I've been watching a lot
noz
3,625 Posts
So I may have also graduated from Schnipper University (tm sween), but i'm not quite as literate as the dude (and actually, i have been reading a lot, but i've mostly been catch up with all the books about hip hop people send me - can't stop, rakim told me, etc, shit that's already been canonized in hip hop nerd world and doesn't really need mentioning and if i do i should probably mention it on my website, since that's probably why they sent me the books in the first place). Anyway, i have been watching a lot of tv, movies, dvds, etc. in my reynaldostyle living off my parents post collegiate hellfilth. Here's what i've been viewing, :
Stella
I've mentioned this before, but Stella is a comedy troupe that has been around for a few years, consisting of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain. The three were also involved in the legendary but inconsistent MTV sketch show The State as well as the funniest movie of the last ten years or so Wet Hot American Summer. Their stella shit is their most abstract, and basically the concept is the three of them run around in suits and do dumb and really bizarre shit. The great thing is that it's really not at all ironic, it's slapstick in an almost classical abbot and costello/marx brothers/three stooges kinda way.
I grew up on a lot of "alternative comedy" type shit, but i've been really burnt out on a lot of that shit because most of those guys have either sold out/matured (chris elliot) or gotten to political/douchebaggy (david cross). As such Stella's a really unique voice in the comedy world in that they're completely immature, but not in a tongue and cheek winking at the audience approach. But at the same time, it's very sophisticated. Comedy Central gave it the tagline "Dumb comedy dressed up in a suit", which has gotten some flack, but i think it's somewhat appropriate.
CC also curbed rampant bootlegging of the pilot by <A HREF="http://www.comedycentral.com/events/stella/first_look/index.jhtml" target="new">making the entire episode available on their website</A>. You should watch it if you're into this sort of thing. It's very absurd, very homoerotic (no homo), and, as a poster on another board accurately pointed out, very white. But if you can deal with those three facts, it's worth checking. Still might be an acquired taste though. Show starts a week from tonight.
But yeah, I've been watching that a lot (i can't remember a comedy with this much replay value), and also revisiting their <A HREF="http://www.collegehumor.com/?pg=stella" target="new">shorts</a>, which i didn't really get until i saw them until I saw the pilot, but now they make a lot more sense. The shorts are very raw (and involve a ton of dildos), i think the corporate restraint that comedy central brings is actually advantageous to this kinda comedy, because there's shit in the shorts that is just excessive and you can tell it was maybe more fun to watch than to make. Plus they filmed a ton of them in princeton and even give my favorite hoagie spot and my mom's former employers (C****** B***** Realty) a shout out on the DVD commentary.
Wanda
Somebody recommended this as where gallo aped Buffalo '66 from
Anyway, this is starring and directed by Barbara Loden, who's pretty hot by late 60s standards. And she drinks and gets divorced, and then just kinda wanders around for a while until she get's picked up by this weirdo bank robber type dude. It's a really beautiful movie, super sparse groundbreaking for it's time, i'd assume, but i don't really know anything about film. But the style means it's very slow moving (there's a lot of "walking in real time" type shit) and (Spoiler, kinda) it lacks the emotional payoff that Buffalo had, which I guess is probably a lot better for the concept, but not quite as rewarding for the viewer.
I forget who recommended this, but if you see this, PM and i'll burn you a copy.
Mingus
it's mingus and he's got a gun! and a daughter! and he's doing things! Really a great documentary on one of the more underrated eccentric geniuses of the last hundred years.
Entourage
I've been watching the past few eps as well as finally getting the first season on dvd (which is nice cause i only got into it about half way through. I normally wouldn't be into a show like this (hence missing the first half of last season), but the characters are just so strong that it's a must see. Especially Ari (Jermey Pivens, who kills it) and Drama. This season is somewhat weak in comparison, but the whole aquaman thing is sure to be funny.
Game Over (Part 1)
I mostly rented this because it claimed to have bonus music videos from AZ/Mobstyle (it didn't, well it had like 30 seconds of one), but i actually ended up enjoying the whole thing. For those who don't know Porter/Alpo/AZ were 80s harlem drug lords (their tale was also dramatized in the Dame Dash production Paid In Full, which is also very good). Despite terrible production values and a downright hilarious narration from Jadakiss, this is actually a really intense documentary. The bulk of which is from the perspective of Porter's younger sister, who tells how rich and their younger brother were both brutally murdered and the fucked up system that created their world and then allowed that to happen (the police didn't believe her when she said her 12 yr old brother was kidnapped and made her go home and get the severed finger that kidnappers sent them!).
In Good Company
So I really like that Scarlett Johanason even though I can't pronounce her name and i don't really have anything against the quaids. I haven't watched a good bad romantic comedy pandering 30 something type movie since i was asked not to come back to the second run movie theatre that once employed me, and after watching this it stays that way. The concept is really cool, that that 70s show kid gets promoted to being quaid's boss at an advertising firm that quaid's ran for 20 years. and then to add insult to injury 70s show kid starts dating quaid's daughter (johanason). But the movie falls apart because they make 70s show kid such a shit head that you couldn't possibly see what scarlett would see in that dipshit, and in fact it's not even really a romantic movie at all, it's about how 70s show and quaid bond after 70s show fucks his daughter... riiiight. Wack! This is the first time i've given anything one star on netflix. I usually don't even waste my time using their rating system.
Young Black Brother Video Collection
Really one of the more comprehensive rap video DVD collections I've ever seen. As far as just the videos, really i only care about the first half dozen or so, i'm not exactly checking for later era mac mall but california livin? sick wit tis? yes please. But the really cool thing is that there's a ton of behind the scenes footage & commentary, and other bonus stuff that i haven't explored yet. The Khayree documentary they preview looks especially dope, i'm su
re dude has an incredible story to tell being the game as long as he has. It'll be a must cop if it actually comes out.
Stella
I've mentioned this before, but Stella is a comedy troupe that has been around for a few years, consisting of Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain. The three were also involved in the legendary but inconsistent MTV sketch show The State as well as the funniest movie of the last ten years or so Wet Hot American Summer. Their stella shit is their most abstract, and basically the concept is the three of them run around in suits and do dumb and really bizarre shit. The great thing is that it's really not at all ironic, it's slapstick in an almost classical abbot and costello/marx brothers/three stooges kinda way.
I grew up on a lot of "alternative comedy" type shit, but i've been really burnt out on a lot of that shit because most of those guys have either sold out/matured (chris elliot) or gotten to political/douchebaggy (david cross). As such Stella's a really unique voice in the comedy world in that they're completely immature, but not in a tongue and cheek winking at the audience approach. But at the same time, it's very sophisticated. Comedy Central gave it the tagline "Dumb comedy dressed up in a suit", which has gotten some flack, but i think it's somewhat appropriate.
CC also curbed rampant bootlegging of the pilot by <A HREF="http://www.comedycentral.com/events/stella/first_look/index.jhtml" target="new">making the entire episode available on their website</A>. You should watch it if you're into this sort of thing. It's very absurd, very homoerotic (no homo), and, as a poster on another board accurately pointed out, very white. But if you can deal with those three facts, it's worth checking. Still might be an acquired taste though. Show starts a week from tonight.
But yeah, I've been watching that a lot (i can't remember a comedy with this much replay value), and also revisiting their <A HREF="http://www.collegehumor.com/?pg=stella" target="new">shorts</a>, which i didn't really get until i saw them until I saw the pilot, but now they make a lot more sense. The shorts are very raw (and involve a ton of dildos), i think the corporate restraint that comedy central brings is actually advantageous to this kinda comedy, because there's shit in the shorts that is just excessive and you can tell it was maybe more fun to watch than to make. Plus they filmed a ton of them in princeton and even give my favorite hoagie spot and my mom's former employers (C****** B***** Realty) a shout out on the DVD commentary.
Wanda
Somebody recommended this as where gallo aped Buffalo '66 from
Anyway, this is starring and directed by Barbara Loden, who's pretty hot by late 60s standards. And she drinks and gets divorced, and then just kinda wanders around for a while until she get's picked up by this weirdo bank robber type dude. It's a really beautiful movie, super sparse groundbreaking for it's time, i'd assume, but i don't really know anything about film. But the style means it's very slow moving (there's a lot of "walking in real time" type shit) and (Spoiler, kinda) it lacks the emotional payoff that Buffalo had, which I guess is probably a lot better for the concept, but not quite as rewarding for the viewer.
I forget who recommended this, but if you see this, PM and i'll burn you a copy.
Mingus
it's mingus and he's got a gun! and a daughter! and he's doing things! Really a great documentary on one of the more underrated eccentric geniuses of the last hundred years.
Entourage
I've been watching the past few eps as well as finally getting the first season on dvd (which is nice cause i only got into it about half way through. I normally wouldn't be into a show like this (hence missing the first half of last season), but the characters are just so strong that it's a must see. Especially Ari (Jermey Pivens, who kills it) and Drama. This season is somewhat weak in comparison, but the whole aquaman thing is sure to be funny.
Game Over (Part 1)
I mostly rented this because it claimed to have bonus music videos from AZ/Mobstyle (it didn't, well it had like 30 seconds of one), but i actually ended up enjoying the whole thing. For those who don't know Porter/Alpo/AZ were 80s harlem drug lords (their tale was also dramatized in the Dame Dash production Paid In Full, which is also very good). Despite terrible production values and a downright hilarious narration from Jadakiss, this is actually a really intense documentary. The bulk of which is from the perspective of Porter's younger sister, who tells how rich and their younger brother were both brutally murdered and the fucked up system that created their world and then allowed that to happen (the police didn't believe her when she said her 12 yr old brother was kidnapped and made her go home and get the severed finger that kidnappers sent them!).
In Good Company
So I really like that Scarlett Johanason even though I can't pronounce her name and i don't really have anything against the quaids. I haven't watched a good bad romantic comedy pandering 30 something type movie since i was asked not to come back to the second run movie theatre that once employed me, and after watching this it stays that way. The concept is really cool, that that 70s show kid gets promoted to being quaid's boss at an advertising firm that quaid's ran for 20 years. and then to add insult to injury 70s show kid starts dating quaid's daughter (johanason). But the movie falls apart because they make 70s show kid such a shit head that you couldn't possibly see what scarlett would see in that dipshit, and in fact it's not even really a romantic movie at all, it's about how 70s show and quaid bond after 70s show fucks his daughter... riiiight. Wack! This is the first time i've given anything one star on netflix. I usually don't even waste my time using their rating system.
Young Black Brother Video Collection
Really one of the more comprehensive rap video DVD collections I've ever seen. As far as just the videos, really i only care about the first half dozen or so, i'm not exactly checking for later era mac mall but california livin? sick wit tis? yes please. But the really cool thing is that there's a ton of behind the scenes footage & commentary, and other bonus stuff that i haven't explored yet. The Khayree documentary they preview looks especially dope, i'm su
re dude has an incredible story to tell being the game as long as he has. It'll be a must cop if it actually comes out.
Comments
I watched this myself a few nights ago and loved it. The NY Times review (all archived for free up to a certain year - nytimes.com/movies) talks about how this movie is what it is, and doesn't front about that by any means, but ultimately is about men. The Scarlett/Topher relationship is somewhat secondary and works only to frame the Topher/Dennis Quaid relationship more solidly. I am unsure why, but I will defend and love movies like this. I am sappy, I like people with unrealistic emotional change and wonderful hair. Noz, did you notice how much better Scarlett looks after she starts dating Topher? They put her in ponytails and frumpy sweatshirts and she plays foosball. When they go on their first date/meeting, she is drinking coffee alone in New York City, fully dolled, hair curly and makeup soft. That was the stupidest part of the movie, to me. Meta film. Anyway, the NYTimes review ends by saying (and I am paraphrasing) "I don't believe the way the film ends at all, but I mean it as a sincere compliment that I wish I did." That's how I feel about it.
This would be awesome! Hope it happens.
My Architect[/b]
I watched this tonight. I bought a few old, used Baltimore club records today, and had the Franksi slurred refrain of "there's some whooore-assss in this house," this weird repetition yodel sound. Anyway, I watched this movie and saw all of Louis Kahn's (the architect of the title) buildings, and it's ridiculous to me that these two things can exist in the same world as art. Not really, but the film ends in Bangladesh with a man crying about how he bought peace and democratic wonder to the people and country of Bangladesh, and Kahn's son, the filmmaker, certainly understands, but is still aghast and underwhelmed by the lousy person his dad was. That's the main issue of the film, juxtaposing personhood with artistry, and it never pans out. The saddest moment of the film is the narrator speaking to his mother, with whom Kahn had a child out of wedlock (his third child by three seperate women, two out of wedlock) and she says that she truly believes that he was making his way to their house to live with him when he died. She calls herself a romantic fatalist and a loner. It's not pathetic or tender, but it's not not those things either. By the way, Kahn died very in debt of a heart attack in a men's room in Penn Station coming back from Bangladesh. The building I refer to (pictured above - though only partially and really without capturing any of its awe) was completed years after his death.
yeah but you didn't feel that topher was just such an incompetent jerk that it didn't matter if he became buddies with quaid, whether or not he got the girl, whether or not he suceeded at his job. i just didn't care. i didn't want him to become a better person in the end. i just wanted him out of my life. he was so one dimensional and useless and unrealistic.
trust me i love sappy as much as the next man. i genuinely thought it was a great concept that they basically simplified to a "respect your elders"/"sometimes the old way is the good way" lesson, when there are so many more dynamic approaches they could've taken to the relationship.
good point on the scarlett cleaning up her act, i had just figured that'd be a natural product of her transfer to nyu/move to the city.
i don't know what "meta film" means.
netflixed, keep em coming.