Movies Watched -- Bottle Rocket (1996)

91 minute running time … Wes Anderson’s first movie … introducing? Luke and Owen Wilson to the world. They did have this laconic Texan way of talking that was weird and sort of charming (Melissa Villaseñor’s imitation is brilliant) … cutesy but pointless Wes Anderson stuff from before he perfected the formula … I wasn’t thrilled (though Rushmore is one of my Top 500 movies of all time).

Rita Kempley got it right when she wrote: “Bottle Rocket … gets by on quirky charm and slacker chic— but just barely … aptly named for cheaply made fireworks that tend to fizzle instead of explode.”

A whole generation “incapable of independent action.” Ouch, says this Gen-Xer.

Falling for the motel maid

Movies Watched -- Minding the Gap (2018)

93 minute running time … a documentary filmed over many years about three boys who lived in Rockford, IL and rode skateboards … the filmmaker, Bing Liu, used a lot of early footage that he had shot when they were in their middle teens … Zack is a pretty white boy and talented skater … Keire is a charming black boy and very talented skater … Bing is ethnically Chinese and mostly behind the camera … all three kids are sort of on the edge of poverty, sort of clinging to middle class respectability, I found the class aspect interesting. They were also all “abused” in the sense that they were beaten by their fathers, in Bing’s case, by his white step-father. Making the movie was a form of therapy for Bing, I guess.

One thing that wasn’t really focused on was their drug use … Zack and Keire sounded like potheads, I assume they both smoked a lot of weed whereas Bing didn’t, and Bing went on to become a filmmaker whereas Zack and Keire are living more marginal existences. Anyway, it was sort of interesting (a Criterion release after all) and had some great skateboarding footage. I didn’t hate it.

Babies having babies

Let Me Take Away the Pain

Redinho is a producer like Mark Ronson, I guess … Joel Culpepper on vocals. I dig it.

What Forced Liquidation Looks Like

My scanner was dinging for all these, but I only short things that go up … there’s no challenge in shorting stuff that just goes down down down. It’s all about the challenge for me (this is sarcasm). DISCA, GSX, IQ, VIAC, and VIPS … click any chart to enlarge it.

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Movies Watched -- The Cakemaker (2017)

105 minute running time … this was a very quiet, sweet, gentle movie … well done, I enjoyed it … a homosexual love story, but it gets complicated … this was a John Farr reco and I thank him for it; I would have never heard about this movie without him … yes, the story was a little contrived, or far-fetched, but it doesn’t matter, it gets a coveted green-go from me. Love, tragedy, loss, grief, loneliness, and… love again?

SPOILERS: Oren’s mother knew that her son was gay and that Thomas was his lover, but she kept his secret. She put a lid on it.

You have to make it warm….

Movies Watched -- Magic Mike XXL (2015)

115 minute running time so at least 20 minutes too long … this inexplicably was in my queue (ah, I think I was supposed to see the original and this was a sequel) … male strippers, simulated sex shows, etc., this is a culture that I am not familiar with … White Chocolate, er, Channing Tatum, can dance though … note that the gorgeous Matt Bomer (who is gay), from season three of The Sinner, was one of the strippers … anyway, just a weird one. I guess if you’re interested in the world of male strippers and can stand non-stop swearing and general crudity and dumbness, then you might want to see it.

Rex hated it: “Feeble attempts at plot or character revelation are laughable. There is no climax. Magic Mike XXL just fades to black….“

Never Heard of her…

Movies Watched -- On the Town (1949)

98 minute running time… I got this because I thought Sono Osato, the beautiful half-Japanese dancer, was in it, but of course Osato was in the Broadway show, not the movie (you dummy). Anyway this was cute, you can’t really go wrong with a Stanley Donen musical, esp. with Gene Kelly, but I don’t think it’s good enough for a recommendation (if you like musicals, it is). Bosley enjoyed it, as did John Farr.

Main Street

Movies Watched -- Leviathan (2012)

87 minute running time … the operations of a commercial shipping boat as performance art … boat based out of New Bedford, Mass … it was an interesting idea, it was cool, but I sure didn’t watch it at normal speed … no dialogue, no narration, and sound design and camera placement to maximize the horrors (and wonders). As one critic wrote, it’s a “nightmare vision” and “hallucinatory” … if you know anyone who is interested in working on a fishing boat, show them this movie and they’ll drop the idea fast. I didn’t hate it; this is capital A.R.T. art.

Bye by-catch

Going with the Flow

Laville singing Easy … I dig it.

Movies Watched -- Requiem for a Dream (2000)

102 minute running time … I wasn’t in the mood for a druggie movie, but this looked interesting … I liked the parallel of the mother popping diet pills and the kid shooting smack … sort of a scared straight, don’t-do-drugs-kids story. My disc didn’t have subtitles so watching it on fast forward I wasn’t able to read along as I usually do, which didn’t help.

Love those choke necklaces