Boys Can Be Dumb

Talk Cinema's first movie this year was all about  Two Lovers , yes the one with Joaquin Phoenix's last movie- and had Gwyneth and Vinessa Shaw, not to mention Phoenix's mother in the movie, the erstwhile Isabella Rossellini. So, the story is this: Leonard, who has suffered from depression and a series of near suicides gets set up with Sandra, the daughter of the couple who is going to buy his parents' dry cleaning business. It is a great match (even he kinds of thinks so) until, that is, he sees and thinks he has a shot with the pretty neighbor who has low self-esteem. He worms his way into Michelle/Gwynie's heart and at the same time keeps Sandra along as a Plan B. Meanwhile his mother, the enabler, is watching with bated breath.

Turns out he settles for Sandra, who is the only girl who actually cares for him. Boys can be dumb. The movie is slow-paced, but the characters are honest. I can imagine almost every other guy I know doing the same thing... angling for the "hot" girl when the one who actually cares about him waits on the sidelines oblivious to his machinations. Good movie. But sad and not great.

15 Minute Man/Movie

Underworld, Rise of the Lycans, is a 15-minute story expanded with action, special effects and fighting to a full-blooded movie. The new breed of Lycan rises to harness the werewolf community in order to oppose the vampires that hold them as tools--guards for their daytime hours. They're more than that. Right?

Hot lycans? Sci fi flick? Just what I was looking for when I went to see it. I enjoyed, but it certainly isn't going to win (and didn't) any Oscars.

Wheelers and Dealers

I saw the movie Revolutionary Road at the Century Theater down on Clark and Diversey with my friend Tom. It was beautiful and even though I didn't see Kate Winslet in The Reader (yet) I will say that she was astounding in this. The movie often felt like a play that I was seeing at the Steppenwolf, it was that intense and personal. You were in the room with Kathy Bates, Kate and Leo. 

As Frank and April Wheeler,  Leo DiCaprio shone as the revolutionary with no cause and Kate developed her cause before she revolted. Great movie. I can't say enough good things. Because the story is so intimate, I don't want to get into it except to say that I really appreciated the honesty of these characters. 

  

Grand Old Car, Grand Old Clint

 I went to see Gran Torino with the rents down in Florida back in January because there's something about Mr. Eastwood that appeals to my Dad. I can't imagine what that could be (she says sarcastically). He plays an old fart who is just biding his time in the house he raised his family in- the old fashioned American way. His time in the military serves him well in his battle against the gang-bangers that are taking over his neighborhood. Plus, he's dying so that makes it easy for him to give himself up when he protects the local Asian family teenagers that have moved into his 'hood. Now, I"m not giving anything away here because all this is in the previews. He teaches the teenage boy next door a little bit about what it means to be a man and is there as a father-figure to the teenage daughter. We know he has a heart of gold because his wife (who forces the local Catholic Priest to get him back to the Church) loved him, the kids love him and his dog loves him. 

The movie is exactly what I expected, which I've said before that I like. But it wasn't complicated and the acting, well the Asian kids were great played by Bee Vang  and Ahney Her were good. I don't think if I had it to do over that I would see it in the theater. But that's just me.

L-O-S-T, Season 5, Episode 6 ("316")

So, to preview tonight's episode check out Doc Jensen's Teaser Article and Totally Lost.

Doc Jensen Review Article is here as well.

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Niel got us started this week:

Who caught the Lamp post reference last night for the new Dharma station to Lion Witch and the Wardrobe? It is the marker for where the kids can go from their world into Narnia.

L-O-S-T, Season 5, Episode 5 (This Place Is Death!)

First off, Doc Jensen's article... 

 

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I started today's discussion:

 

What did you guys think? I don't think it was as strong as some of the other episodes we've seen this year. But I like the Jin-centric storyline and the re-emergence of the Smoke Monster. I want them to go find the warding system for that. We didn't ever really find out if that was built by Dharma, the Others or maybe a lost civilization. 

  

I like that we see how the smoke monster made Rousseau think everyone was sick on the island. No wonder she's so crazy. She had to kill the father of her child, for God's sake. And how about that smoke monster! It is "guarding the temple"... the temple, btw, reminded me of the Stone Foot that we saw before... with what appear to be hieroglyphs. Anyone know ancient Egyptian? 

  

Farraday/Charlotte link is kind of crazy. I guess she isn't his daughter-although that isn't ruled out completely. She remembers a crazy guy from the island from when she was there before. 

  

And lastly Locke- ew, bone. 

Review: Bad Luck Girls and Loose Ladies

I read Slammerkin, by Emma Donoghue, when I was in Florida in January, as a loaner from my parents' neighbor, Nicki-who luckily has good reading habits. A slammerkin, apparently is both a loosely worn gown and then it follows, the nickname for a loose woman, or whore. The story, based on a true story, follows poor Mary Saunders, a servant who dies in jail for killing her mistress. 

The books starts in the disgusting streets of London, where she first fell from the protection of her parents when she was raped. and got pregnant after getting too close to a vendor while looking for a pretty ribbon. From there she spends time as a prostitute to feed and clothe herself, under the protection of a new streetwise friend-Dolly. It eventually leads her to the country in Monmouth-where her parents grew up, under the protection of her mother's childhood friend who gives Mary a chance at a new start in life (and one where no one knows who or what Mary was before she arrived). It is this mistress who Mary is convicted of killing. Mary's life reads like a Dickens novel except there is just misery at the end. A sad, sad tale.

I would give this 3 1/2 of 5 stars and classify it as a really good beach read.  The writing is better than that of Phillipa Gregory, for example, but it didn't sparkle for me other than being a good, fast and interesting read.