While I was ordering Andy Richter Controls the Universe, I saw that Parker Lewis Can’t Lose is coming out on dvd in June! I had totally forgotten about this show but I got really excited when I saw this announcement. It’s going to look incredibly dated. But I have fond memories of the show.

I got a kick out of seeing Dean Winters in the most recent episode of 30 Rock. Actually, his entire Dennis storyline is hilarious. He must enjoy being funny after 6 seasons of violence on Oz. He is still conniving but in a less damaging way. I guess on Oz he was just trying to survive in a terrible place. Now my mind is thinking of watching Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Adebisi and then as Mr. Eko on Lost. Anyway, Dean Winters was also in the most recent episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I enjoy Dennis the last pager salesman in New York (from 30 Rock) because it is lighter fare. But as I also am obsessed with Sarah Connor Chronicles, I am glad to see him working on that show too. There are always flashbacks he might appear in. Then again, it seemed like his storyline is pretty much wrapped up. But Dennis is still alive and kicking in the 30 Rock universe.

I can’t keep up this year with all of my shows! I just gave up Supernatural. I have faithfully followed it up until about 2 weeks ago. Even then, I have been half-heartedly watching it this month. So, bye-bye Supernatural. As much as I enjoy Jensen Ackles (Dark Angel, anyone?), there are other shows I’d rather follow for now. There’s always summer reruns!

Treeless Mountain

I saw Treeless Mountain at the 2009 New Directors/New Films festival. This festival is very hit or miss for me as are Korean movies. But this movie was really impressive. Plus, the director is Korean American so the sensibility is different than a straight Korean movie. I loved the close-ups of the young children. The main little girl was very real in her emotions. I was glad that the movie had an uplifting payoff at the end because it certainly fulfilled its description of being “heartwrenching.” I hope people go to see this movie. So Yong Kim has a clear vision and can actually write and direct without getting in her own way. I haven’t seen her first movie, In Between Days, but heard it is well worth watching so I will seek it out.

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This was a great show. I was sorry to see it go. But I’m psyched that it’s available in its entirety on dvd! I also enjoyed Andy Barker, PI. I hope that one makes it out on dvd too with unaired episodes.

EDIT 3/25/09: Nice interview with Andy Richter at EW. Read about Andy’s thoughts about working with Conan O’Brien again. Also, there are FIVE unaired episodes of Andy Richter Controls the Universe plus commentary by the man himself. Can’t wait!

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I never saw a more ambitious theater company than The Wooster Group. They originated multi-media, avant garde productions. They use microphones, costumes, video, lighting, sound, etc. in ways that make me laugh, gasp and scratch my head. I look forward to every experiment. The latest is a mashup of a baroque opera and schlocky sci-fi vampire movie. Here’s the description from the site:

In The Wooster Group’s production of LA DIDONE, Francesco Cavalli’s opera, with libretto by Francesco Busenello, (1641) and Mario Bava’s cult movie Terrore nello spazio (1965) collide in a war-like symbiosis, dropping Aeneas’ ships onto a forbidding planetary landscape and forming a synergy between early baroque opera and pre-moonlanding sci-fi.

The singing was impressive. The main roles were played by actors with classical opera training. In the background, Planet of the Vampires by Mario Bava played on screens while actors onstage acted it out. Everyone was dressed in space age-y silver suits. My only complaint is that the seating was just okay in terms of comfort level. Luckily I had an aisle seat so I got to stretch out a little bit. Still, people all around me were squirmy. The production was quite engaging but it is tight quarters.I know this is a minor complaint considering we’re talking about a small theater company performing in DUMBO (Brooklyn). It’s not Broadway with exhorbitant Broadway prices. It was funny, it was weird, it was challenging to figure out how they were going to make these two disparate stories and mediums work.I think it’s good to balance out my pop culture life with easy to digest (High School Musical 3) and anything by The Wooster Group.

I Love You, Man

I thoroughly enjoyed I Love You, Man. I loved watching Jason Segel and Paul Rudd having fun. Jon Favreau and Jaime Pressly also made a good comedy team. Rashida Jones was very adorable. It was formulaic but cute. You can tell everyone involved had a blast making it. I give it a B+. A Paul Rudd movie I would actually give an A- to is Role Models. I really enjoyed it and found it very warm and endearing through its puerile veneer.

Lost, Dollhouse, Friday Night Lights

It goes without saying but Lost is so amazing this season. I love the entire series, but Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse and company are really delivering this season. They are stuffing every episode with story, story, story. I love Sawyer’s Dharma Initiative storyline. I love Sawyer and Juliet together. I’m glad Jack is holding it together. Hurley is awesome. Jin’s hair is wild. Kate and Sun are both women on the verge of nervous breakdowns for good reason. My theory about Kate is that she left Aaron with Claire’s mother because Ben forced her hand. I hope it’s not anything worse than that. Sun is a badass now. She clocked Ben really good last week. What will happen with Ben? I like both new characters so far. I mean, they haven’t done anything particularly interesting yet but I like both actors playing Caesar and ??? respectively. Friday Night Lights is also a standout this year. Every episode leaves me wanting more. What a feat of television. Dollhouse is finally revealing itself to be the Joss Whedon show I want it to be.

I’m sort of relieved that Better Off Ted is the only new show I want to keep watching. I’m curious about The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency starting on HBO next week. I enjoyed those books.

I’ve been listening to the latest Franz Ferdinand album. I had heard it was different from their other stuff which I adore. But I still hear the qualities that draw me to their music. Ulysses has grown on me. I need more time to decide if I have any favorites on the album.

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I am inspired by Michel Gondry’s music video work and love Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. I hope he directs more Flight of the Conchords episodes. I think he works best when there is a strong script written by someone else. His genius is in the visual arts.

Leos Carax makes movies that I find somewhat pretentious and at times impenetrable (The Lovers on the Bridge, POLA X). But I found him to be an interesting, down-to-earth speaker at his Q&A’s. He knows his work is somewhat pretentious and impenetrable. I nod my head to someone who will acknowledge something like that!

Additionally, I enjoyed Joon-ho Bong’s satirical political horror box office smash film The Host.

As a result, I was curious but not necessarily chomping at the bit to see Tokyo! which is a movie in three parts directed by Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Joon-ho Bong. Each story is set in Tokyo. Gondry’s was whimsical with fun visuals. It is based on a story set in NYC and it kind of shows. It might have been better if it stayed that way. But I liked the ending although it sort of came out of nowhere. I was surprised to learn that the lead in this story is Steven “Under Siege” Seagal’s daughter.  Leos Carax hasn’t directed anything in a while. His story started off strong, then meandered a bit and ended strong. His segment had a statement about Tokyo and urban life in general. The most put-together story was the one written by and directed by Joon-ho Bong. It starred the lead from Tokyo Sonata, a movie I recently saw and liked in the NYFF. He did a good job of being interesting and compelling. The story was quirky like the other two but it was fuller in character development and more complete in narrative structure. I would say this movie is visually stimulating, narratively uneven and is worth a gander if you like any of the directors involved.

Tokyo! inspired me to re-watch Gondry’s White Stripes Fell in Love With a Girl video: http://poprl.com/XEo.

Another Gondry video worth re-watching is Steriogram’s Walkie Talkie Man: http://shuurl.com/Y3171.

You might have to watch an ad before each video starts but it’s worth the wait.

Race to Witch Mountain

I remember these Witch Mountain stories from the books and tv movies in that they exist but content-wise not so much. Anyway, Race to Witch Mountain looked fun enough in the trailer. Dwayne Johnson is credited as such, no mention of “The Rock” anywhere. He is trying to be legit. He always has charisma on screen. I enjoyed his action sequences. The movie perked up around these. The kids are decent. They are likeable as aliens but never quite become more than that. I like Carla Gugino in most things. She was fine in this. There was a clever plot device of having a sci-fi convention going on during the span of the movie. They made some good use of it but didn’t use it to its full potential. If you see this movie, make sure you stay throughout the end credits when I thought, wow, these end credits are better than the entire movie. I give this movie a B-. It wasn’t terrible and had fun elements. Maybe it would’ve benefited from being a PG-13 rating so the action could’ve been amped up a bit and the chemistry between Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino explored more than it was.

Crossing Over

Wayne Kramer’s Running Scared surprised me by keeping me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I saw it in the theater and thought, why did I skip seeing The Cooler? So I ran home and rented it immediately. I did not regret it. Also, I was duly impressed by Paul “Fast and the Furious” Walker’s performance. Thus, when I saw that Crossing Over was playing in theaters, my curiosity was peaked. It had two plusses in my book: 1) Wayne Kramer wrote and directed it; and 2) Harrison Ford was the star of it. I put off seeing Crash and Babel as long as possible thinking they would be overbearing and overrated. In my opinion, they were although I was impressed by Matt Dillon’s performance. I’m sure there were other things I found okay but I don’t recall at the moment. Anyway, I reference these movies because Crossing Over also has an ambitious scope. It aims to make a socio-political statement about living in America, being American and immigration policies. I liked a lot about this movie. It was heavy-handed in its message that people are people (cue Depeche Mode). But I liked that Harrison Ford was actually trying to act in this movie and not just picking up a paycheck. It reminded me of Britz and The Visitor as well. This movie has a “preaching to the choir” feel to it but it’s worth seeing I think. I noticed that Wayne Kramer cut back a lot on his stylized approach except for the few action sequences. I am a fan of this guy and will continue to follow his work. I give Crossing Over a solid B.

For some reason, someone at Encore decided to air Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo recently. Considering Breakin is considered a seminal movie, it’s a wonder why this programming person didn’t pick the original. Anyway, once I was alerted to this, I felt compelled to watch it. It has that nostalgic charm of movies depicting and encapsulating a distinct time in fashion, dance, music and art. It is hard too pick the best moments but one is Turbo’s upside down dance. It is available for view at  http://poprl.com/XRR.

Spring TV

I don’t know how I’m going to find time to do this but I want to check out some new shows.

1. Better Off Ted ABC 8:30EST 3/18

2. Taking the Stage MTV 10pm 3/19

3. Party Down Starz 10:30pm 3/20

4. Cupid ABC 3/24

5. Harper’s Island CBS 4/9

Also, I watch My Boys and Parks & Recreation must start soon. I’ve dropped Heroes. That has given me one slot. Thank goodness for on-demand. That gives me flexibility with HBO shows (Big Love, Flight of the Conchords and Eastbound and Down), Showtime’s United States of Tara and NBC shows. Also, Spectacle is on Free Movies on Demand. I’ve also dropped How I Met Your Mother pretty much for this entire season. I will watch it in summer reruns or maybe even on dvd. I want to watch it but I just don’t have the time! It’s not easy being a Pop Culture Addict! But it’s always fun!

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Event movies are fun. The energy is high and positive. It’s hard to capture that feeling. Seeing movies in IMAX also heightens the experience. Seeing an event movie on IMAX is like playing on a Steinway or Stradivarius. The quality is given that much of an advantage from the get-go.  So we, by we I mean members of my Pop Culture Addict crew, got there hours beforehand and as a result got our first choice seats. When we left, we took the stairs because it seemed faster and we walked by a line that started on top and went all the way down to the main level. And these were the early people for the next show. It was fun to be a part of that excitement.

I wanted to finish reading Watchmen before seeing the movie but got sidetracked. I did manage to read the first 15 pages or so and saw what the fuss was about. It is intricate story-telling with stunning illustrations. Apparently author Alan Moore disowned the movie. He just doesn’t believe it could be made into a viable movie. Thus, his name is not on the credits and he said he is giving all his royalties from the movie to the artist Dave Gibbons. Director Zack Snyder said of course he was hurt and wanted approval from the creator of Watchmen himself. But he did a fine job.

My first impression was that they spent a lot of money on the soundtrack. Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Jimi Hendrix? How much did that cost? Next, I was wowed by the information-packed opening credits. Usually you can space out and focus on the names. A lot happens in the opening credit sequence with Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin’ playing over it. Don’t blink. So the movie started off with a bang.

I had heard the movie would be impenetrable to those unfamiliar with the graphic novel. That is, if you hadn’t read Watchmen, you would not be able to understand the movie. I thought, that doesn’t sound right. That wouldn’t make a very good movie. The movie should be able to present an interpretation of the book that makes sense to the rest of us. Well, it turns out, it does. The graphic novel and the movie are two different animals. However, at the same time, the movie is extremely faithful to the book. I mentioned I had read just the beginning. For the first 15 minutes or so, I recognized every frame from the movie as being recreations of each frame from the book. Much of the dialogue is also faithful. Then at some point, I didn’t recognize it anymore so I started to experience the movie in a different way.

Seeing it in IMAX was great. I highly recommend it. It greatly enhanced the movie. I did understand it. I liked it. The iconic Rorschach was fully realized by Jackie Earle Haley. He gave an Oscar-worthy performance. His Little Children co-star Patrick Wilson was good as well as Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl II. Actually, I enjoyed everyone’s performance. Billy Crudup’s voice worked for me. Malin Ackerman was fine. Matthew Goode had an interesting look and accent. Jeffrey Dean Morgan certainly worked out for this role.  I got from people who’ve read the whole thing that the story was changed and bits didn’t make it into the movie (that’s why they are releasing another Watchmen-related movie soon). But I thought the narrative was easy enough to follow. They focused on a small enough number of characters so I cared about their background and could follow them. There were origin details omitted in the movie that made it a little mysterious and confusing. But the movie already runs 2.5 hours. That is long enough. There was only one moment near the end when I wanted to pause and ask a fellow Pop Culture Addict what was going on. But by the end, I had figured it out and thought the endgame was actually universal and almost simplistic. The changes made the movie more cohesive I think, speaking as someone who only heard about the differences.

I can understand Alan Moore wanting to keep it pure. He was very timely when he wrote it. It’s set when he wrote it. It’s about the cold war. He created something special at a specific time. It’s kind of like the reaction Angela Lansbury had when she heard Manchurian Candidate was going to be remade. It is a classic in itself. But people wanted to play homage to it. It’s sort of how plays are put up over and over again. Actors want to have the chance to experience these great roles. Directors want the same thing. In the end, the Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington version of Manchurian Candidate was perfectly respectable. Personally, I think Zack Snyder did a fine job. I liked Watchmen better than 300. It had more diversity in terms of characters and storylines. But I think 300 is why Lena Headey got the lead in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles so I’m glad for that. She did stand out in 300 in her “I am a warrior too” role.

I’m glad I saw Watchmen, in IMAX, opening night. I think it bumped up the experience by half a grade. I give it a B+.

Dollhouse

Just wanted to say that I think Dollhouse has finally found its legs. I really got into this past episode where Echo got wiped in the middle of a gig. I also am getting into the parallel storyline with an Active scamming the FBI agent. I’m still looking for the integration of the humor and wit of Joss Whedon and Company into the creation of an alternate tv universe.

Kevin Smith

Watched Zack and Miri. It was pretty much what I expected from a Kevin Smith movie. It’s talky, it’s crass, it’s funny, ultimately, it’s a sweet love story.

The Hurt Locker

Got to see an early screening of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. It is a war thriller based on journalist Mark Boal’s experiences embedded with a bomb squad in Iraq. Mark Boal wrote the movie and was at the screening with Kathryn Bigelow. It’s very intense and real. I got a bit queasy from the handheld action. Bigelow said it was pretty much all handheld because she is a fan of how it translates on screen. But the acting was first rate. The story made me fully understand what a bomb squad does and how they are thanklessly performing possibly the most dangerous job in the world. I honestly never thought about it until I saw it in the movie. I recommend the movie but be forewarned you should get a drink and bring some gum to help with keeping your equilibrium intact. It’s not as bad as Cloverfield, Husbands and Wives or Rosetta, all movies I liked a lot, but the slightly odd, unfocused feeling crept up on me. The Hurt Locker opens at end of July.

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