FuzzyCo

Good Hair

2010-03-17T17:34:41Z

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+

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

2010-03-17T17:18:39Z

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

2010-03-17T17:10:45Z

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

All My Friends Are Funeral Singers

2010-03-17T03:35:46Z

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

The Godfather

2010-03-16T22:42:42Z

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-

FYI

2010-03-16T21:54:59Z

Another rapper that Erica is like.

Hotel for Dogs

2010-03-16T03:24:33Z

Erica and I wanted a light movie to watch and what could be more light-hearted than Hotel for Dogs. Like Snakes on a Plane, the movie's right there in the title. Completely light-hearted, sweet, and predicable. Thank goodness it doesn't have any deceased parents, families being torn apart, or issues of saving animals from shelters. Aw, crum.

I really can't tell you what people not in our particular circumstances might think about this movie. A cute, dumb movie with dogs? Something like that.

Fuerza Bruta is coming to Chicago

2010-03-16T03:08:33Z

Fuerza Bruta is a crazy dance/music/performance piece. It's an amazing spectacle and Erica and I loved seeing it in New York. The show is coming to Chicago starting May 21 and I heartily recommend seeing it if you have the spare $50.

Whiteout

2010-03-16T02:33:33Z

Setting a mediocre thriller in an exotic location just means you can add implausible environmental complications to your implausible characters.

FuzzyCo grade: C-

Run

2010-03-14T15:22:11Z

Robot shoes say: ran 3.05 mi on 3/14/2010 at 9:43 AM with a pace of 10'06"/mi

I forgot the daylight-savings time chance this morning, so I was still in bed when Shaun buzzed the door to meet me for a run, but other than that a fine run.

Daybreakers

2010-03-12T04:31:58Z

Daybreakers starts with an incredible premise—if vampirism starts spreading in a population, before long everyone will be vampires and who will they feed on then? And for kicks, it layers on a noir feel, which is like the bacon of movie motifs—it goes with everything!

And from that great start, the movie manages to squander every good idea and meanders around from pointless action sequence to makes-no-sense confrontations, until the final dramatic but-why-did-he? ending.

FuzzyCo grade: C-

Bottoms Up

2010-03-12T04:20:05Z

Bottoms Up's claim to fame, if you can call it that, is that its two stars, if you can call them that, are Paris Hilton and Jason Mewes (Jay of Jay & Silent Bob). I had picked up a copy of the movie for $2 at a Big Lots because hey, Paris & Jay! And then someone gave us a copy with a post-it that said, "Not that you asked, but I was uncomfortably surprised w/ how much I liked Paris Hilton's performance in this otherwise crap movie." I don't know who that was, and I almost don't want to know because I don't want to know which of my friends is insane. Otherwise crap? It's entirely crap. This is a terrible, terrible movie. And not even so-bad-or-weird it's good like Plan 9 or The Room or something. Just teeth-gratingly bad. It's boring and offensive and badly acted and makes no sense and poorly edited and just really, really bad.

FuzzyCo grade: F

Next Day Air

2010-03-12T03:56:14Z

I think the trailers for Next Day Air did it a disservice. I went in expecting a certain kind of low-brow stoner comedy and instead found a dark, gritty comedy about drug dealers and thieves—sort of Elmore Leonard meets The Wire.

FuzzyCo grade: A

Julie & Julia

2010-03-12T03:38:04Z

I think everyone I've talked to feels the exact same way I do about this movie—I would happily watch a two-hour movie with Meryl Streep as Julia Child; as charming as Amy Adams normally is, I'd like the forty-five minutes I spent watching her as Julie Powell back. I especially think the contrast is not flattering to Powell, because it seems that Child met every challenge with a cheerful attitude and a sense of self, where Powell whines and mopes and seems to be focussed on external validation. And it's not the movie's fault, but the thing was really tainted for me by knowing that the real-life Powell's next memoir was about her adultery. It adds such a sad subtext to all of her interaction's with her husband Eric in the film.

FuzzyCo grade: B- (A+ for just the Julia Child parts)

4 miles

2010-03-12T01:38:36Z

Nike+ sez: ran 4.01 mi on 3/11/2010 at 6:33 PM with a pace of 10'42"/mi.

This is the farthest I've run since the 18 miles I did of the 2007 Chicago Marathon. Erica points out that I did 6 miles in the 2009 Triathlon, but I didn't run the whole distance—I ran about 2 1/2 miles and then walked/hobbled the rest of the way. So I'm pretty chuffed that I'm back up to 4 pain-free miles. The goal for 2010 is a pain-free triathlon. So here we go…