Recently in Film Category
Fast Food Nation: The Movie
Fast Food Nation, a book which I think Matt made everyone read, has been made into a movie. The official site has a teaser trailer up. You can also read a preview of the movie.
What's the matter with Long Island?
I was watching Capturing the Friedmans recently on DVD (which, by the way, I highly recommend, even if you saw the film, because of all the interesting extra footage on the DVD) when I realized I have seen, over the past year, a string of films that take place on Long Island, NY. Together they seem to make Long Island out as the Orange County of the East Coast, that is strange things abound (but without all the sex).
It all started with the chauffeur's daughter who runs off to Paris and returns to watch two men duke it out for her. Luckily she never bumped into Speedo while driving around, or her Rolls Royce certainly would have been damaged. And watch that you don't get caught between crazed citizens dueling with day laborers, you wouldn't want to set off the waiting time bomb.
I knew New York City was unruly, but figured Long Island for a quiet, peaceful sort of place. I guess next time I fly into JFK I'll pay more attention instead of sleeping on the LIRR.
I heart "I Heart Huckabees"
Minette and I saw I 
Huckabees last Friday, and I came out of it seriously wishing reality was just like that movie. This was the best comedy to come out of Hollywood is some time!
Pumping Iron director's new film!
George Butler, of Pumping Iron (and Pumping Iron II) fame, has made a new documentary called Going Upriver about no other than John Kerry regarding none other than his Vietnam experiences. Now this should be interesting!
Manufacturing Consent
So I think Noam Chomsky is very interesting. I rented a documentary film (made in Canada, by Canadians (!)) and have to say I think it's very good. Here's a little clip from the film that highlights one thing I agree with whole-heartedly: it takes a lot of work to make informed decisions about politics, work I'm afraid many people can't or choose not to make.
Speaking of documentaries...
With all this talk of Fahrenheit 9/11 I must mention another documentary I recently saw....that's right folks.....Some Kind Of Monster.....METALLICA baby!!! It truly was awesome and insightful. Who knew that a psychiatrist to the stars makes $40,000 a month (the guy Metallica hired made almost a million I believe).
Now don't laugh... no other band in the world has the balls to show what happened during those two years in the making of the St.Anger album. It was very brave on their part and truly shows how great of a band they are. Matt - on a personal note, they got started in the Bay area, call San Francisco their home, started to record St. Anger at a home-built studio in the Presidio, moved out and built their own studio called HQ somewhere near San Rafael.
The Office
At lunch today I nearly dropped my food after looking up to see whom I thought to be David Brent of The Office, walking straight towards me! Was I in trouble? Was he looking for me? Luckily it was not him (or Ricky Gervais who plays him). If you haven't seen the UK television series The Office, I recommend it. It can be a bit on the nausiatingly funny side. The DVD comes with a handy UK english slang dictionary to help make sense of all those British colloquialisms.
How to survive the atomic bomb: paint your house
Did you ever see that movie Crazy People? Dudley Moore plays an advertising executive that flips out and creates a series of "truthful" ads, like "Metamucil: it helps you go to the toilet. If you don't use it you'll get cancer and die." or "Volvo: boxy, but good!" Well here's a commercial brought to you by the US Government (and the paint industry) where you find out that you can survive nuclear holocaust if only you paint your house and rake those leaves in the yard: The House in the Middle. I'm calling my land lords!
Fahrenheit 9/11
I finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11 a few days ago. On the whole, I think the film was pretty good, but I did have a few issues. For example I was annoyed by all the voice overs in the beginning where Mr. Moore says things like "What was Bush thinking when xyz?" and then fills in with some hypothetical answers. Cheap shots: the film is already exposing plenty to think about without Mr. Moore chiming in. And I was left wondering "Why are these soldiers raiding this house on Christmas?" as we only get to follow them along for the raid and the film never tries to explain why they're conducting it. Those annoyances aside, however, I felt the film was something everybody should watch, just to think about some things. I had forgotten, for example, that Mr. Bush was on vacation so much of his time in office prior to 9/11 (42% it turns out -- where can I get that kind of vacation package!) and I had no idea about the strong connections the Bush family has with the royal Saudi family.