely difficult to take seriously (I joked at one point that the Kill Bill movies could be subtitled “Quentin Tarantino goes balls-out nuts”).

Watching Vol. 1 the second time, I was struck by how perfect of a decision it was to flesh out O-Ren Ishi-i’s backstory with anime, as it allowed Tarantino to present what is really one of the most disturbing storylines in a manner that’s in some ways actually more intense than he would have been able to do it had he tried to make it a live-action sequence.

Elle Driver is easily one of my favorite characters in the film, I think. Of the five members of the DiVAS, much of the time she struck me as the most snake-like: cold, unfeeling, and vicious — which made the few moments when she broke that mold (her moment of pouting after Bill tells her to leave the bride alive in the hospital towards the beginning of Vol. 1) that much more amusing.

The fight with Elle in Budd’s camper was wonderfully done, too, with Elle constantly unable to draw her sword out of its sheath due to the cramped quarters. I’m quite curious if that’s an intentional movie reference by Tarantino that’s been missed on the Kill Bill References Guide, specifically to the trailer fight in the Coen Brothers’ Raising Arizona. Not to mention that the bride’s final blow to Elle really caught me off guard — a perfect way to end the fight, but entirely unexpected (and cringe-inducing).

What really surprised me about Vol. 2 was the end, which was far more touching and tender than I ever would have expected from Tarantino. After around three and a half hours of violent, bloody revenge, to wrap it all up with sequences that manage to tug at the heartstrings without being schmaltzy was a surprising and perfect way to end the film.

iTunes: “Steamroller” by Pigface from the album Preaching to the Perverted (1994, 2:10).

Nightline on Friday

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As I don’t do the TV thing I won’t be watching this, but for those of you who do, this Friday’s Nightline is looking to be a doozy.

From their daily e-mail update for today, April 27th 2004:

Now I want to tell you about this Friday’s broadcast. We’re going to do something different, something that we think is important. Friday night, we will show you the pictures, and Ted will read the names, of the men and women from the armed forces who have been killed in combat in Iraq. That’s it. That will be the whole broadcast.

…Whether you agree with the war or not, these men and women are serving, are putting their lives on the line, in our names. We think it is important to remember that those who have paid the ultimate price all have faces, and names, and loved ones. We thought about doing this on Memorial Day, but that’s a time when most media outlets do stories about the military, and they are generally lost in the holiday crush of picnics and all. We didn’t want this broadcast to get lost. Honestly, I don’t know if people will watch this for thirty seconds, or ten minutes, or at all. That’s not the point. We think this is important. These men and women have earned nothing less.

Wow. Powerful stuff.

(via Atrios)

iTunes: “Legion” by VNV Nation from the album Empires (2000, 5:11).

Donnie Darko coming back to Seattle!

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How incredibly cool — Donnie Darko, which disappeared from most theaters practically before it was released, has become such a cult favorite that its studio is going to be re-releasing it to theaters, starting right here in Seattle!

“Donnie Darko,” which made a paltry \$517,375 when it was released in October 2001, will get a second chance.

Newmarket Films, which holds domestic distrib rights, is looking to cash in on the pic’s growing cult status by rereleasing a director’s cut this summer.

New cut, which includes 21 minutes of footage not in the original release, will premiere May 29 at the Seattle Film Festival.

Newmarket topper Bob Berney said the company then plans to release the pic on about 10 screens in the city as a test run for a wider national release.

“I want to see if we can play it in the malls and multiplexes,” Berney said, adding that the company planned TV and print ad buys commensurate with a big-budget release.

Newmarket says it will use the results of the Seattle release to determine the pattern for a national rollout.

Count me in on this one!

(via LJ Seattle)

iTunes: “Velvet Pants” by Propellerheads from the album Decksandrumsandrockandroll (1998, 5:47).

TV got your brain

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The last car I owned had three bumper stickers on it, all dead-center on the rear end, one above the other.

DIE MTV DIE

KILL YOUR TV

TELEVISION IS DRUGS

It appears that my sentiments now have the backing of scientific research showing that television causes ‘attention problems’ in young children.

Early television exposure in children ages 1-3 is associated with attention problems at age 7, according to a study from Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle published in the April issue of PEDIATRICS. The study revealed that each hour of television watched per day at ages 1-3 increases the risk of attention problems, such as ADHD, by almost 10 percent at age 7. The study controls for other attributes of the home environment including cognitive stimulation and emotional support.

… The AAP recommends parents avoid letting their children under the age of 2 years watch television and that parents exert caution — such as setting limits on TV viewing, helping children develop media literacy skills to question, analyze and evaluate TV messages, and taking an active role in their children’s TV viewing — in children over the age of 2.

A Seattle P-I editorial mentions that some 3 year olds in the study were watching 12 or more hours of television a day.

Twelve or more?

My lord.

I wish I still had a copy of this, but years ago I saw an editorial cartoon called “The Pacifier” that showed a toddler sitting on the floor with dazed, glazed-over eyes, with a pacifier created from a television crammed into his mouth. I ended up turning that cartoon into a t-shirt (which I still have — the cartoon is by Jim Morin of the Miami Herald, unfortunately I can’t find a date on the cartoon to see if a copy might be available online anywhere). People who treat their children like this — and I’ve known more than a few — have always disturbed me, and while I’m sure I whined about it when I was younger, I’m very glad parents kept stricter controls over the viewing habits of my brother and I when we were growing up.

iTunes: “Light (Fat Back)” by K.M.F.D.M. from the album Light (1994, 7:29).

Rockypalooza

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This is more than a little tempting: This year’s Rocky Horror Picture Show convention, Rockypalooza, will be here in Seattle next month.

Rockypalooza II: Forbidden Palooza draws Rocky Horror fans from all over this end of the continent. It’s an excuse to share our fabulous obsession through shows, preshows and, ahem, post shows. It gives us an opportunity to get to know other people that perform in the area and to share a larger, more elaborate experience with theatergoers. We can find and share Rocky memorabilia. Also, we can settle that whole being-turned-to-a-pillar-of-salt/ getting run out of town by a pitchfork n’ torch mob thing once and for all.

(via LJ Seattle)

Upcoming movies

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Every so often, Prairie and I will go through Apple’s movie trailer page, checking out what’s coming up in the next few months and seeing what interests us. Here’s today’s batch of possibilities (in no particular order)…

  • The United States of Leland: Can Jena Malone be in a bad movie? Everything I’ve seen her in so far has impressed me (Contact, Donnie Darko and The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys), and now I keep seeing her in trailers for movies that catch my eye (Saved, and now Leland). Add Kevin Spacey and an interesting looking trailer, and it definitely goes on the “potential” list.
  • King Arthur: So far, I’ve got mixed feelings on this one. If they can do the story well, then I’m all for it (one of my favorite retellings of the Arthurian saga is Jack Whyte’s Camulod Chronicles, which take a very realistic non-magical approach) — but something about the trailer isn’t quite grabbing me. All the stars look much to “pretty” on first blush, like they’re trying to aim for a cast full of Viggo Mortenson-as-Aragorn to pull in the teen girl contingent. On the other hand, Keira Knightley looks supremely drool worthy in her battle garb, so maybe I’m not one to talk….
  • The Village: M. Night Shyamalan is a bit of an enigma to me. So far, each of his films has been great upon first viewing, but has absolutely no replay value afterwards (with the sole exception of The Sixth Sense, which was fun to watch a second time just to see all the subtle hints you missed the first time), and I found Signs to be a letdown at the end. As with the rest, the trailer for this one has me going “Oooohhh…” — but will he finally be able to craft a movie that stands up to multiple viewings?
  • Raising Helen: Okay, this one was definitely a Prairie pick. ;) Looks to be a cute little comedy — but it’s got Kate Husdon (yum) and Joan Cusack, who I’ve always enjoyed when she pops up in a film. Probably a renter rather than one to beeline for in the theater (at least in my estimation).
  • Connie and Carla: The first part of the trailer had me cringing. Then the drag queens showed up, and suddenly I was fine with it. Which probably says something about me, but I’m not sure I want to go there….
  • The Notebook: Again, sappy romantic stuff is generally more along Prairie’s tastes than mine, but if I’m in a mood for it, this looks like it could be good, and it’s certainly pretty. We’ll see when it comes out.
  • The Last Shot: I’m most intrigued by the fact that this is apparently based on a true story about a guy hired by the FBI (without his knowledge) to direct a movie (that will never be released) in order to run a sting on the mob. The trailer has some cute lines in it (though these days, often those are the only good lines in the entire film)…reserving judgment on this one for the moment.
  • Godsend: This one I’d never heard of before tonight, but it’s rocketed right the top of my “potential” list. After a couple loses their son in an accident, they’re approached by a doctor who offers to inseminate the mother with a clone of their son, essentially allowing him to be “reborn.” Once the new son hits the age that he died, things start to get all sorts of freaky. Looks to be quite cool.
  • Garden State: This trailer caught my eye when Prairie, Kirsten and I went off to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Very little idea what the movie is about, but the imagery in the trailer is enough to catch my interest. I am amused by the link on the trailer page to the trailer’s music on the iTunes Music Store, though — hadn’t seen that trick before!
  • The Stepford Wives: I’m really unsure about this one. While I’ve not read the book, I’m a fan of the (dated, but still creepy) original film version, and the fact that this is listed as a “comedy” makes me wonder about it. Of course, with Nicole Kidman (yum) and Christopher Walken in the film, it can’t be all bad, right?
  • Godzilla: The orignal — UNCUT. UNCENSORED. UNDUBBED. I am so there.

iTunes: “Kooler Than Jesus (Electric Messiah)” by My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult from the album Confessions of A Knife (1990, 4:12).

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

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Sesame Street's original cast

Wow — Sesame Street has been around for 35 years.

My two most present memories of Sesame Street (see if you remember them too…)

“Yup, yup, yup, yup yup yup yup yupyupyupyupyupyupyup TELEPHONE!”

“Around…around…around…around…over, under, and through!”

There’s even a 35^th^ anniversary trivia game on their site, which I did horribly at.

This entry was brought to you by the number 7.

iTunes: “Sesame’s Treet (12″)\” by Smart E’s from the album Sesame’s Treet (1992, 5:12).