tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62087372011-07-30T13:19:48.980-07:00.:::: rants and raves ::::.bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-91126419211037860792011-01-25T07:50:00.000-08:002011-01-25T07:56:20.871-08:00

So, did Chuck Barris really kill people in Eastern Europe as a CIA operative? Well, no... of course not. (He hasn't admitted to making it all up, but come on....) As it slowly dawns on you that he is lying to you, that's what makes the story in "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" all the more enjoyable.While not a perfect movie, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is certainly an interesting one.

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-86883248404089064112011-01-25T07:29:00.000-08:002011-01-25T07:30:11.609-08:00

You know... the idea behind this blog wasn't half bad. Maybe I'll come back to it.

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1160270428232017472007-02-27T17:10:00.000-08:002007-02-27T00:10:20.878-08:00

It may be time for a new generation to discover Robert Altman's MASH, the 1970 movie about the Korean War that was really about the Vietnam War. But it's really about the absurdity of war in general and the joys of tweaking the nose of authority. Like most people my age (pushing 30 in 2006), I'm most familiar with the long-running television series starring Alan Alda, whose Hawkeye was always a

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-72479602704803269672007-02-26T23:32:00.000-08:002007-02-26T23:59:00.455-08:00

Jim bought "This is Spinal Tap" on DVD, and suddenly, I got a hankering to see "A Mighty Wind," Christopher Guest's spoof of folk musicians. I didn't even consider seeing this movie when it came out, so that was unusual for me. Even more unusual, I actually did something about it and hied myself to Hollywood Video to rent a copy."A Mighty Wind" surprised me by having a real plot with something at

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-63235988597103063822007-01-26T00:27:00.000-08:002011-01-25T13:11:10.771-08:00

Hm. Well that was fucking weird.Date: 1/25/07, Capitol Theater, Olympia

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1127584774676423802005-09-24T10:32:00.000-07:002011-01-25T13:08:25.167-08:00

This movie, seemingly universally aka "the penguin movie," is not what it seems. I can't believe that it was released in France as a fictional drama between a mama, daddy and baby penguin. Luckily, that type of story has led to a structure that showcases the breeding-cycle of a penguin."March of the Penguins" has been used by religious conservatives as an argument to bolster traditional marriage

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1125994566612960372005-09-06T00:35:00.000-07:002011-01-25T13:11:35.293-08:00

One persistent question obsesses me: do people set out to make crap? When the Hillenbrand brothers made Pinata: Survival Island, did someone write the whiny dialogue, storyboard the boring cinematography and coordinate the lame make-up and effects, then sigh in satisfaction and think, "My work here is done."Jaime Pressley and Nicholas Brendon from Buffy the Vampire Slayer "star" as two graduate

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1115707340474567822005-05-09T23:05:00.000-07:002011-01-25T13:09:27.733-08:00

We have normality. I repeat, we have normality.But, was it normality that we were seeking in the long-awaited movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide the Galaxy, the five-part trilogy/radio show/television show by Douglas Adams? While I thought this version of the story was mostly harmless, it didn't have enough of the loony joie de vivre that made fans out of the first two books.Maybe it was

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1110699907608938142005-03-12T23:08:00.000-08:002011-01-25T13:12:53.582-08:00

There certainly aren't as many movies as bold as Michel Gondry and Charles Kaufman's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," released in early 2004. I can only guess that the studio had no idea how to market this movie --- I know I was turned off by what seemed to be another attempt by Jim Carrey to be a Serious Actor. I could tell how earnest this attempt was because it also starred Kate

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1096594662627592322005-01-31T02:05:00.000-08:002011-01-25T12:17:05.111-08:00

Ironically, I saw Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" at a theater pub -- one with seats at tables where you could order burgers, pizzas, fries and all sorts of greasy grub. Not surprisingly, some people walked out of the movie.What did they think the movie was going to be about?After watching a news report about two obese women losing a lawsuit against McDonald's for making them fat, Spurlock

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1094877149879695732004-09-10T21:19:00.000-07:002004-09-10T21:32:29.880-07:00

This is my favorite bit of dialogue in Lost in Translation:Bob : I don't want to leave. Charlotte : So don't. Stay here with me. We'll start a jazz band. And one of my favorite details from the movie is the jazz band Sausalito (I think) which performs jazzy versions of "Scarborough Faire" and other hits in the Bob and Charlotte's hotel bar.In honor of the movie, I compiled an iTunes playlist for

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1094460612921103762004-09-06T01:57:00.000-07:002011-01-25T13:09:10.028-08:00

So, the Woody Allen of my generation is... John Cusack? Just try to convince me that Cusack's character in High Fidelity is not the Allen prototype -- likeable, cynical, funny and strangle-able.Here, Cusack plays Rob Gordon, a used record store owner who obsesssively replays his worst breakups after the collapse of his latest relationship with Laura (Iben Hjejle), a long term girlfriend who has

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1085646496951784352004-07-17T01:18:00.000-07:002011-01-25T13:12:06.877-08:00

Do critics just make a point of hating on Quentin Tarantino? Do they think it's hip? Are they jealous? Do they look at him and say, "I worked at a video store! Why doesn't someone film my screenplay?"Some critics just think he's all style, no substance. I think those hatin' critics just don't get it.Tarantino didn't just brainwash himself with pop culture -- he really understands the works. So

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1085182346545022722004-05-27T04:32:00.000-07:002011-01-25T13:11:54.630-08:00

Sofia Coppola's Tokyo is disorienting (pardon the pun), but Bill Murray's Bob and Scarlett Johansson's Charlotte find anchors in each other.My plot description makes "Lost in Translation" sound a lot sappier than it is. It's a beautiful, quiet movie, that allows its characters to just exist, rather than be driven by the inevitability of plot. Instead, we follow them as they go aimlessly through

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1108536102611615032004-01-22T23:45:00.000-08:002011-01-25T13:14:10.189-08:00

A crude index of this site, from a to z, being built as I slowly add tags. Let me know what movies I ought to review.CEH M OSV

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6208737.post-1074496177329125282004-01-22T23:44:00.000-08:002007-02-27T00:06:54.184-08:00

Few people have achieved their names becoming an idiom in their lifetime. George Lazenby, who played James Bond in only one movie, is one of the few.When someone says, "Why, he's the George Lazenby of the school board," others have a sense of what that means. That's not really fair. He did an adequate job with a better-than-average Bond movie.The movie itself is fine, though Bond-girl Diana Rigg

bitterspicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09771921320068965548noreply@blogger.com2