Chris Rock has made a really fascinating documentary about black people and their hair and the things they do to get the titular Good Hair -- which is to say, to look like European or Asian hair. I think Rock does a great job of just presenting the situation without any overt agenda, but in a way that really makes me, at least, go "wow, that's effed up". As a narrator and guide, he's charming and funny.
FuzzyCo grade: A+
Pros of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: "Bless Yore Beautiful Hide", fancy-dancing mountain men. Cons: They abduct the women! They're kidnappers! I know the solution to our romantic problems: get blankets and rope!
FuzzyCo grade: B-
Every Little Step is a documentary about the casting of a Broadway revival of A Chorus Line, which is a musical about the casting of a show. So the levels of meta here are deep.
But the story is so straightforward: some of these people are going to get the parts and some are not. It's just a straight documentary, so there's none of the nonsense those casting reality shows have. It's just working singers/dancers/actors putting their best out there.
A weird little side-story: one of the actors up for a role is Charlotte d'Amboise and in one of the interviews we meet her father, Jacques d'Amboise, who talks about being a ballet dancer and knee surgery and so on. After we were done with the movie we were IMDBing, as one does, and saw that Charlotte was married to Terrance Mann, who had played Larry in the movie of the musical and we thought it odd that they hadn't mentioned that in the documentary. Watching all the dancing put Erica in the mood for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and just before we watched it Erica mentioned that her favorite of all the brothers was "the ballet dancer". We watch the movie (more on that weirdness later) and then as credits roll... Ephraim Pontipee: Jacques d'Amboise, courtesy New York City Ballet. !!!
FuzzyCo grade: A
The opposite of going into a movie with a lot of expectations is going to see one knowing nearly nothing at all. I like that, especially when it turns out to be a good movie. That was my experience with All My Friends Are Funeral Singers.
All that I knew going in was that our friend Megan Hovde Wilkins was in it, there was music by the Califone in it (and the performance we went to was going to have them performing the score live), and that it might be a little scary.
It turns out to be a ghost story, but not that scary. It was written and directed by a member of Califone, and their music makes up a big portion of the film. I have no idea what it'd be like to see the film on its own, because the band and the music were very present, in a good way, throughout the whole performance. If you get a chance to see one of the showings where they're performing the score, I'd do so.
FuzzyCo grade: A
So, I had never seen The Godfather. I know, I know, your instinctive reaction was "Really?" Yes, really. But, you know, I was 2 when it was made and then the this and the that and we all make choices about our time. It's actually a lot harder for me to see a movie that's supposed to be good because then I have to carve out 2 hours (or, in this case, 3) to pay attention. A bad movie I can watch while upgrading servers or something.
Anyway, Shaun was so offended by this gap in my cinema education that he decided to organize a Godfather Marathon and trap me at his house to watch all three. We downgraded that to setting aside a Sunday night to watch just the first one and Erica and I trundled over to watch this cinematic masterpiece. We ordered in some pizza and pasta (and yes, cannoli. I know the line. Everyone knows the line.) and settled in for three hours.
My reaction: It's an OK movie.
So first off, while you're preparing your "my god you have no taste" comments, I have to say that the transfer from film to DVD that was done for the 2000 box set is terrible. Anything outdoors is shiny and looks like videotape. Anything indoors is so dark you can't see what's going on. I read that the newer "Coppola Restoration" discs (from 2007?) is much better, and I'll definitely seek those out when we move on to watching parts II and III.
And then it suffers somewhat from all the ways it's sunk into the zeitgeist. Clever lines become a "oh, that's where that comes from" instead of a real zinger. I wondered why they were playing Generic Gangster Music over every other scene, until I realized that the Godfather soundtrack has been co-opted by every imitator since. And you know, I get it with the scope and Michael's story and so on and so forth, but it just didn't seem to have the umph for me that it has for so many other people. I was ready to be blown away, and I wasn't.
FuzzyCo grade: A-
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